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. 

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.