Spartan Camp #171 - 50 gestures + Optional "Male/Female Study"

[Anthis]

Spartan Camp #171 - 50 gestures + Optional "Male/Female Study"

The aim is to produce 50 gestures by Sunday the 20nd 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 "Male/Female Study", in any medium.
Additional notes on this weeks’ Optional Study:


When it comes to gesture drawing, where does gender make a difference? Proportions, mass, size, muscle and fat placement, bone structure, you name it. Once can often recognize someone's gender from far away, even with very little information. In this optional study, focus on these differences. A comparison may be most suitable. For example, a male and female face, leg, arm, torso compared. Or the same gesture, in both a male and female version. Or a side-by-side comparison of the two, the type you often find in anatomy drawing textbooks.

As always- reference advised, not obligatory. Colour, medium, time frame, any specifics are up to you! Good luck and 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 #170

surus:star:
J@n!t
aprat:star:
scordatura
Anthis
sil3ntm08i0us
zy.

[Lakeland]

Hello everyone.
First timer in spartan camp, thanks Anthis for doing this.
Gonna stretch my old bones and go draw now.
*uuh...*
*ehh...*

[ggnastist]

Did some digital ones today at work.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/_EgEI-2N3mS0/TV5MyMGdOxI/AAAAAAAABKA/vBuwyvzAkto/s800/20110218_Gesture.jpg

[tobbA]

Here are my male/female studies. I'll try to have the gestures done tomorrow.. :)

[Scordatura]

tobbA : Nice study ! It's really neat, I like the shadows.

Here are some studies I did this week :

10 min studies
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1 min posemaniacs studies
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Some vertebrae and skulls studies. I don't know if it is counted as gesture studies though, haha.
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[Anthis]

-testing, testing

http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb12/Anthis_/spartan%20trainings/171-1.jpghttp://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb12/Anthis_/spartan%20trainings/171-2.jpg

[shiNIN]

Some vertebrae and skulls studies. I don't know if it is counted as gesture studies though, haha.
I don't think so (skulls have great character and variety and beauty and they are love :D but not much gestures I think) at least I don't bring my skull studies here. NOW it would be a great opportunity to draw male and female skulls but it's my least active week of mine lately OTL. (It was a nice idea though :()
Nice gesture line sketches, the colored stuff is hard to see because they are really inconsistent... But keep trying ;) {I'm not a nice person I know}
Vertebrae... you have my respect. I studied them but they were very hard. {Why am I an illustrator of someone who has a character wearing vertebrae?!}


Maybe I shot some of sketchbook pages a little later... I drew some faces. I tried to draw figures just now but I have not one hour for each and I'm unable to draw them quicker, no matter how sketchy I try to do them... :( Maybe it's time for some very limited posemaniacs gestures? Or animals...
It's Monday here and that doesn't help the least :D But I consider it Sunday till I go to bed :D

[Scordatura]

shiNIN : Yes, that's what I thought, haha. I won't post bones studies in the future. Ho female and male skulls is a good idea indeed ! (maybe you could do that next week ?)
Ha yes, I just started this color exercise since january so I still have a lot to learn. (not at all, thank you for your input, it's very useful).
Vertebrae are the only things I can draw well and from memory. It seems that I like drawing them in fact, haha.
Drawing from posemaniacs is very useful to get a pose quickly, you should try it !

Anthis : Very nice angles ! I like how we can see the muscles on the thin lines.

[shiNIN]

Scordatura: You are a strange one... ;) Vertebrae... they are hard and quite hidden... I'm into skulls but they have a lot of character :D I plan to draw skull portraits :D They are perfect for that IMO. :skull:
Too bad I'm a bit into skeletons as well so I totally should learn how to draw every bones and some with great detail... I'm bad with things which are in great number: ribs, teeth... I'm a lazy one :^^;:.
Yep I thought I will do that male female skull study for next week even if they won't be valid for that round ;)

I have nothing just these (except some even more unsighty messy digital sketches), the very first ones probably were created before this round but whatever. This big and messy thing is for my sb so it has stuff I wouldn't put here but deal with it, okay? :)
Next week I really, really, really will be in. Heating problem solved, there will be sunshine and my crocuses are blooming so nothing can stop me now! :sungod:

There are a (very sketchy and far from right) male and a female skulls there too, the girl got a too small cranium... :^^;: By the way, my avatar is a totally manly skull.
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh287/shiNIN666/gfx/sb0220.jpg
I'm sorry. I should keep my paper sb much cleaner. And I work in tiny.

[ggnastist]

scordatura: The one minute posemaniacs are great. You manage to capture the whole figure. I'm always rushing for time to complete the figure.

Anthis: The details on the figures are great.

Shinin: I like some of the heads in the last pic.

Here're more from me.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_EgEI-2N3mS0/TWKEEvS1QHI/AAAAAAAABK8/gSDuHTH8UmY/s640/IMG_0686.JPG

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_EgEI-2N3mS0/TWKEEyFEgsI/AAAAAAAABLA/tUuxsJb6_Ak/s640/IMG_0687.JPG

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/_EgEI-2N3mS0/TWKEE2KOGOI/AAAAAAAABLE/phvZqD-SU-I/s640/IMG_0688.JPG

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_EgEI-2N3mS0/TWKEFAnEPTI/AAAAAAAABLI/I6HJmcG3qhs/s640/IMG_0689.JPG

[zy.]

uuUUuuggg. Monday: like being kicked in the face by a unicorn. This weekend I hit such an art brick wall. I had one of those drawing sessions where I won't even admit how long I spent on something that I can't even bring myself to share because it's so bad. I can't draw in a bad mood. I literally can't. It's like a positive feedback loop of crappy, I draw, it looks terrible, I feel worse, I draw, things look even more awful, and then the next thing you know I'm watching Doom the movie and eating baby reese peanut butter cups out of the bag.

BUT, I did really like the idea for this weeks challenge. Thanks Anthis for this one, as always. And thanks to all of you for commenting and being so helpful. I really do feel like I'm improving... sometimes... ;)

I'm trying to work on expressiveness in my figures. These next two are a mix of ref'd and un-ref'd stuff.

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ref'd and really fun. I like dood bodies :yum:

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Un-ref'd. Working on the expressiveness thing again. Trying to get a little more story-telly. The lady in the back should just explode.

1174554

A quick doodle that kinda made me feel like a badass. To counteract all the epic long drawings that make me feel like an idiot.

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More expression practice, un-ref'd. Which I'm sure is prob kinda obvious.

1174556

The latissimus, turns out is pretty important. Though I starting drawing it thinking I was working on the serratus muscles and then getting myself all kinds of confused.

1174557

http://www.posespace.com/posetool/Default.aspx

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More nose stuff. yeah.

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This was fun. Some un-ref'd dood lady comparisons. I wanted to capture that feeling you get right after your brother breaks your favorite toy, and you're all like "I'M GONNA KILL YOU! AAARR". Didn't work so well for the lady. She's not bent over as much and it's amazing how that makes a difference.

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More un-ref'd dood vs lady stuff. Prob should have ref'd this one. I used to be so good at drawing females. I've lost all my female foo. :-(

BUT! the dood on the right is my hero at life! I drew him with a bit of help from Hogarth and had a huge breakthrough! On the left side of his face, how the eyelid is wrapping around the eyeball, and how the eye socket can be seen-- this little nook of the face has always been a mystery to me, and it has always caused problems. But with the nose studies I've been doing and now this I'm really starting to get it. YEY! :D

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[zy.]

tobbA- Beautiful studies, and thanks for putting in the bullet points on differences between male and female anatomies. Though I do wonder about the rib cage being convex in males on concave in females. I've known some doods with wonky rib cages. But yeah, for idealized bodies you may be right.

Scordatura- Good use of color and light on these. You're emphasis on shape is really evident, and in the dark of nights when I get all conspiratorial, I start to suspect that shape is much more important than line in understanding form. Esp the bottom right is really strong. The bottom left is looking a little rushed.

Anthis-- really strong this week. You're figures have such a nice soft quality, and your lines are always so strong. No crits this week, I esp like the larger guy in the bottom right, it's so hard to get backs and sides right, and you've really nailed this, from an upward looking angle too!

shiNIN- Great studies! Especially strong towards the end. I like your 'real people', it's something I should try. On some of your studies your eyes and mouth halves get a little mismatchy, I hate symmetry, but it's a necessary evil. Maybe try laying down some light lines or guidelines first, just to get a sense of where everything is.

ggnastis: ug, I'm just falling in love with your colors man! I don't know why they make such a huge difference but they really do. I'm also pretty damn jealous of your 5 min sketches, I just don't know how you work so fast. I really like the blue guy crunched down in the corner. Their all very expressive but the shadows on that one are particularly nice.

[tobbA]

Zy, Maybe I should have been more clear. The rib cage is concave/convex where it opens in in the abdominal region. I don't know if this is true 100% of the time either, but it seemed to be true for the models I painted, at least.

[shiNIN]

zy.: yay, it was like a guided tour :D I'm really glad not I'm the only one who fills with much text these topics, I'm thankful for that :D
I wish I would like to draw bodies... they attract me but I'm a bit scared of them. I never know how to draw them, sometimes I'm lucky but usually... I can't draw a simple standing pose by myself, nothing.
Nice studies, your faces got better... But the eyes of the front male/female faces seem not really seen from the front. We usually see them like this in 3/4 view. The break of the line of the jaw (I dunno how is it called) is too high, at nose level but there starts the ear...

About your advice... I sometimes draw lines but I don't think I should. I got much better results when I forgot everything about such things and don't try to build heads so much, even if I do them by myself (and anyway, I draw lines and work afterwards so sloppily that the features won't have much to do with the lines anyway). I tend to make badly proportioned or askew faces...etc., I realize it of couse but usually late, I don't like that I don't focus on the whole thing but the parts when I draw them. I usually jump to details too soon as well. I know I shouldn't but I simply forget about it :(

[zy.]

thanks shiNIN. I know, I was is such a pissed off mood this morning. I logged in and just let loose.

About your thoughts on the jaw and eyes- which faces are you talking about, the split male and female faces?

Forgetting what we've learned is all part of it. So many times I learn something only to realize I knew it once but forgot. :hugsmile:

[surus]

I am not too late, am I? Did the optional only.

[shiNIN]

surus: Oh my god. I'm tough and experienced but my BF (his computer was on in the morning :D) didn't take your guy so well :D
I'm not into him either, it's partially because of my taste, but there are other factors as well. His head isn't attached properly, it should be more to our left and I find his head too big as well but it probably still realistic, people exist in very different shapes and sizes.
I would be scared of him irl, even his cute piercing hook with pencil couldn't calm me down ;) But I appreciate silly ideas, I have them myself (I should realize more of them) :D

[surus]

LOL! I didn't want to scare your BF ;)

Just unleash your ideas and he wouldn't be surprised by other people's drawings. Maybe he would ask you sometimes questions, you didn't expect before, but just do it. I am looking forward to your personal "interesting for the viewer's eye" - ideas ! :)

[Anthis]

Great discussion! Here's me being late.


ggnastist - Interesting poses! Normally I'd advice to be careful on all the black, but for all I know this may be an approach that really works for you. Tried using a broader value range? Love the other gestures.

Tobba - Really nice work there. I learned some new things. Great optional. There's always some areas where the muscle differences are really visible. Like the trapezius and those thighs.

Scordatura - I'd say they're not really gestures, but I think they're fine in this activity. Think you did a great job on those vertebrae themselves. They make sense. The drawing of the whole spine seems a little off - I can't really wrap a body around that. I think the last 10min study is pretty good too. For some reason, it really works.

shiNIN - Looking good! Yes, remember to give yourself the space to draw. Cramming in tiny drawings can be really restricting. Draw freely, allow yourself to explore a bit. Those last heads are starting to show some good character.

zy. - A lot of stuff! Also like your notes. Those quick doodles, like the blue one, can be surprisingly good. I'm not sure how, perhaps its good to just let go of the technical part sometimes and draw. The expressive poses have nice storytelling, but are on the stiff side. Can be tough to get everything in your gestures! Those heads are really getting better though. Like you mentioned on that eye. Point is - you understood the shape and you were able to draw it. Looks convincing.

Surus - Hahaa! Regardless of taste, I do like these poses. Mainly because you showed some figures that really deviate from the 'norm'. They're not stereotype models. Valuable thing to learn too. Also; nice piercing. Short legs on the top figure -maybe because you ran out of space?


New topic's up!