when the model goes im back to stick men drawing...

[Richie]

hello im having difficulty drawing figures its not that i cant draw from sight , with a life model infront of me im ok with drawing, but the problems are when i try drawing from my mind im still back to drawing like a kindergarden student, stickmen and circles for heads, can anyone tell me when im going wrong because life drawing isnt helping me and im not approcing it the right way?

[Jason Manley]

the only way to draw figures is to take MULTIPLE life drawing courses and or draw from life every day...at least that is my opinion

odds are that you do not know your anatomy....you need to know ALL your anatomy.

I had fifteen semesters of figure drawing and painting...and a few semesters of anatomy and portrait stuff....

one semester will not make you a master...twenty semesters will not make you a master...it takes years of working every day and enjoying it in order to learn to invent with the figure to a high calibur.


good luck

j

[Nordstrand, T]

Hey there Richie, why don't you post some pictures you're dissatisfied with? That would make it easier for us to see your problem.

[worm]

i think you might just be starting out at life drawing?
try not to just see the shapes..
you could do years of life drawing and not improve too much but i think the key is to keep thinking about the marks youre making.. why they are there.. what do they represent..
this might help when youre not drawing from the model
Jason is completely right about learning your anatomy.. it will make you think more when you draw..

[prismacolor]

There's 2 main books/courses which I have found very helpful in drawing the figure from imagination (besides Loomis and many others). Others will undoubtedly have different opinions about this and you may have these books already, but here they are:

Hale - "Drawing Lessons From The Great Masters". There is a lot of good info in this book - different ways of looking and thinking about the figure - but mostly about visualizing the figure's simple underlying shapes - "the egg", the "sphere", "the block" etc.

Vilppu - "Drawing Manual". Glenn has developed a comprehensive course specifically for learning to draw the figure from imagination. Glenn is one of the best teachers in the world - literally.
His site: http://www.vilppustudio.com/

Personally, I still like to develop poses with the stick figures I learned from Loomis and Buscema ( HA! the "How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way" strikes again! :D ) I use it as a warm-up exercise -- sort of an imaginary gesture-drawing-thingy.

Good luck and enjoy the process!

[keyth]

i think you are doing what i do sometimes. it's the ol' "i want it now" syndrome. Are you getting super frustrated because you can't make images from imagination? If so, there is only one way to do it. Practice, practice, practice. Jason is right. But also, IMO, if you don't have a model at the moment or whatever....grab a mag or get on the internet and draw pictures. Life is better but if you can't do it at that time....at least you will still be drawing figures albeit already 2d. The point is, and i have recently come to peace w/it, you just gotta be drawing all the time if you want to get anywhere w/it.

I used to get upset because i could see little snippets of images in my head but couldn't make the connection to my hand. I have been drawing and painting more than ever lately. And i can tell that intensive studies WILL pay off in the end. But there's no magic pill, no genie gonna pop out and grant your wish. It's just a matter of working really hard. Besides, the only true rewards come from working your A$$ off.
Just my 2 cents.

[StephenC]

how do you go about learning ALL your anatomy?ALL

[Richie]

thanks for the guidence guys. keyth your right something cant come from nothing, i`ll do more to move to my goal. and prismacolor i`ll go though for the books you reccomended.
thanks all.