Ramona’s 100 Day Art Challenge: Figure Drawing

[Joshua Jacobo]

Nice work. You’re really loosening up which is great.

[Ramona]

Thank you Joshua, I’m glad that you can see some progress in my drawings!

Today was my first day of my more “structured” approach to this challenge. In the beginning, I honestly had little knowledge about the aspects that are crucial for figure drawing and I decided to come up with a schedule that includes a lot more repetition and practice rather than focusing on each body part per week. I realized that there are some basic skills one should better know before deep diving into anatomy.

Today was Gesture Monday, so the instruction videos and practice sessions revolved around this topic. Each drawing session has a warming up sequence. For example, today I did some basic line exercises and 30 second gesture drawings for that. In the longer session, I did a set of 10 upside down gesture drawings in the morning and timed figure drawings in the evening, but with a heavier focus on the gestures than on the right proportions/ anatomy. A few came out really wonky, but I like the thinking pose in the lower middle. One thing that I also noticed that even if you have set a clear approach before you start to draw (as for example focusing on the gesture), my hand has sometimes a mind of its own and does something different.

Day 18:

[rahulranjit93]

Awesome work Ramona! Keep going!

[Ramona]

Thank you very much, Rahul!

Today was Structure Tuesday, which means I focused on the forms within the figure. I also did a small master study of a Raphael drawing and it was interesting to see how much the first and second attempt differ.

Day 19:

[Ramona]

Personally, Wednesdays always feel like a slump, so it became my “Basic Wednesday”:

Watching a video about basic forms on NMA and also incorporating some fundamental exercises from a website called drawabox.

Day 20, with no figures:

[Joshua Jacobo]

With those curves: try to go slow and not “sketchy.” Try to develop a firm controlled hand.

[Ramona]

Thank you Joshua for your advice!

I decided to use Thursdays for anatomy, but as I’m not really experienced with anatomy yet, I naively thought that the pelvis and legs would be easy. That is definitely not the case :’)

I focused on the pelvis instead and learned some things about the differences of the female and male ones. I filled a few pages, but had nothing I wanted to post, so I did one figure drawing from imagination instead. I think I slowly begin to see my anatomical mistakes, as there a lot in my drawing.  I should not forget to draw from imagination from time to time!

Day 21

[Ramona]

I love drawing heads and portraits, so this is definitely a field I want to get better at as well! This is why I put more emphasis on portraits on Fridays from now on. Also, the first week of my more structured approach has ended and I was able to fill more pages compared to last week. It was also good to have a rough structure of which resources I want to look at day by day. However, I also think that I need to be more mindful about my practice sessions – in other words, I should also step back, take a look at the pages, and try to assess in which direction the next week should go. The structure will be the same as this week, but way more drawing iteration is needed.

Have a nice weekend everyone!

Day 22:

 

 

[Ramona]

Today was a little bit drawing lazy, but after doing a few 15 to 30 second gestures in the morning, the Croquis Cafe poses seemed pretty long to me!

Day 23:

[Ramona]

Insight of today: Drawing backs is really difficult! Also, I think I’m still paying too much attention to the outline rather than to the forms of the figure.

Day 24:

 

[Ramona]

Today was Gesture Monday! Overall, I try to stay away from instruction videos this week and try to draw more/ analyze the outcomes.

The day started with many very short poses (15 – 30 seconds) and action line drawings. I realized that even these first lines sometimes come out really stiff and as they are the first foundation for the rest of the gesture, I have to focus on making these more fluid.

I also included a drawing from imagination and one study of a back from reference for today’s post.

Day 25:

 

[Ramona]

I titled Tuesdays myself Structure Tuesday, but I found out in the morning that I have not really a fundamental understanding of finding the forms in the figure yet. I switched to more gesture drawing in the afternoon and tried to use fewer lines to make the outcome look clearer.

I liked today’s gesture from imagination and the study from reference way better than the ones from yesterday. From day to day, I discover more things I still have to learn, but this makes drawing even more interesting to me in the end I guess.

Day 26:

 

[Joshua Jacobo]

You have the right idea. “Finding” the right forms is part gesture, part structure, part anatomy: but it takes a lot of practice. Keep it up!

[Ramona]

Thanks Joshua for your encouraging words, I am also convinced that it takes time until all of these different concepts are internalized and can be used without thinking too much. Today was my Basic Wednesday, so I drew a bunch of ellipses and boxes. My perspective skills are not very good, so I decided to engage in an extra round of perspective practice tomorrow.

 

I received new pastel colors today and decided to do a test drawing with it, I actually used this medium for the first time. I like the result (drawn from a Croquis Cafe reference photo). Has someone advice on how to do tiny details with pastel chalk? I had to draw the finer details with an ink pen, but I’m not very satisfied with how it looks.

Day 27:

[Ramona]

Nothing too wild for today: I focused on perspective explanations.

Day 28:

[Author]

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