not copying the model

more trying not to copy the model... Feels like I might be getting out of the 'rut" I was in.



demo below - me trying to show constructing the figure instead of copying


and practicing what I preached - long poses

Getting back at it - I was feelin pretty rusty at last nights figure drawing class. After a week away it was slow going getting warmed up.


kind of a nice one... but there are still a lot of problems with it


tonight I did some 10 minute poses from the online trainer - this time I made more of an effort to approach the figure 'structurally' - not trying to copy it, more like reconstructing it based on the models pose... I like the results much better.

quick studies

I got experimental with the gestures and short poses during my last figure drawing session.

2 minute poses using ink brush on toned paper


5 minute pose using photoshop. I have this recurring digital painting fantasy - that only requires practice to become a reality - but my comfort level with the tablet seems to come and go at random. These days I feel very 'rusty' and unsure of myself when drawing with it. This was a brief attempt to do a little practice. Though 5 minutes is not much. Next class I'll have a go at one of the longer poses.


I did some pencil drawings of longer poses that I am thinking about making into 'comic book' pin-up images... but I have quite a bit inking to finish before I start a big new drawing.

Weekend work

This weekend I got a couple of very different things started.
1. An oil painting of a cow - gonna try for a trompe l'oeil effect and have it 'realistically' looking in through the frame. The weather was so nice on Saturday I sat outside in the driveway and painted.

 

2. I spent Sunday afternoon inking a page for a comic book project that I am getting tired of looking at - but I'm going to finish ...and I'll just do a better job of drawing on the next one.

I almost made it through the whole page in one afternoon but I'm starting to feel a little tired and on the verge of making mistakes. I should easily be able to finish this up during the week.

figure drawing 3-11

It looks like Monday and Wednesday nights are going to be figure drawing nights 'with model' for a while! Last night I had to stop and help my students a lot (first time with a live model for most of them) so I didn't get to spend as much time on my own drawings as I would have liked.

I am going to start doing thumbnail sketches for cover/pin-up drawings and asking the model to take a similar pose.I think it would be cool for my students to do the same. Instead of just copying whatever pose the model takes we could make more practical use of them.  

Jumbo Sketch Dump

Well, I was proud of myself for doing all those little figures on Sunday but since then I have been disappointed by almost everything I've drawn. Most of it has been rushed - drawn in classes where I have to stop and help students or rush through to demo something, instead of really focusing on my drawing... so yea, I have excuses. Mostly I'm just seeing these same mistakes I'm making and not feeling like I'm really getting past them. ):

I'm also starting to think that perhaps there is a very significant difference between the 'academic' process of figure drawing (from reference/model) and the 'illustrative/comic book process' (from memorization/imagination). The distinction has something to do with "copying" the figure vs 'constructing it, but I am still trying to figure out the details... and what the best overall approach is.

In the back of my mind I know that in total I might spend 3-5 hours drawing during a week (weekends are random) and that simply might not be enough to push myself further and make any real/fast/substantial progress. The incredible irony about teaching art at the college level - for me - has been that every college I have worked at the emphasis for art instructors has been on anything and everything EXCEPT making art. Could be I just have not worked at the right college yet. But I digress.

Like I often tell my students - seeing what is wrong with your drawing is a good thing. That is the first step to being able to fix stuff and improve. When you don't see your mistakes, you keep on making them.
Time to practice what I preach.

Monday:




Wednesday

Ok, I am kind of happy with the one below

Art Splash 2013

Thursday night, March 28th, I participated in an event called Art Splash that was held in the Kress Building in downtown Montgomery. It was an art auction to raise money for a local, very small k-5th grade school called The Montgomery Christian School which is doing great things on a tiny budget AND putting an emphasis on art.

The instructions were that the artists would finish their work to be auctioned on-site with food, drinks and an artists assistant to be provided. It was a very cool event and I got to chat with a lot of friendly folks, show a couple of paintings and draw. here is my in-progress drawing:

and here is the state it was in when time ran out and the auction began:

 

All over the place

This month I have been doing a lot of sketching and working out separate issues with anatomy, dealing with the figure in pieces. A lot of that coincided with going over the 'parts' for my figure drawing class.
It is good stuff to review.

Now I'm turning to the gesture and trying to do more full figures in an effort to put everything (all the parts) together. Gesture and proportion are still complicated issues for me - they are a struggle. I am not inclined to pretend I have a better grasp of them  than i do or ignore how hard it can be to capture the the figure in a simplified form, so I keep at it. Last week I started re-watching some of the Glenn Vilppu    videos on gesture and basic forms of the figure and they are slowly sinking in.

Also I'm doing some long overdue inking

And as if that weren't enough, I feel like starting some new paintings too! 

I just hope I find time to do it all. 

Thursday and Friday drawings

sketches:

drawings from convocation

final pencil drawing 11x17

re-figurng the figure

next up - legs!

Had a busy week last week and a painfully short weekend so I spent most of my free time working on art stuff.

Finished penciling the last of a 6 page story last night around midnight. I have a few corrections to make before inking it.

Today I lettered it and managed to knock out a page of hasty torso studies in my sketchbook. The middle one os from memory, the others are from reference.
 
Hopefully next week I'll have more time during the week to do art. Cramming it all into the weekends is a bit of a stretch.

just keep drawing...

A few figures from an old (year 2000) book on fashion illustration called "Fashion Images."

I had to really push myself to get some drawing done tonight. My worry is that I have been looking at anatomy as a bunch of separate parts for a while and I really need to focus on the entire figure as a whole. Gonna do my best over the next few days to keep drawing complete figures as well as anatomical parts.

After a long day at work it is really hard to sit down with a pencil and paper. Glad I did it though.

sketching - a page a day

Thanks to mjranum on deviantart for the photo reference http://mjranum-stock...ancer-196677617 

skull heads

yesterday's page

sketching must not stop

Well, my figure drawing class with Comics Experience has ended - and it was excellent in every way. Really fueled my artistic fires and got me in the habit of drawing every day again.


Since anew semester has resumed the new challenge will be keeping up with the art in spite of copious amounts of 'paperwork' that will need to be produced and consumed.

Gotta make sure my priorities are straight.
...as do we all.

New Year, new painting

Made some breakthroughs in digital painting to ring in the new year.

Technical notes:

I was keeping my brush at around 70% opacity and 50% flow using hard edge brushed for blocking in color and soft at around 30% opacity for blending.

I got carried away with the mermaids parts – particularly with the faces and eyes. I don’t know if it is wise to work these detailed areas first but I’m thinking I can keep the rest very loose and perhaps come to a quick finish.

Discovered the art of WEI (http://www.artofwei.com/ ) while trying to figure out the lighting for mermaid 1. Different brush settings recommended – 25% opacity and flow. It works pretty well for blending things smoothly. Gotta bump the percentages up for hard edges and details.

Today I am pretty much done, except for some final nitpicking. I learned a lot and often felt like I had completely left my comfort zone and had no idea how to proceed... but 13 days later the coloring is done ...almost.