Anatomy Studies Demo: "Figure Studies"

[KChen]

Here are some in class demos I did for my class and some old portrait studies.

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cheers

[KChen]

Here are some notes that help me out when I draw the figure.


The main thing that bothers me is the proportion of the upper torso, which I lengthen to about 4 heads long.

I included some other notes about drawing the leg too. Legs are hard to draw because of the many complex curves around them. If not done right, they will look like spaghetti.

What helps me out on legs, is to look for the bone structure first, starting with the great trocanter (top of the upper leg joint). From there I pay attention to the direction of the knee to see how much the leg is twisting. The upper leg bone is always bowed. The direction the upper leg bone bows toward is always the direction of the knee. Next I look for how the direction of the knee relates to the direction of the feet. This way I can see a clear twist in the leg gesture and have a solid bone underneath the muscles.

Planting the models feet to the floor is crucial for adding weight to the pose. I usually like to think of the feet as a box to help define perspective. The bottom of the feet are usually squashed by the weight of the body, where they are forced to match the shape of the ground surface. Hence, describing the floor for us.

I've included some notes on the breast to illustrate the pectorialis underneith. The breast(fat) sits under in a comma shape which hooks around to the ribs. It forms a distinctive two overlaping forms on the side of the chest.

Hope these will help, I'll try to go over other drawings as I find some time.

[KChen]

More Demos from head drawing class:

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[KChen]

Thanks Davi,

I use 2B or 3B. i like to have the charcoal soft enough so it feels more like painting when i apply the values.

Head/neck demos from this week...
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[KChen]

Here are some class demo for the long pose class. The main point was to get the students to think in terms of sculpting planes with light.
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[KChen]

This is from a reply letter I wrote today for a possible student who wanted to know how I teach my class before they signed up. I think the info below will help answer questions about thoughts on learning priorities and procedures.
I break it down this way so the students will have a stepping stone to build and re-enforce their skills upon. Something to make the learning process more managable.
Each stepping stone is there to help you build your skills for the next. I think it is a good way to introduce the students to these ideas and see how they relate.

My profession outside of teaching is Concept Design for games and films. I specialize in characters and creatures. What is important to me on my job is to be able to create out of my head and have the skills to make it interesting and believable. Another part of my job is to ensure quality control through production (style guides and critiques). That's why I need to break everything down to simple elements and language, that so everyone can understand, so we can improve the product.

If anything, I try to teach my students how break things down to basic visual elements and learn how to prioritize and use the elements to better communicate the idea.

Here are some of the things that I teach my students in the figure class:
(in order of things to learn first)

- perspective (learn how to think and draw in space. Learn how to draw a cube, cylinder, cone, and ball in perspective and scale)

- proportion (train your eye to see this, if proportion is off, placement, weight, and form and likeness is off too)

- Gesture (learn how to see relationship between things: how forms are tie together by action, thought, or weight)

- form (learn to see simple mass of the body and ignore the details. See the big idea)

- overlaps (learn to communicate spacial relationship between forms. What is in front of what?)

- planes (adding more information to a simple form (cylinder) by breaking it up into planes (example: Box - more 3D directional planes detail with top, sides, bottom planes).

- construction (able to trim and add smaller forms on top of the bigger structure with out losing your dominant perspective. Putting the details on "top" of the form, not through it)

- lighting (learn how light works and how to use light to better communicate your idea. What do I want to show? What type of lighting should I use?)

- Shapes (compose your image with the basic 2D elements of light and shadow shapes, page layout. How do I compose the image to better stage what I want to show? How can I communicated abstractly? how do I use contrast to communicate?)

- edge / texture (learn how the eye sees and focus. Learn atmospheric perspective. How to draw the space and air around the model)

each step is there to re-enforce and strengthen the previous.

kevin

[KChen]

Class demo for the long pose class.

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[KChen]

Class demo on laying in the figure for long pose.

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[KChen]

1st day of class for Head Drawing. Demos on Head Proportion and simple construction:

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[KChen]

Here are some of the students' in class drawings from last term:

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[KChen]

Lay-in Demos from 2nd week of class:

Analytical Figure Drawing Class
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Head Drawing Class
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[KChen]

Some notes I wrote on how to locate the Gesture Line. Thought might be helpful to post it here:

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[KChen]

This week the class focus was on laying in the composition of the figure with simple 2 dimensional shapes.

With 2D shapes alone you can solve gesture, proportion, abstraction, weight, composition, eye flow and simple form indication. The more you can solve at this stage the more effortless and elegant your design will be. A good example would be Sargent's portrait studies: very little rendering but, excellent use of shapes.

here are some old class demos on making sure your drawings read with simple 2-D B/W Shapes (keep the comp simple). If the image looks good and reads well with just 2 values and flat shapes then you are ready to take it to the next level with rendering. If your drawing doesn't read at this simple level, no matter how much more rendering you place on top, it will not save it. Usually, a lot of the over-worked and ununified student drawings are the ones who rushed through this first crucial design stage.

Think about what do you want the viewer to see. Try staging and contrasting your details with small, medium, and large shapes for spacing details. How can you stage your image better? How can i lead the viewers eye with direction of my shapes (framing or pointing)? How can I get the action to read better with straights and curves (tension and relax)? How can I communicate the mood with my value proportion and shape? All these thinking and problem should be answered at this stage before you start your rendering. A good 2D lay-in is more than just a copy, it is the master blue print for your priorities and composition. It should read clearly and be able to state what you want to say without relying on rendering!!

It's a good exercise to do some master copies with this in mind and see how the masters manipulate your eye and feel with just simple shape contrast.

Here are some examples of laying for long poses:

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red circle stands for focal point.
red line stands for eye flow.
green line stands for small, mid, big shape spacing.

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[KChen]

Some notes on Head and Drapery:

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[KChen]

New demo & notes

Light & Composition Demo
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Head Drawing Notes
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Torso Demo
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[KChen]

Demo from Long pose class:
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Demos from Head Drawing class:
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[KChen]

Sunday Figure Drawing Class demo. This week we just review over torso structure...
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[KChen]

Sorry for the late updates. My computer died and I am finally back on line again

To start, here is a catch up of the demos from the Gnomon figure drawing class.

5 min lay-in's with focus on laying down simple 2D placement:
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Lecture on pelvis and legs:
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Torso breakdowns:
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[KChen]

Class Head demos:
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Eye Structure and Types:
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Lip Structure & Types:
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[KChen]

Didn't get to draw much in this class. End up spending more time with the students one on one to help them pace their drawings and correct their layin's for a long study.

Here is some class demo demostrating different ways to lay-in the figure. Painterly or with Construction:
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Here is a comp study for the long pose:
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[KChen]

Hey Dooom,

Thanks, here are the links to the schools I am currently teaching at:

http://www.gnomon3d.com/ (Figure Drawing)

http://www.laafigart.com/ (head drawing, Analytical Figure Drawing)

http://www.artcenter.edu/ (Sat Figure Drawing Workshop)

hopefully I'll see you around

[KChen]

Here are some WIP photos taken by a gnomon student, patrick during the demos:

demo on foreshortened torso. Creating overlaps with ribcage/stomache/pelvis


Demo on torso front view


Demo on back construction lay-in


Demo on how to lay-in poses with limbs in front of body: draw the body first then connect the limbs to a appropriate spots.


Thanks Patrick!!

[KChen]

Q: Pardon my noobness but what is that tool? Vine Charcoal?
A: I use either 2B conte sticks (large Demo) or 2B conte pencil for those demos. I also like to use stratmore Carbothello pencils (Black) too. I am just starting to try out hard vine charcoal, I seen Dan Thompson done some very beautiful soft renderings with them.

Here is a pic of my tools:


k

[KChen]

Demos from Analytical figure drawing, two model pose:

1 hr demo and comp studies
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2 model quick block-in's
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[KChen]

10th week: Last day of Head Drawing class at Laafa. Demo on facial anatomy and expressions:

3 min expression studies
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Front/side view facial muscles. facial muscles are designed for funtion and movement. The most range of move ment on our face is our mouth and our eyebrows. As you can see most facial muscles are desgned for their movements.
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facial muscles pulls on the face like strings. the flesh between the muscle connection points fold like a venetian blind when the muscle (string) flexes. the muscle connection and pulling point are consistant at the same place forming dimples, folds or wrinkles on the face. As we get older the flesh between the pulling points sag as the skin looses it's elastic quality.
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[Hermchen]

Hi, KChen.

First of all I want to assent to all these statements
that say thank you.

I came across this picture and wondered
what the use of the cutter is in drawing.
Explanation of other tools would be
appreciated, too!

[Treb]

Hermchen, I would imagine that the cutter is for sharpening his pencil. =) CarbOthello pencils are basically pastel pencils, and conte and conte pencils are just, well, conte. And of course he has his sander at the bottom for creating better points for his assorted mediums.

[pconsidine]

I came across this picture and wondered
what the use of the cutter is in drawing.

As Treb said, it's probably mostly for sharpening your tools. But I've known some people who also use a razor to scratch out highlights when they want a whiter white than an eraser can give them (or if they want a sharp edge instead of the soft edges an eraser usually gives). Of course, that only works if you're using really heavy-weight cotton rag paper like Stonehenge or Arches printmaking papers (I almost always draw on Arches or Rives BFK, whichever I can afford at the time; I've also worked on watercolor paper, but sometimes the surface texture can be too much).





(If you couldn't tell, I'm a bit of a paper fanatic. )

[fredflickstone]

are you talking about the blade? that is for sharpening the pencils. not for scratching. You use a blade like that on the art, and you are gonna kill the surface. It is formally for sharpening the pencils like a brush set. Big long tapering lead to the wood. These are used pencils. they dont show what that blade does for them.

[pconsidine]

Fred –

There are plenty of surfaces that can stand up to a little scratching out: heavy bristol boards, papermaking or watercolor papers and some illustration boards, to name a few. Yes, it chews up the surface a bit, but it's usually a final-stage thing anyway, so you wouldn't be going over it again anyway.

I'm sure you're right that the blade in the pic is for sharpening the pencils, but tools have many purposes. If someone wants to experiment with scratching out highlights, they'll find a way to make it work.

I'm just sayin'...