deryk's figure drawing study thread (UPDATED april 22, 2005)

[deryk]

hey everyone.

well i've got one jack hamm book and the set of bridgman books on the way from amazon, and i've got virtual pose 3 already on hand in case i feel the urge to draw from "life." it'll take roughly a month for the books to arrive here in my country, so i'd like to spend the time doing some studies first.

where do you guys suggest i start figure drawing? muscle anatomy? skeletal structure? whatever the general consensus is, and based on the explanations, i'll start there and post up my drawings once i get my scanner up and running.

thanks everyone. i do hope to get a lot better someday. :)

[Mike Frank]

Well I am by no means an expert on the subject but I'll try and pass along some of the things that have helped me out so far. From your post I don't really know what level you're at so I'm just gonna start from the beginning. First you need to be able to draw what you "see". Basically, you need to be able to look at something and use 2 dimensional ideas as a way of drawing it. If you've ever read "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" thats basically what I'm talking about. Drawing contours, checking angles, negative spaces, that kind of thing. These tools give us a good basis to work from in recreating what we see. From that, work on drawing the figure as simplified forms in perspective. Use boxes, balls, cylinders, anything that has 3 dimensions, to break down the figure and understand its volumes. Also work on drawing gestures, simple stick figure-ish type drawings that depict the action of the figure which is the most important part to making the figure read well. Try drawing gestures and adding the basic forms on top of that. For anatomy, some might disagree, but first I would work on the skeleton and learning all the various points of articulation and how the skeleton is the framework for the body. From there learn where the muscles attach to the skeleton and their form and function. All of these things will help you to more accurately see what you're looking at, and give you some tools to fall back on if necessary.. so its really like a bunch of observation and knowledge all coming together I think. Draw and draw a lot more, everything that we see has 3 dimensions and is lit by light, so in a way anything you choose to study will only help you draw better overall.

[deryk]

hi. thanks for replying. yep i do admit my post was kinda vague. i guess i should have mentioned that i've done still life with pots, plants fruits, vases, etc already. and yes, i've complete betty edwards' "Right Side of The Brain" book. i've decided to take up figure drawing as the next step.

i'm still trying to work on getting my scanner up, but i've done some studies using mentler's skull formula which i'll post up soon. i'm not sure if it's the right place to start, but i guess it's as good as any, i hope. :)

will post my stuff as soon as i can. :)

[deryk]

here are a few sketches i made using mentler's skull formula.

pardon the quality, i took these using my camera phone. turns out my scanner doesn't work with windows xp, so i'll have to ask a friend to scan for me from now on.

i'd appreciate any and all crits. basically from sketching i've realized i have trouble feeling out the jaw area, which ends up either too narrow, too broad, too long, or too short. i also have some problems with drawing the teeth using the 2-1-2-3 formula (seem to run out of space all the time).

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v408/kyred/image02.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v408/kyred/image01.jpg

[mentler]

Good start ~~~~ hard to tell very much because of quality <> chin looks a little wide on a couple of them <>l<>l<> I will check in on you once in a while to see how you are doing ~~~~~ get involved with SoFA

IanE <l><l>l<l> stared just a few months ago and has really made amazing <l> he has worked hard and it has paid off

[deryk]

hi. thanks for looking into my thread. i'll have new sketches posted up by the end of the day with better quality.

i'd love to get involved with SOFA, but i'm afraid it's inaccessible for me given that it's in TX and all. :(

[deryk]

borrowed my friend's scanner, so i can post up my sketches now. :)

here are enlarged versions of the sketches i posted up last march 31:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v408/kyred/front_study_03312005.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v408/kyred/front_study_03312005_02.jpg

and a new skull i drew up while waiting in line at our university registrar's office:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v408/kyred/front_study_04012005.jpg

to recap: from the first set of sketches, i've realized i have trouble feeling out the jaw area, which ends up either too narrow, too broad, too long, or too short. i also have some problems with drawing the teeth using the 2-1-2-3 formula (seem to run out of space all the time).

[deryk]

by the way, mr. mentler, i posted up these studies over at the Anatomy Studies forum of the SOFA site too. :)

[deryk]

here's another study i did today. seems to have better form, but i'll leave that decision up to you guys. :)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v408/kyred/front_study_04022005.jpg

i drew this bigger, to give more space for details and to get myself used to it, basically.

i'll come up with a few more studies tomorrow, and, if they're adequate enough, i'll proceed to doing studies on the side view of the human skull.

please do post some critiques. thank you very much. :)

[deryk]

two more studies. the one to right was done via 4B graphite pencil.

these will be the last two frontal skull studies unless there will be any critiques.

tomorrow i'll get to work on the side views. :)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v408/kyred/front_study_04032005.jpg

[Dizon]

some of these are weird looking skulls

maybe you should take into consideration canonical proportions in heads(5 eyed width across the head, 1 eye between the 2 eyes etc.)

[deryk]

patdzon: thanks for the critique. been a long time since anyone else posted here.

yes, some of them definitely look weird. :)

i guess most especially my earlier ones. i'm trying to achieve a level of consistency with mentler's skull formula, since as of now it's been pretty hit or miss. my guess is it may be with the initial measurements. i'll try to be closer attention next time.

i'll probably spend a few more days with this then. it'll be of no use proceeding to, say, perspective drawing if i can't get this ortho view right.

keep the critiques coming folks. i'll be working on more sketches 'til then. :)

[haribubba]

my advice would be to slow down and measure!!

[deryk]

hi haribubba.

thanks for bringing some life back into this thread. i just submitted my final college requirements today so i haven't had the time to post yet.

you're right i'm now trying to take everything real slow, and the results seem to have been better. will post up real soon. :)

[deryk]

here's my latest frontal skull study for april 7, 2005.

i'm taking everything slow so as to achieve a level of consistency with my anatomy.

props to patdzon for helping me with my technique and rendering. you rock dude.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v408/kyred/front_study_04072005.jpg

[Dizon]

good job man! loved how you rendered this one! keep it up!

[Rockbeetle Girion]

there is progress, especially on the proportions. if you're drawing from memory, you might need to be refreshed, there is potential.
http://www.bartleby.com/107/illus190.html
gray's anatomy is an awesome reference, they're drawings and the lines wraps.

keep drawing skulls, try side view it could make the skeletical cheeks drawing easier and less troubled.

[deryk]

hello everyone.

here's a quick render i did of a skull in side view. wasn't able to include the jaw due to lack of space, since i drew this towards the bottom of the sketch page.

this is based on mentler's side-view skull formula that *i think* can be seen over at his thread, so great thanks go to him for some great information over there. :)

i'll post up more studies of the side and some frontal studies here and there for retention purposes. in the meantime, please do hit me with your critiques.

thank you. :)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v408/kyred/side_study_04082005.jpg

[deryk]

here's a new study, this time with the jaw area.

i need to fix up that forehead though in future studies. needs to be more prominent, i think.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v408/kyred/side_study_04092005.jpg

[deryk]

ei guys. got sidetracked a bit in my anatomical studies. patdzon taught me a few things about sketching from life over yahoo messenger so i thought i'd post the result here for all to see (yeah this means you too, patdzon :p).

i did this around 15 mins after he taught me. you rock dude. :)

i used a photo for reference since everyone was asleep when i did this (so no live models, unfortunately).

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v408/kyred/stretchingwoman.jpg

[Dizon]

I'm glad to see you applying what you've learned so far! I know this is pretty much advanced for you but always take one step at a time before goin to the next. I'll see you online soon and I'll teach you some stuff. ;)

[deryk]

c...ca...can't.....s...slee...p..... :x

u..u...urge.......to....sk...ske...tch.....

hehehe two more pieces of sketchwork practice. :)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v408/kyred/girlrear.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v408/kyred/reachinggirl.jpg

[deryk]

here are some sketches patdzon asked me to do as practice for drawing the figure later on, and as practice for technique as well. i used some concepts from anthony ryder's book on figure drawing here as well.

anatomy studies will resume very soon.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v408/kyred/foot01.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v408/kyred/hand.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v408/kyred/foot02.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v408/kyred/hand02.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v408/kyred/hand04.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v408/kyred/foot03.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v408/kyred/hand03.jpg

[deryk]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v408/kyred/hand05.jpg

[deryk]

a hand in progress for a rendering exercise

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v408/kyred/hand06-stage01.jpg

[deryk]

some arm studies done from civardi's book on anatomy. :)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v408/kyred/forearm01.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v408/kyred/arm.jpg

[Dizon]

nice job on the arms man! esp the big one!

no crits on this one! keep copying them illustrations!

[deryk]

hey thanks patdzon! :)

here's a new one, again from civardi's book:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v408/kyred/arm02.jpg

[deryk]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v408/kyred/arm04.jpg

[mentler]

You are losing the form and structure ::: your forms are also getting to round ::: Civardi is probably not the best teacher of structure!

[deryk]

thanks mentler! any suggestions on how to fix up the form and structure? unfortunately, i still don't have my new books (i'm still waiting 'til i move back to the US), so i rely on civardi plus anatomical charts. :)

[mentler]

It is pretty simple in concept ~~~ as you add your darks don't just copy Civardi (I have all of his books) analyze the form that dark is on i.e. is it round, cylindrical or square? Then make sure the dark that you add is following that form. Look for the planes side planes and down planes away from the light source are dark :::: try to establish where the light is coming from in Civardi's drawings and put yourself in his head. Talk yourself through the drawing as you work i.e. this goes over this behind this overlaps that and goes around this this is side plane down plane facing the light or facing away from the light source.

This is very important WHEN YOU REALIZE THAT YOUR PENCIL IS MOVING BUT YOUR BRAIN HAS LOST CONTACT WITH WHAT YOU ARE DOING STOP STEP BACK LOOK AT YOUR DRAWING TAKE A BREAK ::: DON'T JUST KEEP COPYING AND NOT THINKING ::: WHEN YOU COPY WITHOUT THINKING YOU LEARN ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!!!!

[deryk]

thanks again. :)

did what you said. i got this from civardi again, but took more time in considering the shapes. you're right in that there were some points in my previous drawings that my brain seemed to shut down and left me copying from what i saw only, regardless of the actual form of the object.

so here's a new one, taking those pointers from mentler into mind:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v408/kyred/arm05.jpg