Nick’s 100 Day Challenge Hands & Figure

[nick.lagrow]

Day 55

Hand gestures, then spent time experimenting with hatching on this one.

[Marcolino Estuardo]

Hiya Nick. In terms of value, you can just stick to using 2 (black and white). No need to confuse and burden yourself with 4988274 values. Sean Cheetham made a good point of using a 2-value system and mentioned Bansky as an example. His graffiti art reads because it’s all shape and two values.

Woooah! That’s a super foreshortened finger!

[nick.lagrow]

Good points! I’ll work on that for a bit. I feel like I’m still working on getting one consistent value, so that alone’ll be good practice.

Tried to stick to 2 values today and spent less time on proportions / measurement. It’s tough to not try to add a third value – most of this pose was in shadow, so if I did it again I think I’d put more in the darker value

Day 56:

[nick.lagrow]

Traveling, so phone quality photo. Focused on grouping lights and darks to two values and keeping an even tone

Day 57

[nick.lagrow]

Day 58

Happy Halloween!

[nick.lagrow]

Day 59

[nick.lagrow]

Day 60

Same approach, just finished with the Sarah poses and moving on to Barry.

[Marcolino Estuardo]

Hola Nick,

For that Halloween figure, the bottom buttcheek, I would’ve shaded it entirely. I think that light is following the cylinder of the leg (?), but it could just be a large simplified mass shade. Don’t feel obligated to the lighting of your reference. Make clear what you can.

I’m liking how even your tones are. I gotta practice that. 😛 Go, go!

[nick.lagrow]

Ah great advice – that makes sense! I’ve started to see where editing the contours and lines a bit can help clarify, but haven’t thought much about it for the value shapes. Will see how I can apply that to figures and the hands 🙂

Day 61

Today I finally got to the first exercise in Steve Huston’s hands course – quite the journey already. This was a series of 1, 2, 5, and 10 minute drawings. I definitely struggled with the shorter poses, just getting the angles of all of the fingers in a hand seems like it takes more than a minute. Excited to see Steve’s approach in the next videos – hopefully tonight!

[nick.lagrow]

Day 62

Focusing on simplifying shadow shapes

[nick.lagrow]

Day 63

Didn’t get a chance to watch the follow ups to the first hands assignment yet. Just a practice today.

 

[nick.lagrow]

Day 64

Had some trouble submitting earlier, but here’s day 64 – just more practice!

[nick.lagrow]

Day 65

[nick.lagrow]

Day 66

For the last few days I’ve been trying to move a little more quickly and rely less on measurement. I’ve been warming up with either 1 minute hand or figure poses (depending on the day) to get i nthe mindset of simplifying curves and shadow shapes. Generally I think that’s helping, I don’t think I get much from spending tens of minutes on details if the gesture / lay in wasn’t very good. I’m hoping once we can go back to in-person classes I can get into some live sessions and get more out of them 🙂

Today I got some weird proportions in the legs by not measuring as carefully. Also avoided the face for now, don’t want to get lost in the details.

[Marcolino Estuardo]

Wow! Awesome updates Nick! Keep at it!

Love those hands on the four bottom panel of day 61. For Day 63, I probably would’ve shaded that cut of light where the pinky/ring fingers touch. Again, all about simplicity and making things clear. For Day 65, at the wrist, that half-circle in light, is that a tendon (snuff box)? Either, it could be shaded in, following the mass conception of the palm of the hand (box) or shaded as if following the mass conception of the egg-shaped thenar of the thumb.

Day 66, holy shit! Not an easy pose! Great execution on this one!

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