Rebecca Kimmel's Anatomy Review 001: GESTURE

#381

King Solomon!

Ah, the student has become the teacher hoooooowahhhhhhhhhh! (bad kung fu movie soundage) :wink:

Thanks for posting your work buddy :slight_smile: Here is my most scathing review:

Ok, I really like the expressiveness in your drawing ~ however, you must be busy with family stuff, because did you see that the topic was ā€œGesturesā€? :wink: Just kidding! What I really think is simply that the drawing you posted looks a lit like Tintoretto, are you a fan of his work?

My crit would be to SIMPLIFY ~ get the basics down first. Use OPPOSING CURVES (see #211 and #212) for the curves of the legs, and really to create any form in the figure ~ for example, I think in the leg, particularly the upper leg, you are using curves which look like parentheses () and are thus not causing the leg to read as organic ~ I think the foot is more sensitively done, and I would move in that direction in terms of your linework. Otherwise, I think HIS raised right arm looks a bit atrophied, and could be beefed up a bit. I think HIS left arm shows weight, but his buttocks could be more firmly planted on what it is heā€™s sitting on.

Thanks for posting, K. Solomon, and best of luck to everyone in your family :slight_smile:

~Rebeccak

#382

reiq,

Finally had a chance to post your review :slight_smile: Thanks for posting!

You obviously have a really great start here ~ there are only a few things I would recommend tweaking before you begin your render ~

Youā€™ve done a very decent job with the feet ~ which is great, considering the slight birdā€™s eye perspective ~ I would only lower the feet on both figures by a fractional degree to allow the figuresā€™ ankles to be believably in place. The same applies to the arms ~ lower them just a bit to allow room for the full wrist.

On the FEMALE character, I think the problem she is experiencing is that the top of her breast is beginning at her throat ~ and thatā€™s just not the case anatomically. Lower the beginning of the breast just a bit and I think the figure will become more believable.

Whatā€™s most important in this piece is that you keep your axes all in correct relation to one another, which thus far, youā€™ve done a great job of. I would just say to make sure you keep those axes consistent all the way through the final render, and this will make a really great piece.

Thanks for your post! Please continue to do so :slight_smile:

~Rebeccak

#383

Thx RebeccaK. Your knowledge of anatomy and its publications astoundsā€¦

:applause:

Will be purchasing it today methinks.

MIKE

#384

For $6.00 at either barnes and noble or borders you can purchase a series of leaflets that cover both the muscular and skeletal systems (in surprising depth). Why they can not replace good anaotmy books, they make an excellent quick guide and an easy solution for those on a serious budget.

just a thought for those who might be looking for skeltal and muscle overlays to print out.

shaun

#385

Hi Rebecca, just like to say thanks for being so willing to share your knowledge with the rest of us here on CGTalk. Iā€™ve learned all I know of anatomy through study of books and the old masters, Hogarthā€™s books rate highly amoung my collection, for the fact he taught me how to draw feet, which I adore him for. My ultimate aim is to be able to draw as they did with thorough knowledge of what Iā€™m drawing and how it works. This thread has taught me probably my most valuable lesson to date, that itā€™s no good trying to run before you can walk! Iā€™ve spent the last two days drawing loads of gesture drawings, ever opportunity I get, keeping every one under a minute, and through reading your analysis of otherā€™s work (which I think is the best way to learn, because you see your own faults much clearer then), I feel Iā€™ve improved already. So thank you again, I may pluck up the courage to post something in your next thread, and judging by the great response thus far, I wonā€™t need wish you luck with the venture!

#386

solarundies,

Here is your REAL review :wink: Iā€™m very sorry for the mistake!

I think that this is a really good effort ~ the main thing that I would suggest is to give the figure more of a pelvis ~ right now it is too truncated / short in relation to the upper torso and head, which are pretty well-proportioned, though he needs a bit more of a neck. In general, the upper torso and arms are well-proportioned, but the lower torso (the pelvis) and legs look a bit atrophied.

I like that youā€™ve drawn in the hands ~ as most people leave them out ~ so you are to be commended :). Weā€™ll work on the specifics of the feet in a later lesson.

Make sure to draw the center axis of the body, second in importance only to the head ~ as you draw more, drawing an elongated central axis will help to place the elements such as the torso and the pelvis more accurately.

I would also recommend drawing several small gestures on a single page in whatever medium ~ gestures are about MILEAGE ~ the more you do, the better you will become :slight_smile:

Hope this helps, and thank you for being an avid participant in this thread! :slight_smile:

~Rebeccak

#387

Zepyhri,

Youā€™re welcome! Thanks for your kind comments. Donā€™t be shy about posting, the purpose of this thread is to improve your drawing skills!

Hope to see your posts! :slight_smile:

EDIT:

Stipick_S,

Thanks for the great info!

~Rebeccak

#388

seth1,

finally had time to post your review :slight_smile: ~

First, let me say that I think you have posted a rather beautiful drawing, but there are several areas which need to be improved.

We wonā€™t get into shading or specific anatomy yet, because those are topics for different lessons. Right now I think that even you should focus on getting certain core concepts down.

One thing which I believe you are doing (and let me know if I am wrong) is rendering the figure much the same way as a Maya renderer renders a still ~ from the top down, in sections. I would encourage you to avoid this approach, and to instead look at the figure as a WHOLE FROM THE BEGINNING.

This approach helps to avoid problems you will encounter when you tightly render yourself into a corner and cannot change direction - unless you are working in Photoshop, and even then it can be a pain to reorganize elements that are related to other elements in a drawing.

Since you are working in charcoal, I would lightly sketch in the gesture FIRST and then go in and do the laborious rendering which is required ~ ultimately, this will free you to concentrate more on the quality of the SHADING and you wonā€™t have to worry about the ā€˜outlineā€™ itself.

Frequently, stress over getting the right shape right while rendering affects the emotional quality of the rendering ~ and unless the goal is to make a drawing have a ā€œstressedā€ quality, you donā€™t want this to be the case.

I would recommend not going back into this drawing, but doing a new gesture drawing of your rendered piece and see if you are comfortable working this way.

Also try doing several small sketches in whatever medium on a single page ~ this helps to loosen up your hand (and mind) and the results are worth the trouble.

Good luck, and I hope you continue to follow the lessons and to post your results.

Thanks! :slight_smile:
~Rebeccak

#389

From many land: Thanks for your input. I tend to keep drawing, and my gesture sketches end up looking, wellā€¦ crappy, as you say. I have no idea whatā€™s happening with his left arm eitherā€¦ What I think happened with the model is the forearm broke off and the final gesture was his hand placed on a rock beside him (i left that out).

Rebecca: As for the drawing, itā€™s from Earth and Fire, Giovanni Bologna, called Giambologna, ā€œStatuette of a River God, 16th centuryā€ as none of my models would submit to my will. eleven year olds are like thatā€¦:wink:

A

#390

AdrielaSakamoto wrote:

>As for the drawing, itā€™s from Earth and Fire, Giovanni Bologna, called Giambologna, ā€œStatuette of a River God, 16th centuryā€ā€¦

Oh, I love Terracottas. I have ā€œFrom the Sculptorā€™s Hand: Italian Baroque Terracottas form the State Hermitage Museumā€, the Art Institute of Chicago Press.

I think theyā€™re sometimes hard to draw from, since they themselves are ā€œsketchesā€ ~ but from your photograph it seems those terracottas are rather well-formed and clear, so it must make a good reference.

Thanks for your posts!

~Rebeccak

#391

Well, that reference pretty much renders my critique moot :scream:ā€¦youā€™ve followed it accurately, and now that left arm doesnā€™t look so strangeā€¦

#392

Rebeccak, This thread is growing so muchā€¦ itā€™s really been something worth doing and I wish to thank you because this is really helping me to remember things I used to do as a child. Back then I used to I spent much time drawing little stick menā€¦Itā€™s incredible that I forgot that timeā€¦
Hereā€™s a new gesture based drawing (fig1) with some trace done (fig 2). Some people in other threads are drawing ā€œconan the barbarianā€, which is one of my favourite characters.Ii felt inspired and decided to begin a wip. He is climbing up (or down) a tower with his rope.

Iā€™d really appreciate a comment/review on this. Iā€™d really like to express power, but Iā€™d also like to have a very dynamic pose. Iā€™m having some troubles with feet and his right leg (his right foot should be placed on the wall tower)

in fig three there is another gesture based on fig #2 but with more opposition between shoulder direction and pelvis direction (which i find dynamic but not really working here)

No reference obviouslyā€¦andā€¦
thatā€™s it!

#393

Fromanyland,

finally had a chance to review your post :slight_smile: ~

The colored pencil gestures are really nice, I think they capture the essence of the various poses you are working from, and seeing that these are not meant to be final products, I would not offer criticism except to say keep drawing as many of these as you possibly can ~ my guess is that you already have the motivation, and are just looking to figure out how to create a more ā€˜finishedā€™ product. That being said, I would recommend starting to work in charcoal (or in Photoshop, whichever you prefer) to create more careful gestures in which you try to work out more clearly some of the anatomical structures / basic shape relationships.

I like the charcoal piece which you did, and would encourage you to do more of them ~ the criticism that I would have is that the upper torso and head are too small with respect to the buttocks ~ I think you need to get the full peanut shape in there in order to find the true base of the neck and axis of the shoulders.

Watch those parentheses curves ~ especially around the waist ~ as this flattens the form which you are trying to create ~ exaggerate offset curves to create elegance within your forms and use calligraphic lines to emphasize the apex of each important form.

Hope this helps, and Iā€™m greatly looking forward to your future posts!

~Rebeccak

#394

Guys, great posts ~ Xillion, if you donā€™t mind, I think I will have to wait to review your work in depth til next week for Lesson 2: OPPOSING CURVES, but I do want to review your drawing as there is a lot of good stuff going on in it.

I probably wonā€™t be posting more reviews until later today or tomorrow, but in the meantime I hope you enjoy reading othersā€™ reviews and posts, and, as always, please feel free to offer your own advice and criticism to others in a respectful way.

Thanks for helping to make this first go-round so successful! I GREATLY appreciate all of the activity which this thread has experienced! Itā€™s really amazing to see everyoneā€™s work, and to see marked improvement in the work. I hope everyone sticks around for Round 2! :slight_smile:

~Rebeccak

#395

no problem ;), Thereā€™s so much to read in the other reviews that I think I can wait. Keep up with the good work and ā€¦thanks!

#396

Thanks for the review! Hereā€™s some more charcoal pencil (the white hardly shows up on the scanā€¦I also adjusted these in Photoshop, but only to get them to better reflect the real drawings)ā€¦

EDIT: I realize the chest/shoulder anatomy on the lower figure is very unclear and, wellā€¦weird. The guy also looks like the grim reaperā€¦

The top two below were done with a graphite stick, and the woman on the bottom is natural charcoal (and very overdrawn do to correcting some mistakes)ā€¦

  Source #1: [http://www.fdcw.unimaas.nl/blok32v/taak4/32598045.jpg](http://www.fdcw.unimaas.nl/blok32v/taak4/32598045.jpg)
  Source #2: [http://figuredrawings.com/jsenfels02.jpg](http://figuredrawings.com/jsenfels02.jpg)
#397

RebeccaK wrote:
GREAT suggestion ~ however, I always think itā€™s best to have BOOKS. I really do, Iā€™m not an agent for any bookseller ~ but you canā€™t go wrong by purchasing at least one really good anatomy book which for $10-20 you will have forever.

Oh God yes, by all means books are important and they are by far the best way to learn at home! (I have at least 5 anatomy/drawing books lying around the place here) :slight_smile:

I was mentioning it as nowadays I find myself more and more in front of the PC working and more away from traditional medium albeit a felt tip pen and paper. so that instead of having to stop and look through a book/s, I already have a quick reference in front of me. Oh and by no means by doing this I mean going mad and drawing in anatomy on your gestures, keep with what Rebecca is discussing from week to week and stick to that level. Thats the important thing here!

I remember in college the best way we were improving was from looking at others work, and trying at least, to reach the level of our peers, and hopefully in time surpass that level - in an endless circle - then they would try to match us, etc. so maybe for now a good reference would be to print out some of the best gestures/inspirational drawings/sculptures and stick them around your wall for inspiration. they donā€™t have to be big per se, but varying styles is great to have around.

  • Somhairle
#398

FromanylanD,

~these drawings are really nice ~ I would recommend slowing down a bit, and thinking about each specific form in succession. Also, I would recommend taking a book and drawing in either charcoal or pencil studies of shoulders ~ and if you posted these, this would be cool.

Great posts! :slight_smile:

~Rebeccak

#399

Will do! Iā€™ll get some sleep first thoughā€¦I did that last batch without having slept for 24 hours.

#400

Fromanyland,

Not at all. The only time a review or critique is moot is if itā€™s destructive and yours certainly was not. Besides, Iā€™ve always thought arguing opinion is a waste of time. It is what it isā€¦:slight_smile:

And you are correct re: the weak lines. I was unsure about the bean shape in the context of a twisting figure and so ended up with a rather horrible hybrid of what I thought was required and an attempt to make the sketch more palatable to my own taste. Result: much suckage, but good exercise and one I need sorely.

best,
A