[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!

[Marcolino Estuardo]

Hi Ram, do timed sessions, do quick little gestures from imagination with no time at all as warm-up. Just keep at it. 🙂

[Marcolino Estuardo]

Hi, I would ignore texture/hair/detail in general. Just stick to focusing on the gesture and structure of things. 😉

[Marcolino Estuardo]

Hey Mattias,

Yes! Actual object drawing! That’s always fun. I like your trees. I was actually out at a park last week, was ready to go home when I stumbled upon a bunch and began sketching their branch growth/flow. I started walking through a neighborhood and just LOOKED at trees. Quite revealing.

I should brush up on object sketching!

[Marcolino Estuardo]

Damn…

I assume you’re working on a massive drafting table and using rulers/t-squares for these constructions?

[Marcolino Estuardo]

Hey Ram,

Better. Proportions are definitely off in some. With practice you’ll be able to relate points and relationships. I do feel a few are missing that ‘energy’ and flow. Focus on the soul of the figure first before constructing the forms on top. Practice warm-up drawing of rhythm lines, look up Loomis’ ‘Figure Drawing for all its Worth’ book and Bridgman’s ‘Drawing from Life’ book. Both contain good sections on that. If not, watch Vilppu’s timed-sessions.

Of note, do try and take your pics under better lighting. Not sure of your situation. But a good tip for viewers wanting to see your work more clearly. I know some can’t have a fancy scanner at times.

Cheers! Keep it up.

[Marcolino Estuardo]

Hey @Tim Thanks! All the best on your journey! I have fond memories of my beginnings 🙂

Excuse lack of updates. Just realized I have to go through my next sketchbook. Here are a few gestures from the last one. A note on these: They’re actually from a YT vid of Charlotte Ambroise (?) for her performance on ‘A Chorus Line’. My gf introduced me to it. I was enamored with her dancing and would pause the vid and capture everything. An awesome exercise to do! Actually, a live session last November, we told our model to do 5, 10, 30 second poses. Quite fun! I’ll try and dig up some long-poses from last too. Only managed to do 2 this year because of the outbreak.

[Marcolino Estuardo]

Uh oh…you’re at that ‘pulling out the hair’ stage. Relax, take an extended break if you need to. Your angles don’t seem off. If anything, the jaws look thin. Never underestimate the power of just looking, observing, and drawing a simple box from life. Feel free to learn how to measure as well.

[Marcolino Estuardo]

Hi Jaylene, I really like the sense of weight/balance/grounding in some of the these figures.

Suggestions: Aim for cleaner, clearer, flowing lines of how your selected forms relate and connect to each other. If you’re unsure about anatomy, maybe don’t indicate every bump. Let that come later once you study it more. Let your forms/gesture speak for themselves. 😉

[Marcolino Estuardo]

Hi Linn, try drawing boxes freehand and by the eye. Don’t get caught up in building them from grids just yet. 😉

[Marcolino Estuardo]

Hi Ram, no worries. We all need the help here.

I’ll leave you be. Keep drawing, warming-up, feeling out the ACTION.

Keep an eye out on your connections though for the limbs. This recent figure above is a good example of what to consistently aim for: clear, loose, but push the gesture more. The ones before are a bit off, limbs-wise, as they come off the torso. Keep referring to figures YOU think are good against the ones that failed. Again, keep working, things will become clearer the more you learn and do.

[Marcolino Estuardo]

Hi Ram. A review of this page.

Good: Look at how those arms are connected and coming out of the shoulder line (leftmost). More of that! You always want a strong connection of each structure as you move down the body. Also look at how simplified they are. Very good! Cross-contours in these could have helped the viewer show them which direction they are going.

Same for legs. Their shapes are clear and the gesture reads as they go off into one direction.

Bad: Compare these arms to your good ones. The connection off the shoulder line is not there (left and middle). Curious as to what your thought process was there. Right one is more of a proportional issue. That head is a bit too extreme and uneasy. Remember: Everything structure works together as they move into each other. Keep going Sir.

[Marcolino Estuardo]

Hola Isabella, nice plane indication. Reminds me of Loomis’ page from his Figure Drawing book. Jesus’ knee on the right could be simplified a bit more. Try not to mix curves too much if you’re doing a strict plane study. Cool!

[Marcolino Estuardo]

Beautiful! Not sure if it’s the lighting conditions of the image, but I would’ve popped out those highlights and darken those darks more. But alas, you gotta move forward. 🙂 😉

[Marcolino Estuardo]

Good stuff Mattias. In terms of moving forward with new things, maybe don’t jump into anatomy/rendering just yet. Would be great to apply this gesture/form knowledge to actual on-location drawing coupled with Old Master breakdowns. Do you have any books on them? How can you apply your current knowledge to Raphael’s figures? How were his constructed?

Keep having fun!

[Author]

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