Drawing Exercises?

#1

Hey all,

Well I took the plunge and posted up a Sketchbook thread to get myself started in the realms of Figure and life drawing. I know the best practice is to just draw, draw, and draw some more but I was wondering if there is like an “Exercise routine” That I can follow 2o mins a day, 3 days a week (sorry, had to throw that one in there :P)

Seriously, when I want to draw something from life, I was wondering if there is like some exercises I can do daily, in the mornings or something ,that would help improve my skills, and of course give me stuff to post as well. Its a bit overwhelming teaching myself, so it’s kinda hard finding the right way to start things off.

Well, any and all help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

-Scott

#2

A while back I felt that I needed exercises and structure to to keep me going because the advice “draw, draw, draw” is great, but for one who is self taught and no schooling, a plan of action of learning had to be found. I thought, why don’t I just look up what the people in university art classes are learning from. Two textbooks kept popping up: Figure Drawing by Nathan Goldstein and Drawing from Life by Clint Brown. Both books teach history, techniques and explain examples of Master art, much like Hale, and they both give exercises at the end of the chapter to work on the previously learned principles. These books have renewed the spirit of drawing in me and encouraged me to pick my pencil back up.

#3

Welcome! :slight_smile:

I recommend the 15 Minute Sketchathon:

http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=199&t=295498

Try doing these 15 minute drawings in a series of about 4, and work in traditional media. Please feel free to post your results to the Sketchathon thread. :slight_smile:

#4

Thanks guys for the comments.

Bishop,

I agree with you having a sense of structure in learning, especially on your own. In a field like CG its real easy to get caught up and overwhelmed with everything. I will definitely look into the books you mention and give them a good hard read.

Rebecca,

Thanks for the advice, I’ll start doing them tomorrow morning (a bit late as of reading this post) I’d love to post my results up in the Sketchathon thread and my own sketchbook (perhaps linking them together or somesuch), that way I can get feedback from you, or anyone else that wants to chime in.

Again, thanks guys for the helpful advice. :smiley:

#5

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