New bonus post: Landscapes

I almost forgot about these. Just finished three 30 minute landscape studies I'd like to share with anyone kind enough to be hanging around here.

All three look much better small but I don't think they're that bad for my firs time in forever doing such quick paintings. All done digitally from photo reference. 

Bonus post: Lighting stuff

I know that I call this blog Go Figure and that is primarily because it's goal was to help me improve my understanding of anatomy and the human figure. However, it is also a digital sketchbook, akin to the one I keep at conceptart.org. As such I'll share some of the other things I work on to improve my skills.

I had a lot of fun with the one on top especially and learned a bit more about doing lighting in my images in the process. 

Unit 4: Portraiture-Lips and some portraits

This isn't quite the way I'd wanted to return to the blog but lips are an important part of the face and some study of them is necessary. Especially since I didn't do that good of a job :(

More practice to come on the subject.

Then I've got these guys. A couple of portraits just done in pencil. I admit I had more fun and think I did a better job capturing the likeness of the female subject than the male (the male was found via doing a search for asian male models) and frankly the woman was just more fun to draw (though I think I got her head leaning a bit. I'll do some full paintings soon that'll hopefully demonstrate some portraiture improvement.

Unit 4: Portraiture-eyes

You know what are fun to draw? Eyes. Also, I'm actually rather proud of the top right sketch on the bottom image.

Unit 3: Limbs cont'd feet and Unit 4: Portraiture

 

Okay guys, heads up here's a brief summary of both why posts haven't been coming lately, and why that's changing now in a big way.

I recently quit my job with Walgreens and I realize just how much of my energy the place was sapping. I hadn't been drawing or taking care of myself because I hated what I was doing and hated my situation so much. I'm back to trying to keep things in order and I feel so much better. Now it's time to start doing what I do best again. On that note...

Hands and feet man. Two of the hardest things to draw in existence. I know more than my fair share of artists who are scared of attempting to put too much focus on either of these areas because they're so easy to make look weird. In all honestly I could spend a month just learning to draw these well and I've put nowhere near the focus on them they need. I will likely return to these at some point.
 

Part of the reason I admittedly rushed this important but easy to overlook segment of the body is because I also have another area that is both extremely important, NOT easy to overlook and is an area I've struggled with in the past. The head and face. 

If there's one thing to be on guard against with drawing the face in my opinion, it's drawing what you think is there instead of what is. Everyone spends a lot of their lives looking at faces and while we instinctively know when something is wrong, it doesn't mean we instinctively know how to make it look right. Also I've noticed I have to be on guard for my lean (something that sometimes happens when objects seem to distort and "lean" in a direction. For me, usually up and to the right since I'm right handed. 

These are planar drawings of the head to get a general idea ow how the big shapes are connected. Next up are the features of the head and portraits. I expect I'll do more than a few portraits. Here's one as a baseline before I leave. Let's see if I improve and how quickly. 

Unit 3: Limbs Cont'd-Hands

Okay, it's been a long time since I've posted anything here. Too long and frankly I'm a little irritated right now as one of my other sites I post things is giving me fits again so I'm going to start by posting what I need here and seeing if it works.

 

I promise if I get this to do what I want, I'll give a bit of an update on what's been going on. 

Unit Three: Limbs

Well here's the thing, I love Bridgman's life drawing for MOST of the body. That being said, he's a real let down when learning to draw legs. I'm having to rely on my other books pretty heavily and of course, the references I've got. Also I'm going to have to spend some time drawing my own legs. 

I seriously thought I'd have more to say here. I wish I did but I don't. The limb unit is finished and I think I'm ready to move on to the hands and feet. Something I've wanted to tackle (because they're important but very hard) and now it's time. 

Unit Three: Limbs cont'd

Continuing on with some gestures and then getting back to arms and legs.

Gesture drawings are an important part of your balanced art breakfast. They also taste like fish oil vitamins. Trust me if you've never taken fish oil, that's not a compliment. 

It's an "Arms Race" oh lord do I need to stop making puns. I should go to confession "forgive me father for I have punned." Nah, wouldn't work, not Pun Catholic. Anyway, just some reference drawings from one of my books. 

References but from imagination. Did a couple of large people arms and some regular ones. Fun times, fun times. 

Coming soon, legs, in original recipe and extra crispy... okay I'm done I'll go sit in the corner and think about my life choices. 

I wish I had more to say today but I don't. Conceptart.org is being frustrating but otherwise things are about the same as always. Lousy but livable. Gotta keep working toward the goal.

Bonus post: More Toros

Pretty much what it says on the tin. More practice with digital paint and torsos. I tried something a bit different this time in that I didn't refine the black and white as much as I usually do. Instead I used it as an underpainting and when I did the color tried to get the details and refinement there. I think I'm going the right way but I still don't feel like I'm there yet.

The issue I'm having is I'm not really sure the shadows are gelling right. I'm going to have to work on that more. In the meantime, more stuff coming soon. I have a whole bunch of stuff that needs scanning and posting. 

Unit Three: The limbs

I'm going to be combining a few things I'd planned on. The two separate units that were going to be arms and legs are getting combined into one. Still, we're starting with arms so let's get to it.

Not much to say this time. Just a general sketch blast.

Started with some structural studies from my drawings books trying to get a feel for the general construction of the arm and its planes. Boy is this thing complex. 

Closing this out with some studies and digital painting studies to end this one. The difference in the skin on this one was cool. The bottom one is of a woman and due to the lighting on her the skin had a bit of a cold tint to it. The arm at the top right had a warmer feel to it and it was awesome to have an exercise force me to look at that.

Bonus Post: Perspective

Well I actually had time to do a little bonus exercise and I thought I'd upload it before I have to start thinking about going to my hellish job :(

I learned about perspective very young. I was about 8 years old when one of my first art teachers taught me the technique. I remember loving it but I guess sometimes, since I learned it so young that I take for granted that I need to practice it as often as the other stuff I do and link it with the new stuff I've learned. Someone noted that working on the solidity of construction, especially with regards to perspective would help so I decided to give it a go. There's a pose from the gesture drawing tool with a low angle shot that I love but it also has a great sense of perspective that I wanted to try to learn from.

This is the reference pose. I chose to look at this in a VERY planar and blocked out exercise. The goal was not to get it to look like the model but to examine perspective, planes and a certain level of proportion. 

First, some small scale sketches.

I like trying to work out perspective small scale first. It helps me keep the vanishing points situated and means I don't always need a ruler. I went with one this time just so I could be POSITIVE of the angles and everything. 

Legs are a different unit down the road but I couldn't resist as the pose emphasized the legs through the low angle shot. Also extra points for a bit of lighting practice. 

Unit Two: Trunk Cont'd-planar stuff

New stuff today. I wanted to put this up yesterday but life has a nasty habit of getting in the way of making art.

I got blindsided by my store manager at my job and my schedule got changed without my knowing. I was in the middle of a drawing when I got a call from my manager wondering where I was since I'm always on time (early in fact) and I was supposed to be there about a half an hour ago when he called.

I, however, was unaware I was supposed to even bee at work! Needless to say I was pissed. I'd been planning on going to sleep within the next hour when he called and then ended up having to do an overnight shift out of nowhere that I was not physically or mentally prepared for.

Anyway enough of that nonsense. Drawings!

Gesture drawings to start. While I'm still not a fan of these they're getting easier and I'm hating doing them less (if only because they look less like hen scratches now. 

Next a up, a paltry pair of planar practice pieces: Try saying that three times fast. The bottom one is actually what I was in the middle of when I got the call and I was NOT happy. I was planning on getting a couple of other things done that night and the next morning but like I said, life. It's a four letter word for a reason. 

Finishing off this post with a couple of body type studies. Not as fun and far more technical than my last body type blast but still educational. 

I think after a couple more digital paintings that are hopefully coming next post we'll move on to some of the limbs. I'm thinking arms since I've been cheating a bit on my trunk definition and drawing them anyway and they're easier to work on at work since I'm cut off from my other references and without a lot of down time. 

Unit Two: The Trunk-back and gestures

Did I mention lately how much gesture drawing infuriates me? 

Just a few today and as usual you can see our dud for the bunch. This time firmly on the left hand side near the bottom. Poses like that are frustrating. 

Anyway onto a few other explanations. The obese trunk study is sort of a follow up from yesterday when I did the various body type studies and is referenced from a study in one of my books, a bit of imagination and lots of pics to try to get it right. Needless to say I think it feel more than a bit short but it misses being the dud this time. 

Okay, these make me feel a little bit better about myself, mostly due to feeling like I learned a bit more from them. These are studies from one of my books where I try to understand the planes of the body a bit more by wrapping contours around them (except for the drawing on the top that's again from the body type studies the other day. I feel like these are helping to prepare me for the painting side of things later. 

Update

Hey folks, I found the old google connect follower button again. To anyone out there who is watching this blog it'd be a great way to let me know there are some eyes out there in the darkness.

Feel free to make your presence known.

Anyway, we will return you to your regularly scheduled figure drawing studies later in the day.

Unit Two: The Trunk-Body type studies

Before I head in to work today I thought I'd do something with Celia M's comment earlier and add some variety to the body types studied.

As I may or may not have pointed out here on this blog earlier, fantasy art has a tendency to go with the classical ideas of "ideal proportions" and has a tendency to homogeneity in its body types. I personally think this has something to do with the Greco-Roman tradition inherent in the mindset behind the training necessary to represent a relatively accurate version of the form but that's just me.

Enough philosophizing though. Here's a little something to tide you over until the next image blast.

I really need to remember to give myself some more warm up time though. It's especially apparent in the upper two on the left and right but my lean came back. Mostly eliminated in the later ones it did show up a little bit today. 

All models here are actually pics found around the internet and used for educational purposes. 

Unit Two: The trunk cont'd (retroactive)

Why retroactive? Because I found some studies I forgot to upload. 

Unit Two: The Trunk Cont'd

Okay. It's been a bit since I've posted but I warned you that was going to happen. Anyway, continuing the ongoing improvement of figure drawing skills with a study of the trunk of the body.

The first things I worked on for this entry were some muscular studies. I was working on something else (I think it was another study for this blog) and realized that part of my difficulty probably stemmed from not having a solid grasp of what the musculature under the skin was doing. To remedy that I thought some musculature studies similar to my skeleton studies would work. Above you see the pages from my sketchbook and below you'll see some details.

These were a lot of fun and knowing what I know about the skeleton now seeing how everything attaches is really interesting. It also demonstrates how and why armor design so closely resembles musculature. As the muscles protect the organs by layering and interlocking, so does armor. For example, I've always known the pectoral muscles connect at the sternum but was unaware of how they connect to the deltoids, the muscles that make the semi rounded shape of the shoulder. In the back muscles wrap around sort of like a vest from the mid back to the sides of the pecs. All interesting stuff. 

I did fewer studies this time than last, partially because of the detailed nature of the muscle studies but I wanted to do some work on twisting and the back of the trunk. Also, I wanted to do a study with a different skin tone. I did my black and white underpainting and I'm not sure how I feel about it. I'll try again. 

On the subject of doing these studies of the back I think it goes without saying (though I'll say it anyway) one must learn to draw the human body from all angles. These exercises of course remind me of what one of my teachers said. You have to learn to make a sort of 3-D model in your head of what you're trying to draw so that you can rotate and manipulate it in your head. Seeing in the round essentially. A skill that serves sculptors of every sort infinitely but is also remarkably helpful to an illustrator doing representational and or figurative work. 

So I need to be able to build my objects in my mind from the inside out AND make the final 3-D image in my mind manipulatable? 

Why does it sound like I'm training to use a Green Lantern ring? Admittedly, second best super power for an artist ever. What's the first? 

Making your drawings come to life. Duh 

:D

See you next time. 

Unit Two: The trunk

This unit is going to be a good bit longer than the skeletal unit was (though as I said, bits are going to show up from time to time). Without further ado let's jump right in. 

First one here... yeah this doesn't have a lot to do with the figure... or does it? Dun dun dun. Okay in all seriousness it does and it doesn't. Really I felt very tight when I started working one day and though that some perspective shapes might fix that. It does help with the body though because essentially what I'm trying to do is reaffirm my knowledge of how the body behaves with regards to perspective. Having a shape, say a rectangular prism, around the body helps to figure that out. 

Decided to play around with changing camera angle and what that does to examining the form. That sort of came off of the perspective shapes exercise earlier. Also gave me another opportunity to practice turning of the trunk. A couple are referenced from one of my books and one, the one with 'reference' written next to it is from the gesture drawing tool. however, several are me trying out some of what I've learned about the spine, torso and body movement so there are a few from imagination as well. 

Did another digital painting study of a female trunk. Once again the gesture drawing tool provided the model here. Don't think I succeeded as well as I'd like but once again I did learn something from it. 

Finally I've got two male trunk studies. Both were done relatively quickly and helped me decide on my next move. I definitely need to do some muscle studies for the front and back of the torso before moving forward. So that's what you'll see on the next episode of Go Figure. 

See you soon.