learning to draw by memory

[Rene6983]

I plan to work in the game industry at some point in my life, but right now I'm still learning how to draw people. I have a book called Human Anatomy Made Amazingly Easy by Christopher Hart and it shows you how to draw the muscles, the bones and various poses of the body. It's a pretty good book.

Anyways, right now I'm trying to learn to draw the face and am finding it difficult to remember what some of the facial features look like when I try to draw them from memory. I might have this problem as I begin to learn the rest of the body as well but I'm not sure yet.

So my question to you guys is, what can I do to improve my memory? I have tried practicing the face with different expressions several times (can't really say how many but it hasn't been much).

Is it better to learn how to start drawing the body by shapes (like an egg shape for a head for example) like how I see in some books or should I just dive into trying to remember what the body really looks like? So if I draw a specific way, in the future, I will be able to draw something out faster.

By the way do you guys reccomend I take a life drawing class to aid me in my career path?

Also what do video game companies expect you know what to draw when it comes to drawing enviorments? Like what kind of architecture should I study and where should I get my study material for it?

Any other reccomendations?

thanks

[Dile_]

Well.. I have been trying to draw faces for a year, they still do look like crap, but they are for sure getting better.. so maybe try practicing a lot, and everyday would help you.. You need to practice until you understand it and remember it =)

Also* Life drawing class sounds good. and as for what enviroments you should study.. ehhrm, thats a hard one because there is no "what to do list" that you can practice yourself on.. You need to practice general architecture + a lot of perspective, and be good at design to ever get to the point where game companies hire you to do their concepts =)

Good luck sir and welcome to conceptart.org

-D

[HunterKiller_]

Draw the same thing over and over and over and over again.
Sound boring? Then you might want to consider another career path.
That's just the negative side, ofcourse. Somebody else will tell you the positive view.
I'm too cynical for that stuff. :)

[Seedling]

By the way do you guys reccomend I take a life drawing class to aid me in my career path?


Yes.


Also what do video game companies expect you know what to draw when it comes to drawing enviorments? Like what kind of architecture should I study and where should I get my study material for it?


Click the "games industry" link in my sig.

[Hyaloclastics]

What works for me is a combination of life drawing and anatomy studies.When i say life drawing i mean getting your sketchbook and go out and sketch people in motion.When you try to depict people (or animal) who are in motion you constantly train your memory and observation.It's also a good way to move beyond unessesary details and draw the basic characteristics of your subject.
If you combine this with your anatomy studies i think things will get more easier.:)

[Farvus]

I'd also like too add that you can learn from quite unexpected sources and it will improve your general designs. For example after drawing tigers from reference/life you can apply something about their dynamic body shape to your car design. After drawing lots of different cars from life you can uncousciously apply their smooth curves to your futuristic armour designs which will make them look more interesting. After drawing some underwater coral reef views from photos you can later uncousciously apply some patterns that you observed to your enviroments. So not just anatomy but everything that looks interesting :).

[Mike Frank]

I think for drawing from memory in general - it can help to use some of the basic shape style building blocks when you're first starting out. In time though you will want to loosen up and try to build up the shapes directly. For example instead of drawing two cylinders for an arm, you move into just drawing an "arm shape".

For faces try some of the approaches like the egg shape, or Loomis' style approach. Make sure that you also study that in conjunction with life/reference drawing of real faces.. and also I highly recommend studying the skull. After awhile you can phase out some of the building blocks and just draw a "head shape" based on your own studies.

[Arshes Nei]

Sorry I frown at anything Christopher Hart :/

But I know that Ron Tiner has a book I have and found very good called http://www.amazon.com/Figure-Drawing-Without-Model-Tiner/dp/0715306464/

A lot of my favorite books are 10 bucks:

Constructive Anatomy is very good, I like they way George Brigman breaks things down into wedges, instead of cylinders and such. It makes me think more ..."constructively" on building together bodies and anatomy.

Drawing the living figure is very simplistic in it's way and shows several different models giving you a good idea of several different body structures.
http://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Living-Figure-Joseph-Sheppard/dp/0486267237/

Sometimes the fun books aren't always the most expensive ones.

They're helpful for memory drawing because the only way you draw from memory is really drawing from life, and training your brain to capture and reproduce those images from your mind.

[MikeHamlett]

I'd have to agree with Mike Frank. Don't get stuck into the habit of drawing cylinders or blocks for anatomy, that will seriously limit the naturalness of the figure. And also don't make the mistake of relying of comic books for anatomy either. Rather do life studies and use photographs to train your eye to decipher "what looks right". Once you begin drawing from memory you'll start to notice what doesn't look right (although, at the time you may not know why it doesn't look right). Understanding proportions, muscle structure, and foreshortening will go a long way in helping you draw life like figures without references. Which is ultimately my goal as well. I would also recommend the series of books from Giovanni Civardi, he has a nice dynamic approach to drawing the body. I especially appreciate "Drawing Human Anatomy" by Civardi, there are some really nice hand studies in there.

[roosketch]

I was drawing an ear last night (see my SB), and I didn't quite know how one was formed... I didn't want it to be exact since not all human ears look the same, so I just had a quick glance in the mirror at my ear, looked at the major folds and shape, and transferred that to paper loosely. That's just what I do sometimes and I find that works for me!

[-sideshowbob-]

understanding .. if you know how to do it .. u can do it..! if you are conscious of it you can control the process !

use ref to build up ur visual library but what u need is understanding

most ppl dont have that understanding.. even some professionals dont have it.. they can do it.. but they dont understand how it works..if you really wanna get where u wanna be.. you have to reach beyond the boarders of ordinary knowledge .. guess why ppl tell : use ref draw draw draw draw from life and copy.. they sure dont really have the understanding of drawing .. how can they have it if they never take time ?! but use reference and so on *rolleyes* if there would be a pro who has the understanding he or she whould not tell to use ref but to tell how dopes drawing really works

how i learn to draw from memory : click link in my signature

in my brain its : when i know what drawing is about i am able to learn how to draw everything .. what i need is : understanding

why tell how to draw vehicles planes houses ships faces hands legs and all that stuff.. why not just tell how to DRAW ..the rules of drawing remain the same no matter what i draw..


understand -> control -> ability to redo it over and over again = total control
u dont get there with using ref.. using ref helps but it cant do the job.. .. once again : understanding for what drawing is about
only when u KNOW how and what you do .. you can control it


if you want me to share some knowledge.. pm me

pss : i see lotsa ppl her recommend to use ref or do life drawing.l. and i will once more lay down the imprtance of understanding.. whenever you cant do things as u like them do to : you lack of understanding .. so do we all :>
u dont need reference or learn how to copy but you to use your imagination as source and understand the process of reading the imaginative image and interprete it into a fantastic drawing

when i satrted to draw i asked many guys how does drawing work.. and none was aware of the processes.. noone could tell me how it works
..i realized i had to think about it myself.. and i did ,. what i found is accessable knowledge to learn how to draw from memory and many other things everybody can find.. but they dont take their time because they stick with other ppls opinions it seems and when they dont look for their own.. they tell what they have been told..other ppls opinions

knowing one way of learn how to draw is good.. but thinking its the ONLY way is just ignorant

..there is always something beyond !

knowing about this is fairly easy . understanding it is somewhat more complex
and to master all this it takes years of training.. and the requirements for all this is : understanding 8of how to draw. read . speak . learn . understanding of how to understand.





did you know that the brain as it is offers the possiblity of "understanding" all there is to understand in the whole universe ? ( when we learn we build up neuro networks.. we dont add something to the brain that isnt there already or is not supported we dont change the brain as it works.. we just reconnect the brains networking )