Spartan Camp #170 - 50 gestures + Optional "Anatomy Detail Study"

[Anthis]

Spartan Camp #170 - 50 gestures + Optional "Anatomy Detail Study"

The aim is to produce 50 gestures by Sunday the 13nd of February.

- The gestures can be of anything, human, animal, cavorting capybaras.... You can draw full figures, but you can also go for heads, arms, eyes, or anything specific. All media can be used, both digital or traditional. Coloured or black/white. Quick scribbles or long studies. Imagination or referenced. Clothed or nude. Specifics are up to you!

- In addition to this, participants can choose to do an Optional "Anatomy Detail Study", in any medium.
Additional notes on this weeks’ Optional Study:

For this weeks optional study, you'll zoom in on any particular area or little bit of anatomy of your choice. Think along the lines of a single digit or knuckle, an elbow, a navel, just the ear, or a chin. See how far you can go in grasping just this area, and aim for likeliness. This is a nice opportunity to experiment with skin, hairs, wrinkles, the 'touch' of skin.
As always- reference advised, not obligatory. Colour, medium, time frame, any specifics are up to you! Have fun! And feel free to ask questions!


50 poses is a challenge, but don't hurry or stress yourself reaching it! Focus on drawing, as practising is the main goal of this exercise.

Criticizing each other is highly encouraged!! Share constructive criticism, reference images and resources!! Let's help each other get better!

Come on soldiers! Flex those muscles!!

HALL OF FAME - SPARTAN CAMP #169

Wingal
Anthis
ShiNIN
punkgun
zy.

[zy.]

Aw, thanks Anthis! Perfect motivation to spend a lot of time on noses :)

[surus]

time to participate again

pen sketches, a few with pencil (all with reference from photos and drawings)

anatomy detail with pencil :D

[sil3ntm08i0us]

Cool!
I'm down, so anyone can get in? no need for prior participations right?

[surus]

Anyone can. Just do it, draw it, post it! :)

[Scordatura]

This looks really interesting. I hope I could participate every week !

I just have a question and I'm sorry if it was asked before but, what is really a gesture drawing ? I could understand for an entire pose where we should get the "life" of it. But if I draw for example a muscle, how can it be a gesture drawing ?
I apologize for asking this, I'm just getting confused by this notion.

[sil3ntm08i0us]

This looks really interesting. I hope I could participate every week !

I just have a question and I'm sorry if it was asked before but, what is really a gesture drawing ? I could understand for an entire pose where we should get the "life" of it. But if I draw for example a muscle, how can it be a gesture drawing ?
I apologize for asking this, I'm just getting confused by this notion.

Gesture is anything that is "not static" I suppose.
So as long as you don't draw a hand in neutral or static position, i.e. just dangling there, then it should be okay.

Like if you show a fist, a thumbs up, it can count as a gesture for the hand like how kneeling down can count as a gesture for the whole body.

I hope that helps, and hopefully I haven't butchered the actual definition of a "gesture," since I am a noob after all. >. > :carnifex:

[surus]

Scordatura:

You can draw full figures, but you can also go for heads, arms, eyes, or anything specific.

It's just about practicing drawing here. Even if you would draw 50 times a simplified detail of Bridgman's book: It would be helpful to achieve a milestone to another level. But even a single hand could make a gesture: every finger movement is one, isn't it? Just don't draw too long for one of the drawings. Take a timeframe for yourself like 2,5 or 10 minutes or 30 seconds. You'll see the power of forcing the pen in a faster failure acceptable way, if you try to use this tool:

http://pixelovely.com/tools/gesture.html

Looking forward to see your stuff here and progress during the next camps!

[ggnastist]

hi guys,

I used to do this. but i was lost for awhile. I'm back again.
Here are my sketches, 90 sec from posemaniac, 2 min, 5 min.
The Brutal Legend sketch and the ninja below right of him are 10-15 min.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_EgEI-2N3mS0/TVfGtxIHHHI/AAAAAAAABJM/ArY-lGPGU3o/s640/IMG_0653.JPG

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/_EgEI-2N3mS0/TVfG5LTNvvI/AAAAAAAABJQ/7nKStZTXHuE/s640/IMG_0654.JPG

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/_EgEI-2N3mS0/TVfHTyk6JKI/AAAAAAAABJc/R7xIFM0hmPA/s640/IMG_0658.JPG

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_EgEI-2N3mS0/TVfHJFePd9I/AAAAAAAABJY/FJH-McLAL7s/s640/IMG_0657.JPG

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_EgEI-2N3mS0/TVfG_J4-mYI/AAAAAAAABJU/W3j_JoR3zy4/s400/IMG_0655.JPG

[aprat]

Face study and two minute gestures from http://www.pixelovely.com/tools/gesture.html .

[Scordatura]

Thank you for the precisions sil3ntm08i0us and surus !

surus : Thanks, I already know this website and it's really handful !

aprat : The face study is amazing ! I'm curious but did you take a long time to do it ?

I also post some studies I made yesterday and today. The first is from 1min poses from posemaniacs, the colored ones are from 10min poses from http://pixelovely.com/tools/gesture.html

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[Anthis]

surus - Ha! I didn't see that one coming. Nice optional. I like the gestures too. Oddly enough, the ones in pen seem strongest. Perhaps you were more focused on these since you can't erase pen? I think the ones in the top-left corner, leaning over, are pretty strong.

sil3ntm08i0us - Join in anytime!

Ran out of time, will join in the discussion asap!

Random clothed gestures, mechanical pencil. 1st scan is semi-reffed. Gotta step up and do more in general.

http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb12/Anthis_/spartan%20trainings/170-1.jpghttp://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb12/Anthis_/spartan%20trainings/170--2.jpg

[aprat]

Scordatura - Thank you. It took me at least 2 hours i think.
The 1 minute sketches look quite dynamic and you consistently drew the entire body, which is good. As for the colored drawings i would suggest that you use a bigger brush and start with dark colors and end with the lighter ones.


10 minute pixelovelies.

[aprat]

A few 10 minute clothed.

[J@n!t]

I chose capybaras. First 40 are referenced, the last ten are from imagination. As I nearly never draw from imagination (yet) it was interesting! Did them in pen so I wouldn't start getting picky...

[shiNIN]

J@n!t: I always wished to draw cavorting capybaras :D I even collected references - but never had enough determination to do that or if I had, I forgot about it. *sigh* I'm not sure if it's a good idea anymore though I planned a colored stuff.
My cavorting ones would be jumping but you was brave, creative and skilled enough without reference... I rarely use this word but these are... awesome :D

aprat: 10 minutes, wow... I love your drawings, yummy strokes :D {and somehow I'm horrible with words today :( }

Anthis: Some guys have a too short torso... I love your girls, their gesture is fluent, graceful :) Except the walking one, that's not so strong.
{And I'm so bad to criticize someone like you and keep avoid drawing figures. I still feel a stupid part of me is afraid to face my very low skills at that. But I'll do something about it.}

Nice round, everyone! I was busy with different things (planning my very first own house is too irresistible, for example) so nothing from me this time.

{those capybaras... lol}

[sil3ntm08i0us]

Hey guys,
here is all I could muster up this week.

Hope to do better next week, let me know what you guys think.
=)
http://i1108.photobucket.com/albums/h417/sil3ntm08i0us/spc1.jpg

[zy.]

Had some good nose time this week. Need more. Question: does anyone else feel when they're drawing that their refed pics look worse than their unreferenced pics? Looking at them now I don't think it's the case. But there is something psychological going on with how I see that is making it really tricky.

Ref'd from Shape Magazine:
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Ref'd from anatomy text:
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Unref'd using this tricks from cool website to help me get the alignment right:
http://www.stanprokopenko.com/blog/2009/05/draw-head-any-angle/
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Unref'd but with nose help from here:
http://www.stanprokopenko.com/blog/2009/06/draw-nose/
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Top L corner un-ref'd, bottom ref'd (see what I mean?!):
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Next to ref'd from T4 movie paused at successive points:
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Trying to "loosen up" :)
1168898

Unref'd:
1168900

[zy.]

surus:
I love the cutouts. Good looseness. I like the shadowed man on the second page. You can tell your attention to detail payed off. Your last picture has some weird head perspective stuff going on.
ggnastist:
I love your use of color. Great statue. It's really evident when you take your time. Though for 5 min you captured the motion really well. Good job on documenting the fingers.
apart:
Beautiful color study! Wow. I love the shine on the nose. It looks so realistic. For your body studies, I'm curious about the various shades of brown. Some of them look a bit on the dark side?
Scordatura:
Nice one minute poses. They have good solid lines that reflect well the shapes. Nice color studies, though on the bottom middle you're venturing into pretty pink territory.
Anthis:
Good job on the clothes work. I need that too! May just be the clothes, but on some of the semi-side on poses it looks like your shoulders are drifting a little low.
J@n!t:
Super cute! I think the last pics show what you've learned really well. The only thing I noticed was the attachment of the front legs. The hand-standing capybaras has some interesting flexibility ;)
Sil3ntm08i0us: Well done! Are these ref'd or unref'd. Overall I think very nice, quick but well executed studies. Good angles too!

[shiNIN]

Question: does anyone else feel when they're drawing that their refed pics look worse than their unreferenced pics?
*raises her hand*
I noticed it lately, when I drew faces. I can draw everything else way better with reference but faces are different. I clearly feel I'm in a very different, more shallow mode when I use a reference, especially if I drew humanoids. It doesn't get the care and focus my own works do and it's not the "draw what you see" method, I know too much about faces for that or something :bashful:. I'm sure it will change.

[sil3ntm08i0us]

surus:
Sil3ntm08i0us: Well done! Are these ref'd or unref'd. Overall I think very nice, quick but well executed studies. Good angles too!


Hey thank you for the kind words,
well the ones which are from reference are all the females at the bottom, I think about 6 or 7 of them and the one profile of the crouching guy, the rest are from memory. I did very rough and quick ones from references, I have been doing gesture practice lately and its helped me A LOT!

So yup,
I have been using http://posemaniacs.com/?pagename=randompose and http://www.pixelovely.com/tools/gesture.html, both which are super handy.

Again thank you for the kind words,
I hope to do better next time. :D :mod:

[zy.]

shiNIN- Glad I'm not the only one! Yeah, it feels like two totally different parts of my brain sometimes-- the part that draws from imagination and the part that uses references. I'm always surprised when something I've learned from referenced material actually helps me with un-ref'd stuff. Like 'oh, those two sides of my brain are connected!' (though by a very small channel, it would seem >:-\)

sil3ntm08i0us- Wow, nice work with the un-ref'd stuff. And I like your black with white lines thing, very neat idea. I feel the same way, if I can do just a little better each time, then that's enough for me!

[Scordatura]

aprat : Thank you ! I try to draw feet and hands now in the poses, it's a little bit difficult sometimes haha. I tried to put the darker colors at first but I instinctively always the light ones first. But I tried with bigger brushes and it's more effective indeed ! Your colored poses are good, we really can see the main values easily. The ones in the first picture are quite dark I think, but the second set of pictures is luminous. So maybe it's from the photos.

Anthis : The clothing studies are good ! I like the flaoting clothes ones, it's quite dynamic ! As shiNIN said, there are some little proportion problems, but the rest is good.

J@n!t : Ho I always wondered what was the name of this animal, now I know haha. Great studies ! I like the last ones from imagination !

sil3ntm08i0us : Nice unreferenced poses, nice angles too ! I think there are some proportions problems, like some women have too short legs or too long arms.

zy. : Thank you ! Haha yes, I still have some problems about skin colors, I'll try to correct this.
Your anatomy studies are good ! Nice trials for the faces too, especially the sad expressions. I can't really critic since I don't study a lot faces haha.

[sil3ntm08i0us]

Hey Zy,

I'll take a closer look,
I'm sure you're right about the proportions.

Thanks again for the compliments, I'll take more time on the next ones. :hugsmile:

[ggnastist]

zy. Thanks for the positive feedback.
It definitely helps to practice all those fundamentals.

surus Your drawings have very few lines but they still capture the human body.

aprat That face study is just amazing. I gotta try some digital gestures. I struggle at drawing digitally.

[Anthis]

ShiNIN - I'll take any criticism of value regardless of who its coming from! Good point, can be tough to keep good proportions when obscured by clothing.

ggnastist - Looking great. I always enjoy seeing both construction studies and observation studies. Seems that you usually "follow the form" with your lines when shading areas. However when you don't feel like it, you always go 'top right-to-bottom left'. I think I often do the same. I have to look up on it, but I think I've read somewhere that when following the form is not applicable, its best to follow the direction of the light (and consequently, the shadows). Hope that makes sense, if not -tell me!

aprat - I think the face study is really really strong. I like the colored studies too, I'm noticing that especially the ones in post #14 seem very solid when it comes to the value range. Convincing objects with a form. I need to get some of these going myself..

scordatura - Nice going on these. It seems that the proportions and overall gestures is pretty strong in these. You may have some trouble with the heads though. You're also putting more construction into them. It's a tough shape admittedly, neither square nor like a ball. Making sure you draw a good neck can really help though.

J@n!t - Capybaras! Love them. I remember drawing these myself in the zoo. They're really tough at first. Perhaps its their lack of really strong shapes. But you've shown that you can really decipher those shapes by doing a lot of different gestures. To the point where the ones from imagination can really be recognized as being capybaras. Good stuff.

sil3ntm08i0us - Hey there. These are really nice. Very expressive, and you really tried to add some interesting poses. Many of them with their own 'story'. You're also placing them very solid on the 'floor'. Nice to hear you're also using reference on the side. Reference, even if you are not directly using it, is really helpful in improving your own gestures. Interesting approach with the black/white. Do you start with a general, black shape and add white details later?

zy. - True, that really happens. Interesting to see how some of the others feel the same. Perhaps it happens when you are too much focused on 'copying' a given image, rather than drawing what is there while trying to understand it. Anyhow, that's what I always thought. Good heads. Adding a neck can help, even if the head is your actual goal. Builds character, puts the head in perspective, adds context. You really seem to have studied the proportions and positioning of those facial features, really good.

[ggnastist]

Anthis I think i understand what you're saying. My shadows are drawn usually in the same angle 'top right-to-bottom left'.

"when following the form is not applicable, its best to follow the direction of the light (and consequently, the shadows)" if you could elaborate on that. thanks

[zy.]

thank Anthis--

After thinking about it for a bit, you're right- I've been really pushing for a *likeness* of the person I'm drawing. Which isn't really the point. Thanks for pointing that out. You're right on the neck for head studies too, although it doesn't come through, those head studies are actually nose studies, haha. But yeah, even for the nose- its shape changes depending on expression, and facial expressions are made with the whole head, neck, and even shoulders. It's hard to understand anything in isolation...