Tasp's Sketchbook

#41

Torso study from Michelangelo “Study for a Nude”

#42

Hey sorry to be remiss. Work has had me running around quite a bit!

Tasp, would it be possible for you to scan or photograph your work in stages? I think that this would allow other to critique your process rather than your final product.

I think that if you have the patience to do that crits can be much more helpful.

#43

No problem at all, believe me I understand how work can keep you busy. Thanks for taking the time to check out my work again. I’m going to try and get another decent drawing done tonight and I will take pictures as I go along. At this point though, I can say that I haven’t settled into a distinct routine or process beyond gesture followed by rough forms, outline then slowly details.

For example for the torso I first drew 3 lines to get me the angle of the shoulders, ribs and hips. Then a gesture of the back arms, leg/hips, then rough forms, I briefly layed in a rough little form of the scapulas so I knew where they were and attempted (read-failed) to try and put in the ribcage. Then I started to draw over those and outlined the basic forms, then slowly started shading. Shading is something I still don’t fully understand, I mean I can see highlights, lowlights and know to squint etc but the physical act of it has always given me problems. For now I’m trying to find my particular style for it.

I appreciate the offer for more in depth critique and will have something up soon!

#44

The photos I’ve been taking aren’t getting the light base work that I do so I had to tweak them, they don’t look that great but should give you a basic idea this is from Leda and the Swan… You cant really see the lines I put in to remind me where the top and the bottom of the drawing would be, or the 3 lines of shoulder/ribcage/hips. I’m going to keep working on this in the way I’ve been doing but look forward to gaining insight on what I should try, or change.

#45

First shading pass the final part will take a good while longer, just some shades to help me mark out lighter and darker parts.

#46

And here’s the final pass, I may try to push this farther as this felt like the best work I’ve done so far. There are still some problems. The most obvious is the arm isn’t at a downward enough angle, and the fingers and toes could be better.

Any comments/critiques/encouragement on the process appreciated.

#47

I’ve been busy, and more than that, this latest drawing took me a very long time to finish. Another torso study, from Jusepe de Ribera “St. Jerome and the Angel”

#48

A few pictures from a Life Drawing session I went to today.

With draw over by the teacher

#49

I’ve been doing hands over in the Anatomy Dojo, here’s an attempt using no reference (not even my own hands I swear!) I need to work on my shadows and lighting, but I definitely think I’ve been learning a lot from doing these studies.

#50

I’ve started working on creating a skull in Zbrush. The long term goal is to eventually attempt to construct an entire skeleton and then an ecorche over that.

Issues I am aware of- The zygomatic arch needs work. The teeth need to be added (as does the mandible, it will be a seperate tool). The finer detail work, like sutures, is missing because I’m trying to get the forms down first. The nose needs some serious tweaking. The inferior portion of the skull is about as rough as it comes, I will likely not do much work on the underside as it will never be seen (also why I didn’t provide a picture of it).

I’m going to play around with this a little more today and then probably try to retopolize it and take another crack at it. As it stands I created this using zsketch over a basic zsphere.

Pointers/Paint overs/Critique would be greatly appreciated even at this basic stage. I only have access to reference drawings and photos at this time. Thanks for looking!

#51

I made some progress on the skull, it is getting closer to a realistic representation. I couldn’t resist turning up the divisions and doing a little detail work. Looking at this now I think I should probably have uploaded images in the regular red wax as it seems to be easier to read the details with that basic material. I will go back to using that mat in the future. I will also go back to the lowest subd and continue to work on the underlying structure until it gets better. Critiques more than welcome

#52

Keep going! I want to see the final result. Cheers!

#53

Nice work Tasp! It seems that your construction is really strong throughout all of these posts! I pretty much agree with the crits that have already been mentioned. As far as the “form” issue that you and others have mentioned…it seems to me that you could get more out of your forms by pushing the values a bit. Lighter lights, darker darks, etc. I suppose one thing contributing to that issue is that in most of your scans, even the white of the paper (I’m assuming you’re working on white paper) is closer to a mid tone grey. So your value range might be crunched a bit right out of the scanner. Anyway, cheers! Looks good!

#54

AbuAmir- Thanks, I am putting up the final version now. I put it up on the hardcore critique forums hoping they might be able to show me what if anything was wrong with it. I haven’t gotten any responses so I’m going to call it done for now and move onto other work.

Jabuhrer- Thank you for perusing my works and leaving a comment. I am using a low end digital camera to upload my sketchbook work because I do not have access to a scanner at this time so the contrast and colors are pretty far from true at this point. I do shy away from heavy contrast because I have ruined many drawings by shading incorrectly and I am unable to full erase or fix it once the damage is done. I do not have this issue in digital works as I can easily change layers or go back and fix what I’ve messed up. This is one of the things I am trying to improve though as I want my traditional skills to be on the same level as my digital skills.

Here is the final skull, I will start working on the atlas vertebrae and the cervical vertebrae today and tomorrow-

#55

Hi Andrew :slight_smile:

I just went through your thread again…OUTSTANDING progress :thumbsup:
I really like these latest life drawings of yours…You are showing an understanding of the underlying structures envolved…that’s what it’s all about.:thumbsup:
Have you tried Conte Crayon yet,…if not, give it a try…the reddish ones are best…great stuff.
If you can, use it in your life drawing class…Get a large pad of news print paper, the bigger the better…Stand at arms lenght from your pad of paper which should be vertical and on an easel…and high up so that you have to reach up to touch the top of the pad of paper.
Use the side of the conte crayon to block in the basic volumes of the figure…This crayon will give you a really nice interior figure shading result with a crisp outline when using the whole side of the crayon…You can also get a nice pointed line used as an accent to strengthen an area if needed, just by pressing a little harder towards the front tip of the crayon as it’s held in your hand properly…like a paintbrush, where it is grasped between your first two fingers and your thumb… not held like a pen or pencil is held when you sign your name.
With your arm extended all the way out in front of you…draw from the shoulder, that is where your strenght lies, and that same strenght will appear in your drawings.
Always stand up when in life class, and at arms lenght from the pad of paper or canvas…and always step back to check out your drawing from a distance as you progress with it…You will be able to see clearer where your errors are at, when you get distance between you and the work in progress.
Work big…lifesize, or even bigger…This will eliminate the sort of shorthand faking certain areas that takes place when working small, …and will force you to describe accurately what you are seeing…It’s a way of forcing yourself to confront what you don’t understand.
What I wrote above, is the first lession that I learned from and in the classroom of Burne Hogarth when he was my teacher years ago now…But that lession has always stuck with me, and still is used by me when doing traditional life drawings…It works…:slight_smile:
Keep up the great progress :thumbsup: , and thanks also for the visit in my shetchbook…much appreceated…:slight_smile:
TAKE CARE
Glenn

#56

Glenn- Thanks for the useful information about drawing posture etc. I’m typically standing, or sitting with the pad about arm’s length away either on an easel or on a horse. I have yet to try conte crayons except for one time in class when someone let me borrow theirs. I enjoyed it though and will pick some up once I run through my current batch of art supplies.

A friend of mine recently gave me a book as a gift, it was Nicolaides “The Natural Way to Draw”. I have only read a little of it so far and am finding it very useful. While I am likely not going to be able to follow the lesson plans laid out in the book to the letter I am going to try and do something similar. Here are two “contour” drawings that I did today. Ideally these are supposed to be 30 minutes per drawing. But, even drawing as slowly as possible, I finished both of these at around 15 minutes each. I am going to make another attempt at this tonight and try to go even slower.

To explain these drawings- I have made these marks looking at the paper only when I started each line.This is why they look so strange, I am basically attempting to draw solely by observing the model and not my drawing. Nicolaides writes that the purpose of this type of drawing is to make you “feel” the model with your eyes and try to link your hand to your eye and that this type of drawing should be done “searchingly”.

As always any comments / critiques / encouragement is very welcome

#57

Tried another contour drawing last night, this one I managed to stretch out to 18 minutes, still not near the 30minute mark Nicolaides suggests. I may try his suggestion of drawing with my right hand to slow myself down even more (I am left handed). I am finding these exercises extremely interesting because I feel like I am getting the perspective down pretty well. I’m also starting to feel like my hand is a little better at following what I’m seeing.

#58

Here are two more contour drawings, again looking at the page when I put the pencil down to start a line and not looking down until the line comes to an end and I have to start a new line.

#59

Good job and fascinating approach. I should try it too. If I’m not mistaking I see already an improvement in your “blind” drawings so keep doing it. Cheers!

#60

Thanks for the encouragement AbuAmir!

I’m onto the next block of Nicolaides’ lesson plan, which is part contour drawing part gesture. Here are my first batch of gesture drawings (30-45seconds each).

While this is keeping me rather busy I think I’m also going to look for another master copy to work on soon.