Sketchbook Thread of Rangerman

[NR43]

Hi

really nice sb start...
I like the gestures...very dynamic and a great sense for proportion shows here
In some of the life drawings I feel you could have pushed the values a bit more, and some limbs are lacking volume and mass here and there.

Looking forward to see more work from you and to see you become active on these forums.

Take care
43

[VincereCaos]

welcome!
Very nice gestures, is always good to make a lot of those! In your life drawing sketches, like NR43 said, there seems to be some volume problems. I really like your shading though, is very soft (don't know how to explain) , especially in the last images :) I think it looks best in the drawing of the girl on the floor (the one before the last) the body looks very realistic.

[Rangerman]

Thanks for the comments guys. One question though, what should I do to put volume into the limbs? Add more value to create more depth? More backlighting or core shading? Here's some more drawings.

http://imagehub.geekfury.com/files/19/Anatomy%20Sketches/100_1103.JPG



http://imagehub.geekfury.com/files/19/Anatomy%20Sketches/100_1106.JPG (http://imagehub.geekfury.com/files/19/Anatomy%20Sketches/100_1106.JPG)

And here's some gestures. Sorry about shading in my gesture drawings but I got to impatient waiting for the next gesture.

http://imagehub.geekfury.com/files/19/Anatomy%20Sketches/100_1098.JPG

http://imagehub.geekfury.com/files/19/Anatomy%20Sketches/100_1095.JPG

http://imagehub.geekfury.com/files/19/Anatomy%20Sketches/100_1093.JPG

And here's some gesture using my tablet. The tablet is a bit awkward for me to use but I think I did decent.

http://imagehub.geekfury.com/files/19/Anatomy%20Sketches/digital%20gesture.jpg

You know what? I think I like to do gesture drawings far more than doing a fully rendered model. Thanks for viewing!

[NR43]

One question though, what should I do to put volume into the limbs? Add more value to create more depth? More backlighting or core shading?

Both are good solutions. It's a good thing that you came up with them yourself :)
Using a wider range of values will surely add to the volume of your drawings. In your case you need to go darker. Don't be scared to screw up, for you cannot make every drawing to be perfect anyway. Keep pushing yourself!

You can make a subject "pop out of your paper" when you add abit of background here and there. The viewer's eye is always lead towards areas with higher contrast, so use this technique to accentuate area's that are interesting to you.

Great work!

[RedSquirrel]

Not bad :) , one or two images with perspective problems but given more time and practice you should have them sorted out. If you want to further give your images more depth, get some white chalk or pastel for highlighting.

[Rangerman]

Thanks for your comments NR43 and Red Squirrel. I have a few more posts, most of them gestures.

http://imagehub.geekfury.com/files/19/Anatomy%20Sketches/digital%20gesture%202.jpg

Some gestures on my tablet.

http://imagehub.geekfury.com/files/19/Anatomy%20Sketches/Pen%20Gestures.jpg
Gestures using Ink. These took about five minutes to do. Ink is interesting because it makes me very cautious in how i place my lines. I definetly felt insecure about using it but I think I did ok.

http://imagehub.geekfury.com/files/19/Anatomy%20Sketches/Pen%20hands%20and%20feet.jpg
Here's some ink drawing on some hands and feet. I think I need to study how to do better hatching.

http://imagehub.geekfury.com/files/19/Anatomy%20Sketches/dumpster%20gestures.jpg
And here's some gestures I did while screwing around at work. Drew these on the side of a dumpster with some soap stone. These gestures are either from memory or imagination.

Hope you guys could give me some direction on how to do shading with ink. Thanks.

[Samanthie]

Hi Tim and welcome! It's good to see your work. You are very strong in your gesture drawings! Looking forward to more. Thanks too for stopping by my thread.:)

[Rangerman]

Thanks for your comment Samanthie, I'm glad you like the gestures. Here's some more drawings.

http://imagehub.geekfury.com/files/19/Anatomy%20Sketches/Poor%20Drawing.jpg
This was a poorly done drawing. Take a look at her tiny left hand and her giant bobble head :D. Wish I could have seen the problems before I went on to shading her but that's the way it goes.

http://imagehub.geekfury.com/files/19/Anatomy%20Sketches/Pencil%20hands%20and%20ink%20feet.jpg
I was quite impressed by the model today because the pose she was sustaining looked painful. Anyways I drew her hands using pencils. I wanted to draw them with ink but by looking at the complexity of how she put her hands together made them daunting to draw.
I drew her feet using pen and ink.

[Samanthie]

Hi Tim, I am thinking this is not a poor drawing. I know there are issues with her hands and feet but the rest of the drawing looks pretty good. Her head does not look oversized to me but you can make it look smaller maybe by raising the jawline a little. Have you heard of Andrew Loomis? He wrote several books on how to draw and illustrate the various parts of the body including head and hands. I am still studying him and have alot more to learn. They are free here..http://www.fineart.sk/index.php?cat=1
They are just great for practice.:)

[Auria]

your sketches look great! you can really tell your not afraid to draw interesting positions, which is key. a lot of the pictures you posted are some poses a lot of people have a hard time drawing. :) just pay attention to the line of center on your drawings, and i think you'll see a drastic improvement ^^ keep posting :D

[SpiritDreamer]

Hi ...Tim ...:)

GREAT start to your thread..:thumbsup:
Keep an eye out while doing the heads...you want to be able to fit three of them across from shoulder to shoulder...An easy way to do it, is to just very very lightly sketch in three oval egg shapes/heads on top of the torso ..this will give you the correct size..:)..After awhile, your eye will automatally add the two extra heads, doing it in your imagination, and you won't have to actually draw them in first...just a matter of training that eye first..:)
Really like those dumster figures...maybe get a small chalk board to practice figures on ..Lay in the figures with line just like you did, then go into them useing the whole side of the chalk, to creat overlapping volumes where there was only line before...great way to get used to imagining a light source ..try it , I think you will surprize yourself at how fast you can creat a figure that is in deep space with light and shade, and has volume,..with just a few strokes of the side of the chalk within the figure...:)
Really looking forward to seeimg more of your work, and the progress that will surely come with lots of practice..:thumbsup:
TAKE CARE
Glenn

[Rangerman]

Samanthie thanks for the information on head and hand studies from Loomis.

Abbey thanks for your kind comments about my gestures, and for stopping by my thread.

Glenn thanks for telling me the idea about the chalk. I think I'm gonna start practicing putting volume into my gestures. I was told by a guy at one of the drawing session I go to that the body of the gesture, or the flow of the gesture should be down on paper in 30 seconds. I thought that was daunting hear but the idea of using the side of chalk or perhaps charcoal would be a very useful idea in getting the gesture done quicker.

Here's a head study of Giovanni Bellini's Head of a Baptist. When I first looked at the picture I thought it would be interesting to draw a head that showed underneath the jaw, I've noticed a lot of artists don't care to draw or paint underneath the head or probably found it uninteresting to draw, but anyways I download the picture and I thought to myself why does this guys face look funny? Then I scroll down and I noticed the dude is missing his body! I don't know why I didn't notice that but it was a bit of a suprise for me.

http://imagehub.geekfury.com/files/19/Master%20Studies/severed%20head%202.jpg
I'm gonna try painting some of the hair and sharpen up the edges. Actually the hair looks fun to do but tedious at the same time.

[Rangerman]

Here's a small update on the severed head. The hair is looking like it's quite the challenge. Pretty interesting to see how much work Giovanni Bellini put into the hair.

http://imagehub.geekfury.com/files/19/Master%20Studies/severed%20head%203.jpg

[Samanthie]

Hey Tim, To me every angle is a learning process when drawing the head or any other part of the human form as far as that goes. I agree drawing the head from this angle isn't easy.Looking forward to more studies from you.:)

[RedSquirrel]

Well I really like your gestures, and the different variations :thumbsup: . I actually find that your body work is much better that your facial work. To improve on the face, if you can, maybe do a very quick facial sketch a day no longer than 3min. Keep the updates coming.

[Rangerman]

Hey Samanthie and Red Squirrel thanks for the comments. I agree that my faces aren't as good of quality. I've figured to start studying particular parts of the body like feet, hands, and the face. Those parts seem to be the hardest.

[Auria]

definately, feet hands and face are hands down the hardest parts on the human body, and the most important (of course! *rolls eyes*) i agree with the 3 min sketches everyday on the different areas, you'll se a drastic improvment :)!! other than that, your bodys are lovely! the sketches are coming along great :D

[NR43]

Hi Rangerman,

when drawing the head under an angle (or anything else for that matter), it may help to think in terms of volume when drawing. Feel the form. Remember that a line is not the representation of "the end of the form" but it is merely a suggestive way to tell us that the form turns further away from the viewer.
It's imperative that when drawing a 3D form, we think 3D when drawing it on our 2D paper or screen.

I really dig those soap stone gestures and your hand/feet ink drawings!

[Rangerman]

Here's some gestures from my imagination. I don't know what to think about the guy on the bottom right of the picture. Tried to make the gesture look like he was falling but I think I failed at the attempt.

http://imagehub.geekfury.com/files/19/Anatomy%20Sketches%202/gestures%20001.jpg


So I picked up some charcoal and started playing around with it. To be honest I didn't like using charcoal at first because if I wiped my hand across the drawing I'd smear the hell out of it and charcoal is messy too. But the drawing has a far more vivid look to it than graphite does.

http://imagehub.geekfury.com/files/19/Anatomy%20Sketches%202/004.jpg


http://imagehub.geekfury.com/files/19/Anatomy%20Sketches%202/001.jpg


http://imagehub.geekfury.com/files/19/Anatomy%20Sketches%202/002.jpg


http://imagehub.geekfury.com/files/19/Anatomy%20Sketches%202/003.jpg

[NR43]

nice update
charcoal is indeed well worth the mess if you ask me

careful with the proportions of the arms
also, it's good to emphasize some of the outlines, but don't do it around the complete figure... it flattens things out (thanks Dr Mentler for pointing this out!)

keep posting! I think you can do brilliant things with charcoal (like the hand and feet studies)

[vaaken]

Ooh, good stuff and soap stone on a dumpster! *LOL* Those were really good. =) Your charcoal's are showing nice potensial. Keep up! =)

[SpiritDreamer]

Hi...Tim ..:)

On your gestures from imagination,...you might try using a very simple formula that has been proven to work.
Get a bag of peanuts in the shell..salted or unsalted, whichever you prefer, you can eat them after the exercise ether way..:)
Step #1
Throw a handful of those peanuts down on a table next to your blank piece of paper.
Step #2
Draw, light and shade them using your charcoal, pen, pencil what ever you prefer to use.
Step #3
The small end of the peanut will be the pelvic/hips of your figure...from that end of the peanut,... imagine and draw light and shade,.. the legs,...Thighs, lower legs, ankles, feet...in that order
Step #4
The larger half of the peanut will be the torso of the figure.
Imagine, draw,light and shade ...the collar bones, if figure is being seen from the front, shoulder blades/scapula, if figure is being seen from the back ..then the shoulder muscles, upper arms, lower arms, wrist, and hands, ..in that order.
Step #5
make the neck...start from the collar bones, or shoulder blades, depending on the angle view.
Step #6
The skull...followed by the face, and hair,...in that order....paying close attension to the size of the skull in relation to the width of the shoulders..:)
Step #7
EAT AND ENJOY THE PEANUTS...:scream:

Great use of those charcoals by the way..:thumbsup:
That mess is your best friend...SEE IT AS ...ATMOSPHERE/AIR...IT WILL MAKE YOUR FIGURES BREATH WITH LIFE...:)
TAKE CARE
Glenn

[Rangerman]

Hey NR43 thanks for the advice about the outline around the figure and about the arms.

Vaaken I'm glad you found the dumpster gestures amusing, and thanks for the comment.

Glenn that's a pretty creative Idea with the peanuts, I'm gonna go try that out. I'll keep you posted on that.


Here's another charcoal drawing. Had to wipe out her head because it was bugging me so bad, had the bobble head look again :). For some reason everytime I think of bobble heads I think of Dwight Schrute from the Office. Makes me laugh.

http://imagehub.geekfury.com/files/19/Anatomy%20Sketches%202/005.jpg


And here's a foot painting I did in PS.

http://imagehub.geekfury.com/files/19/Anatomy%20Sketches%202/Foot001.jpg

[Rangerman]

Here's another update. I tried Glenn's peanut idea for creating gesture out of imagination. I had a hard time doing them, but I think one of the problems was the graphite stick I was using, at least the exercise had a tasty reward :).

http://imagehub.geekfury.com/files/19/Anatomy%20Sketches%202/gestures%20002.jpg http://imagehub.geekfury.com/files/19/Anatomy%20Sketches%202/gestures%20003.jpg


And here's some life studies with charcoal. I'm getting a better grasp at charcoal I believe.

http://imagehub.geekfury.com/files/19/Anatomy%20Sketches%202/006.jpg

http://imagehub.geekfury.com/files/19/Anatomy%20Sketches%202/007.jpg

[Samanthie]

Hi Tim, great gestures...and imagination too. I mean from a peanut no less! I'll have to give Glenn's idea a try too. I need to practice my gesture drawings. Lovely work on the charcoal of the hands and feet and also of the sitting lady, very good form and shading. The body on the one where you erased her head has nice dramatic shading. You made me laugh at the reference to Dwight from the office.lol I hope you will try and give her another head. Not sure about the raised arm on the lady you named 007. I think it's the length from shoulder to elbow that seems too short..or perhaps it is the elbow itself. Wish I could be more help there...just I know it seems a little off. You are doing lovely work Tim, keep posting!:thumbsup:

[Rangerman]

Thanks for the comment Deb. You're right about the girl with the raised arm. I took another look at it and saw that her arm is a little too short. Funny thing is that I don't notice proportions like that when I'm in the zone of drawing, and Johan told me to be careful about the proportions of the arms; I guess I get a little short sighted.

[Samanthie]

I do the same thing Tim. I don't see those little problems while sketching but I do when I scan them and see them on the screen. I read recently another one of our friends here does the same thing. I try to keep that in mind when I'm sketching with my pencils and work a little harder on those areas. Arms are difficult for me anyway.:)

[NR43]

Funny thing is that I don't notice proportions like that when I'm in the zone of drawing
You know... I do that often myself...
There are thoughts going through my mind when I'm drawing from real life...
things like:
"what's the distance from here to there?" (between 2 or more points on the subject)...
"what's the shape of this negative space between the arm and the waist?"
etc

afterwards it often seems I did not judge these distances well.

I strongly believe that this can only be improved by loads and loads of practice... training the eye. I've only been drawing for just about 2 years now (put down my first pencil stroke in nov or dec 05) so I'm still very novice, but I do see the progression in that way that my observation skills got a bit better...

I think it counts for everyone... if practice is made regularly (on a daily basis if possible), one will reach a decent skill level at some point. Then it's just a matter of maintaining that level and progress on the weakest area's (which is a never ending story because perfection is unreachable, yet we all want to keep trying to reach it)

Keep at it!

[Rangerman]

I Haven't drawn or posted in a while, it's kind of hard to get back into drawing when my attention has been devoted to other things. Here's some faces I've done in charcoal.

http://imagehub.geekfury.com/files/19/Anatomy%20Sketches%202/100_1367.JPG

http://imagehub.geekfury.com/files/19/Anatomy%20Sketches%202/100_1368.JPG

http://imagehub.geekfury.com/files/19/Anatomy%20Sketches%202/100_1369.JPG

[Rangerman]

Hello I haven't posted in sometime and I'm looking to get motivated in learning more about figure drawing and drawing in general. I drew these with charcoal and I think I've improved somewhat in the past few months.

http://fc07.deviantart.com/fs25/f/2008/154/2/5/Back_Study_002_by_nano_shock.jpg

http://fc04.deviantart.com/fs26/f/2008/161/3/b/back_study_003_by_nano_shock.jpg

http://fc03.deviantart.com/fs30/f/2008/161/f/2/back_study_004_by_nano_shock.jpg

[NR43]

I'm looking to get motivated in learning more

Something that really helped me was this:

TUTORIALS - Digital Painting Video Sketchbook - by Bobby Chiu (http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=199&t=410461)

I hope the video's are still online. They certainly helped me a lot to get the right frame of mind... things like motivation are covered by Bobby Chiu in a great way.

Highly recommended!

[sycen]

I agree with NR43.
Bobby Chiu's podcast are great for motivation.
And you might also want to hear Stephen Silver's Artcast from his blog.
http://stephensilver.blogspot.com/
:)

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