Figure Drawing for Critique

[Flavio C.]

I’ve been practicing figure drawing for exactly three months, and I feel that, after some progress, I’m stuck at this point (I did this drawing today in 20 min). I mean, I can’t see any improvements on my last 50 or so drawings. I know my shading is awful and I’m not really sure on how to improve it. Any advice is appreciated.

• This topic was modified 4 years, 6 months ago by Flavio C..

[Annie Survis]

Hey Flavio!

I know you’re working on figure drawing right now, but have you taken any of the beginner drawing courses here? It had been a while since I had held a pencil when I joined NMA, and so I started there. They seemed so rudimentary, but my shading got so much better, and my lines got so much more controlled.

Also, did you start out doing figure drawing as quick, gestural sketches?

If you feel like you’re not improving, and you’ve done all of the above and I’m just way off base, then have you tried the Russian Anatomy course? I feel like sharing and drawing along with that course will help you get to the next level.  Iliya is amazing to watch, and really helps you understand structure and shading.

Thank you for sharing! I hope something I said is helpful to you!

[Flavio C.]

Hello Annie,

I’m a self-taught artist and joined NMA just a few days ago exactly to try to find some advice on how to improve my figure drawing skills. I’ll take a look at your suggestions — thank  you very much!

BTW, I loved the portrait drawing you did for the Russian Academic Drawing course, specially the model’s facial expression — congrats!

[Jillian Phillips]

Hi Flavio!

Nice work you posted!

One suggestion I would have is to spend a longer period doing your studies. If you get bored easily you could set timers and get up and move around in between (or work on multiple pieces at a time) but really take your time and squint in to see details that you may have missed in a quick 20 minute sketch.

 

[Flavio C.]

Hello Jillian,

I’ve been doing hundreds of 1, 2 and 5 minute drawings for the last 3 months, and only recently I started doing 20 minutes figure drawings. Maybe I’m not sure on what to do with so much time! 🙂 Maybe your tip on squinting is really what I need — I’ve been having a hard time finding form shadows, specially on images with low contrast.

Thank you very much.

[erikdennes]

It looks to me like to are focusing too much on contour and not enough on spacial volume.  I really like Karl Gnass’ figure drawing series on the NMA website.   You should check that out  and pay particular attention to the construction phase.

[Flavio C.]

Thanks for the observation and suggestion, Erik — I’ll take a look.

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