Anatomy Studies Demo: "Figure Studies"

[KChen]

Some demos for the Analytical class on ambient lighting and back light situations:




Head Drawing class Demo:


Q: Can you give me a tip on how to capture quick 10-20 second gestures?
A: To do good quick sketches you really need a lot of mileage from doing longer studies. It will help you understand the pose better and allow you to know what to look for in such a short time. Another key part about doing quick sketches is how to short hand what you see, which is also based on your knowledge and mileage on designing shapes. There is really no short cut.

There are a couple tools I do use though to help me see the important parts of the gestures first and shorthand the drawing:

1) think of the body as 3 simple parts (head, torso, legs) and see how these three parts counter balance each other to support weight. They are the key weight factors of the body and the rest of the body will follow through to their action.

2) beware of the shape read of the figure. It is the first thing we see, even before form!! make sure it reads well to describe planes, action (stretch n' pinch) with just the flat shape)

3) think in contrast!! We perceive the world in contrast, the more contrast you use the clearer the statement. If you want to show stretch, you show pinch, if you want to show hard, you have to show something soft, if you want to show something right you need to show something wrong. Make your point clear.

These are some of the tools and principals I use often to communicate the pose in a short time

hope this will help!

[KChen]

Class demos from Gnomon figure drawing class:

Pelvis Structure




Knee Structure

[popeye]

kevin,

your tutorial is so impressive that i cant stop looking at them at least once a day!!

i got some questions for you.can u tell me how large is the paper for your large demo? and how small those figures are for 1-5 mins poses?also, do u use smaller tool for short pose?
do u switch to smaller tool when u are doing detail?
plus, which tool do u like the most?

i am having a hard time including the whole figure in the paper.i usually use 24x18 newsprint or sketch paper, but they are not large enough since i use a big(thick) graphite 9b stick to draw.i kinda like the softness and the feel of that big graphite stick but it is really hard for me to get the darker value in a short time, as well as the detail, such as facial features.

[KChen]

Here are some demos from the last day of the Analytical class:




I also posted some new stuff in the quick sketch thread.



Q: How large is the paper for your large demo?
A: As for paper, I usually work on 18" x 24" smooth newsprint.

Q: How small are the figures are for the 1-5 mins poses?
A: The 1~ 5 min figures are from 4 ~ 8 inches each (usually the images posted are in proportion to 18" x 24").

Q: Do you use a smaller tool for short poses or details?
A: I use the same type of charcoal pencil for the whole drawing. I switch between some firm and soft charcoal pencils for longer poses though. The pencils are sharpened to a taper point so I can both smear with its sides or draw with its tip.

I have a tip that might help you control the size of your drawing. Before you draw, mark off where you want the top & bottom of the figure to be. After that you can just break that distance in half and divide the top half into four units. That way you can figure out how big the head needs to be for it to fit in that desired space (based on 8 head proportion unit). I got that tip from the Andrew Lomis book and it was really simple & effective.

Kevin

[KChen]

Demo from Gnomon, 1st week of class:


Thanks guys. I was originally posting these demos for my students so they can easily get a copy of the demo from the class to accompany their notes. I am glad these are of help to everyone

New term starting up again and I should have more soon!

kevin

[poly_cube]

Hiya

I’m taking a figure drawing class with keven and needless to say it rocks. Since I was taking pictures of how he draws (before and after) I figured everyone here would appreciate them.


Thanks for letting me post these keven.

before:


after:

[AmadorL]

Yo poly_cube is this your first Life Drawing class if not how many have you had before this one? do you know if Kevin will be teaching another life drawing class the following term? I heard he was going to be teaching a character drawing class.

Thanks
Amador

[poly_cube]

well this concludes the Kevin drawing (I won't be able to attend the last day of class so if any of the other students wish to post the pics that be great)

I apologies to any of the classmates who thought I was going to post these pics up last week- finals n all arrg.

actually Amadorl Kevin was my first life drawing class I have ever taken. I had one at digipen (non life drawing) but it was more of a "draw 50 pages/ I won't bother looking at it and well call it even". Kevin basically sits down with you while you draw from a model and give you pointers and critique during the whole class.

Kevin is really patient too. Anyways on with the his demo’s

[poly_cube]

[poly_cube]

man i didn't notice how many pic I took haha

[obid619]

where is your class at?

[KChen]

Sorry for the late reply, just got back from my vacation in Taiwan.

Poly_cube, Thanks for posting all these demos up


Obid619,
My class are at:

Gnomon School of Visual Effects:
Figure Drawing (Sun 9~12 PM)
Character Design 1 (Sun 2~5 PM)

LA Academy of Figurative Art:
Analytical Figure Drawing (Wed 10~5 PM)
Head Drawing (Wed 7~10 PM)

Art Center College of Design
Figure Drawing Workshop (Sat 8~1 PM)

They are all located in Los Angeles and you can find more info about them on google search.

Hope this will help

k

[wet-nap]

kevin - as you already know i'm a huge fan. your posts have really changed the way i work, and for that matter, the way i see the people around me. i'd add my voice to the chores of other who excitedly look forward to seeing more or your great teachings if/when you have the time. for that matter i'd probably downright wet my pants and squeal like a 12 year old girl at an Nsync party if you someday make a gnomon. :eek:

thanks

a kevin related question for anyone who can field it ::
I know I'm going to punch myself upside the head if/when the answer is provided, but for the life of me i can't figure out what the acronym VHASP as written by kevin on one of his demos means. Of course now i can't even find the sketch where i first saw it, so i can't even try to deduce its meaning based on the image. Can anyone whos taken one of kevin's class at gnomon, art center or laafigart enlightening me on what it might mean?

thanks

[KChen]

I have recently started a new full-time job at NCsoft. Because of the new work, I have taken a break from teaching. Currently, I am only teaching at Gnomon for the character design class and figure drawing class.

Maybe in the future I can start a thread from the character design class demos

Q: What does VHASP stand for?
A: VHASP is a quick abbrievation for:
- Vertical
- Horizontal
- Angles
- Shape
- Proportion

It is a list of things in order of priority for my students to double check what they see.

First how the object's place relates in terms of vertical measurement, then horizontal.
Once you figure out the placement, double check it with angle measurement and negative shapes.

At the very last, after you check all the 2d visual qualities of your object, you then double check it with your knowledge of proportion.

I placed proportion at the end of the list because I want the students to trust their observation more before they use their pre-concieved knowledge of the figure.

A lot of times, it is those preconcieved information that blinds us from seeing accurately.

I want the students to use proportion as a ruler to better see how the figure differs from it (to capture character).

Hope this helps
kevin

[pvrhye]

Don't supposeI could get you to demystify this image a bit. It deals with a serious problem spot for me.

[RefrigeratorCo]

Yeah, shoulders and hips are by far the hardest for me. I can't figure out an easy way to remember em. All the other parts of the body can by broken down (to me) where as those change depending on what the figure is doing.

[jfrancis]

RefrigeratorCo, I try to remember those aspects of the anatomy that don't change from pose to pose, but that are the underlying facts of the construction of the body. The easiest way for me to remember the shoulders is to really learn the spine (which I did by creating a 3D model based on the anatomy drawings of Dr. Paul Richer)

Then the rib cage

Then the placement of the scapula on the rib cage in back, the clavicles in front, and the humerus.

After that, I know the deltoids come off the spine of the scapula in back, and the outer third of the clavicles in front, and go halfway down the humerus. (as I have speed painted, below) The trapezius muscles do exactly the same thing, but they also go up to the base of the skull, and down to the 12th thoracic vertebrae.

To practice learning muscle origins and insertions, I use a Poser skeleton to speedpaint the muscles.



Taking the time to do these exercises helps me learn the forms.

I also benefited a lot from studying anatomy with Glenn Vilppu. I feel these drawings organize information in a way that is similar to Vilppu's approach. Is he a former student of Vilppu's, or is this approach fairly widespread I wonder.

[Morbid]

Mirror: http://www.angelfire.com/art3/kchendemos/ Grab it while there is still some bandwidth left.
Thanks to maxetormer!

[KChen]

Sorry for the long absence, being really busy at work preparing stuff for E3

Man, it's being a long time since I posted these, it might take me a little while to relocate the files to post them back up...

In the mean time, if you already have any of the images ready and organized, feel free to post up a link and share. Thanks a lot, Maxetormer & Morbid for the help!!

[PolinaH]

Okay heres K Chens stuff
http://raven.sixdot.net/Kevin%20Chen/

try not to download too much but it should be good =)