Now OPEN!!! Open Figure Drawing Workshop with Hong Ly and Rebecca Kimmel 002

#301

mybutterflyiris,
Lol!! Your figure has grown!!! :thumbsup: Congratulations on taking on the whole shebang!!! :slight_smile:

If you prefer to work in color, then by all means do so. You seem to have a decent command of values (from what I could see in your color foot piece) so, sigh I will just have to let go and ā€˜letā€™, hahaha, you work in color. :wink: Nah, itā€™s really anyoneā€™s choice as to what they wish to do, but every painting course Iā€™ve ever had works from black and white to limited pallette to full color ~ perhaps you need not repeat these things. :slight_smile: Go for it!!! I canā€™t wait to see your results! :thumbsup:

With respect to your current or future color version: my #1 recommendation would be to fill in the bkgrd with a 100% flat tone ~ keep it darker than the skin tone, and just go ahead and fill ALL of the canvas around the figure with this 100% tone. What this does is allow you to easily DRAW and correct proportions by just using two tones ~ one for the body, and one for the bkgrd ~ itā€™s sort of like painting a silhouette at first. This allows you to see the BASIC SHAPES only, and to easily correct your drawing.

Another thing I would recommend is to occasionally flip both the reference photo and your painting 90 degrees clockwise ~ try working this way for a bit ~ I guarantee, it will significantly affect your perception.

Keep going with this, and definitely look forward to your updates! :slight_smile:

Cheers! :slight_smile:

~Rebeccak

#302

Whew!!! Iā€™ve got four pages (a whole dayā€™s worth) of postings to catch up on!! You guys are amazing!!!

zhuzhu,

Really beautiful workā€¦I love the mood of this piece, and itā€™s refreshing to see watercolor handled so confidently! Especially as watercolor is such a hard medium to use ~ I donā€™t go near it!!! I love the back of the hair, and the impressionistic way in which you have painted the clothing. Wonderful job!!!

PSR,

I think the main thing I notice anatomically with the figure is that her rib is rather petite for the rest of her body, which is rather stocky. I would soften this area into rather a more soft mound, so that it is believably a part of her body. I think you are doing a really great job on the shading so far, and are smart to keep the palette limited to only a few desaturated tones. This is a great way to work, and as you know, you can work many great combinations with just a few well~chosen values. I would recommend filling in an overall dark tone for the bkgrd, just so that youā€™ve dealt with it, and it doesnā€™t clash with the figure. Remember that you can always go in to tweak details later, but itā€™s best to start out with the most general approach first. Great work so far!!

Arctis,

Thanks again for posting your progression ~ I know that this will interest everyone here, and it helps us all to see each othersā€™ methods of working. Itā€™s incredible how youā€™ve taken a very general sketch to a very nicely refined painting, and I admire your palette constraint considerably! Youā€™re a great example of the benefits of working methodically, filling in the bkgrd from the start, and using a midtone for the entire work from which to work up in lights and down in darks. Great work, and fabulous paintings!!!

Bsmith,

There is absolutely no shame in doing drawings multiple times. I have consistently said on the forum that for every good drawing I do, I have sent 7-10 drawings to the dump. I think practice makes perfect, and the second, third, and fourth time you do the same drawing, you will see more and different things than you did before.

One thing I recommend when artists are having difficulty with a pose is to TRACE the image, once or twice (either digitally or traditionally with tracing paper) just to get a feel for the image being drawn. Having traced the figure or object, then go back and freehand draw the same figure or object. The beauty of this thread is that the figure never moves, so you can try this exercise as many times as you please! I also recommend turning your paper and the photo reference 90 degrees clockwise, and trying the drawing this way. Your perception will change, and you will be forced to focus more on getting the figure right.

Try these exercises, and definitely post your results!

AndyDay,

Your painting so far looks great, and congrats since this is your first digital piece! I would say that right now her face is looking a bit flat, so I would suggest blending a bit more and adding depth by using darker tones in areas, and by reducing the outline around her eyes. Additionally, her hair has something of an odd texture right now, so you might want to got back in and gradually add highlights to bring it out.

The body looks great! I would just recommend lenghtening her lower right leg, and checking the proportions of her upper to her lower right arm. Great to see your work, and keep pushing yourself to make this even better!

dbclemons,

Wow, this really reminds me of a 1950ā€™s era painting style, which is a total compliment! Youā€™ve really resolved the bkgrd, and I love the desaturated greens and browns which you have employed to offset her more saturated and pink/orangeish skin. I also like that youā€™ve used a bit of green in the shadows of her skin ~ this really offsets things, and adds that extra bit of realism which is great! You definitely know what youā€™re doing here, so I am just really looking forward to your updates!

Samanthie,

This really looks fantastic!! I still have to say, though, there is something still about the face that strikes me as a bit less naturalistic than the rest of the body ~ perhaps the lips are too idealized, or too flat in color?

The cloth is looking really great ~ the cloth around her right wrist is amazing, and I would just suggest bringing the cloth around her left shoulder and down her side up to that level of detail ~ since it is closer to the viewer, it will definitely be at least as sharp as the bkgrd cloth. Great job!

The hair and body look beautiful, I have only a slight quibble with her left foot, which seems less well~rendered than her right.

Overall, I have to say youā€™ve done a fantastic job ~ but I think you could push this to be even better!

nuch,

Welcome to the forum, it is great to see you here! Thank you for posting your work!

The drawing of the torso is quite lovely, and I think your overall rendering abilities are very good. However, I think the legs look a bit frail for her strong looking upper torso, so for another drawing or a painting, I would recommend adding more structure to these, as well as to the arms. I think the face needs the same careful attention as was paid to the torso and the cloth, which is really nicely done.

Really good work so far, and I hope you will be posting more work on this thread!


Great job, everyone! Keep up the great work!!!:bounce::bounce::bounce:

:)

~Rebeccak
#303

Thank you so much, Rebeccak. :slight_smile:

When you said ā€œadding more structureā€, do you mean I should draw the basic woodblock like this?

Sorry for asking this. Iā€™m not used to Technical term of drawing, especially in English.

Could you please recommend how to control proportion? I feel like I always lost the proportion of the figure when drawing.

#304

Arctis -> Thanks for the wipā€¦ itā€™s really very interesting for some like me which doesnā€™t have any true technique of realization, and which advances only with the feeling. :beer:

Bsmith -> Terrible ? hahahaā€¦ Now, you must try some tweaking in digital, why not ? you know, the eraser of our software is finally easier to use than traditional eraser, ityā€™s also less dirtying, and no risk to perforate or of twist the paper. goooooooo :smiley:

AndyDay -> for a first digital drawing, you can be proudā€¦ The first point which disturbs me more, itā€™s the use of the aerographer, without work on the matter, but itā€™s certainly a choice or a biginning. Second point, are the edges, they were treated of a very dark colour really, which corresponds better to an environment, to a background with a sunk matter, whereas the body is presented on a white zone. I really hope that you will have the time to finish this drawing. :slight_smile:

dbclemons -> that becomes really very good and very great, and that takes forms of traditional painting, I like much. Do you still think of working more on it ?

Samanthie -> Whaouwā€¦ nowā€¦ Iā€™m in loveā€¦ hahahaā€¦ sheā€™s very beautifulā€¦it would seem that we can touch her. she seems alive. Very impressive, Iā€™m speechless. I like much the hair, but they miss a little volume on the top of the head, their color is really very beautiful. I await the end of this image with much of impatience, beautiful projection, much of progress, marvellous. :arteest:

b2dermawan -> continuation agree totally me, I like much the contrast of the skin which suggests really good the volumes of the body. Only point that I could crit, it is the top of the left thigh, who seem folded, even painful. Good work !

nuch -> beautiful work in 1 hour only. I think that it would take a little more time and of work on the shades for better representing volumes and the shapes of the body, because the unit appears a little flat. It would be also interesting to re-examine the proportions of the body, legs and basins too small, neck long but small head. Good Continuationā€¦ :slight_smile:

mybutterflyiris -> for me, the work is really well begun, and the treatment in black and white is really well controlled, I would like much to see the continuation like that, without color, but you are the mistress of your work, and itā€™s with you to decide. But for the moment, I like really much like that, to follow. :wavey:

#305

b2dermawan and rebeccak. You guys must type like fiends, to cover so much ground. Iā€™m up to 60 words in less than a day, with two fingers :slight_smile:

Thank you both for your kind words, I quite agree with the crits. At the moment, as much as Iā€™d like to, I canā€™t spend any more time on it. I will Participate in the next one.

b2dermawan I like the painterly style of your image, your grasp of anatomy is enviable, so I wonā€™t comment there. As a painting, though, I would like to see a bit more contrast in the tonal range. For example, there is an opportunity to darken the shadow under the figure. As it is the figure seems float a bit, (lol, who am I to comment there). Look forward to seeing more of your work.

mybutterflyiris. Itā€™s good to see the foot has grown a leg and a body. Itā€™s interesting to see the way your working, please keep updates coming.

Btw. How does everyone get their images to show in the body of the text, rather than as thumbnail links?

#306

#307

wah 3 pages in no time and all this awesome critsā€¦ you guys are insane ;). i am a little bit in a hurry right now, so i will give my two cents later (have to go to the travel agency^^)

#308

Thanks for all the kind compliments, folks. I greatly appreciate it. I think the background could use more details perhaps, but canā€™t get to it for a few days. Oil is fun. Itā€™s good to get back to that again. Itā€™s water-mixable oils, by the way.

b dermawan, I love how youā€™ve shaped the figure in this painting. The forms are very soild and follow her shape very well. I think thereā€™s something odd about the shape of her head, though. It seems a bit small. Perhaps the hair should be thicker on top. I would also suggest giving the background a similar feel of strokes like youā€™ve given her body. The out of focus look is a bit jarring in contrast to her figure. I think if you draw something smooth like her flesh with the type of strokes youā€™ve made, itā€™s important to carry that through on everything else thatā€™s also smooth, if you follow me.

mybutterflyiris, I like how youā€™ve skethed this out so far. Pay strong attention to the perpective the figure pose is in. I think the upper torso is turned further back from us than how youā€™ve got it right now.

Keep 'em coming people!

-DBC

#309

thanks guys, glad you like that WC drawing. yes, watercolor is a hard mediam to cortrol, but have fun. here is another try.

watercolor on sketchbook:

#310

Gah!!! Can only do guerilla critiquing from work! Theyā€™re going to think Iā€™m a pervert! :scream:

Laurent / aka Lemog, :slight_smile:

Awesome comments, thank you for these!! :thumbsup: Thanks also for pointing out how to display images, that is very generous! :slight_smile:

nuch,

Thatā€™s a great exercise to do, and Iā€™m glad you did it :thumbsup: ~ but I actually meant something else, which I will try to point out later. :slight_smile:

PSR,

Youā€™re welcome!

Llynna,

You didnā€™t know we were insane by now? :wink:

dbclemons,

Ooh, water mixable oils? Iā€™m REALLY curious ~ how do you find them, particularly in comparison to regular oils?

zhuzhu,
Beautiful work! :thumbsup: Great to see you back in full force! :slight_smile:


Cheers! :)

~Rebeccak
#311

Youā€™re totally right, very hard art, another time you obtain a very good resultā€¦ the torso part appear a little confused, but anyway, is very beautiful :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

#312

And now, a little updateā€¦ Iā€™ve decided to explore more with the same base. I havenā€™t refined some details, but I only play a lot in Photoshop to change some tones, colors and change the backgroundā€¦ after, I used Painter to uniformize modifications. I hope you like this oneā€¦ :slight_smile:

(click on the pic for the 1600x1200 version)

#313

Guerilla critique!!!

WOW!!! Another birthday?? So soon!!! :scream: It looks beautiful from a quick glance, I will definitely have to look at this more closely laterā€¦thanks for posting this beaut!!! :thumbsup:

I really love the colors ~ the soft pinks and greens really resonate, and combine to make a beautiful, soft effect. Congratulations!! :bounce:

Cheers, :slight_smile:

~Rebeccak

#314

well well back again, now im poor again but one flight to paris and one to rome richer gg. the sad thing isā€¦ they want 1000 euro for a flight to boston (the cheapest one -.-)-

@rebecca

of course i knew that already^^. i really love crazy people and i always define it as being normal gg

@lemog

i really like the skin tones on your update. but there is one thing that is bothering me. i think the figure is rather flat. try to create more depth to her through some brush storkes. yours are only pointing in one direction, downwards. try to paint some strokes in that create volume and direction of the axis. you fixed the hand and it is looking much better by know. when you put some more shadows her forearm it will improve greatly. i hope you understand what i am trying to say^^.

@zhuzhu

they realle are a little bit hard to control, but i think that is what is part of the water colour charm. very expressive sketch :slight_smile:

@nuch

great you joined too :9 the more the merryer. for your first sketch: try to see the volumes in your painting/drawing and create them via the direction of the brush strokes and shadows.
when you paint in photoshop, ekepp you outlines on one layer and the painting on another. by this way you wont loose your proportions while painting. to lay them down in the sketch find the axis in the figure first and paint them in. after that you must find the opposing curves (see beccas workshop!) and after that detail the sketch. i hope this is helpfull.

@butterfly

great start :). i like how you rendered the lower leg. but i would recommen to shrink her ankles a bit. this way she would look a little bit more elegant, but that is up to you.

@all the others: keep it coming and thank you all for your kind words and suggestions for my piece^^.

and now: back to the texturing

#315

Rebeccak, Arctis, b2dermawan: Tried to adjust areas that you pointed out. Made the leg longer. Reduced the head a little. About avoiding the appearance of a large neck, I think the
area of the raised shoulder is the key to that. If that area just above the collar-bone looks flat, then the neck looks large. But if thereā€™s some volumn there showing the raised shoulder, then the neck looks smaller. Works in theory, anyway. Weā€™ll see as I get further into it.
Everyone else, thanks for comments.
Everybodyā€™s doing great work here. Hard to keep up with all the updates.

This is definitely still a WIP, but started painting:

#316

allenatl,

Quick guerilla peek hereā€¦looks really great, I love the limited palette and the charcoal line / brush work. Will definitely take a better look later, but looks great so far, and thanks for posting! :thumbsup:

~Rebeccak

#317

rebeccak, Lemog, Llynna: thanks~~~!

WIP in openCanvas 3, about 3 hours. it was mid-night here, update later.

#318

I love looking at the work on this thread, itā€™s very inspiring.
Lemog: really beautiful stuffā€¦so smootheā€¦
zhuzhu: Although I am a fan of watercolor, I like your recent one the best. It seems to have more substance.
Here is a current update: ā€¦having a few problems here and thereā€¦I think I am working too small. I love the turn it on the side ideaā€¦that helps alot in my opinion. The lines on the side were just guidelines for trying to correct the back and the hipā€¦ oh, and iā€™ll keep the ankle thing in mind when i get there.

#319

b2dermawan,

I think I forgot to comment on your piece!! Iā€™m sorry, there were so many posts that I just plain skipped it! Your work is going beautifully, I love the red and green color scheme which you so naturally gravitate towards, it is really quite beautiful!!! The torso looks great, and the cloth around the shoulder is looking really nice ~ itā€™s great that you can tell what form is under the clothing! :thumbsup:

I would say that the leg is still looking a bit small, and the face needs more rendering to make it look more volumetric, and as convincing as the upper torso. Watch that her ankle/foot does not look ā€˜glued onā€™ to her leg.

Otherwise, I think you are doing a fantastic job, and I really look forward to your updates!!! :thumbsup:

Lemog,

This has just turned into a really beautiful piece ~ I love your color experimentation, and I think it has been greatly to your benefit to do so!! I think itā€™s kind of a fun release to tweak colors and tones and things in Photoshop once all of the really hard work is finished, and you certainly worked very hard and very admirably on this!!! :thumbsup: I have only one minor critique, which is that the texture of the paper she is lying on looks a bit too similar in texture to that of her skin ~ if you want, I would just suggest taking the brightness of the highlight down a bit in the paper, so that the main focus remains on the figure.

Other than that, beautiful, beautiful work, and Happy Happy Birthday!!! 5 Meatcakes!!! :scream: (Special Lemog rating system) :wink:

allenatl,

Overall, looking GREAT, I just think that lower leg still looks a bit too small. Her left arm also seems a bit short and ungrounded at present, but Iā€™m sure that once you tweak the bkgrd it will be better. Other than that, looks like you are doing a great job, and I look forward to your update! :thumbsup:

zhuzhu,

Nice work so far, indeed, you can carry a digital work SO much further than a traditional watercolor, and you are starting another sure to be great zhuzhu work here ~ keep going! :thumbsup:

mybutterflyiris,

WOW!!! Really great work going on, and Iā€™m really happy the turning suggestion helped! Iā€™ve been painting this way the majority of the time, it really just helps you to see things better. :slight_smile:

At this stage, you should be able to up the image and pixel size of your image without too much trepidation ~ since itā€™s a WIP, you can just smooth edges to remove pixelation, and I am sure you will be doing many more ā€˜coats of paintā€™ anyway, so do not hesitate to make your image larger, both in inches and pixels, at this stage as you are still going to work on it for a bit. Great work so far, look forward to those updates!! :thumbsup:


Great to see all of the FABULOUS work guys!!! 

Cheers!

~Rebeccak
#320

http://forums.cgsociety.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=79697Thank you Rebecca. I have worked on everything you suggested and finished with shadows. I adjusted her lips and hairline, ear and lash area. Nose needed a little lighing work as well. Hope this has improved her face so that it matches with her body. I worked on the folds over her shoulder alot. Then I got tempted to add more hilites to the folds around her wrist but was afraid Iā€™d mess them up so I left well enough alone.:slight_smile: I may have done too much to her hair but not sure. I thank you again for all of your help. Iā€™m really happy with this.

Lemogā€¦lolā€¦I hope you are still in love after all of my changes. If need be I can go back as I save each image as I go along just in case I do need to go back.:slight_smile: Your image is so beautiful. Very smooth, love the colors. It looks like oils to me.

Zhuzhuā€¦You later watercolor is also lovely. Very fresh colors. You other open canvas images is coming along nicely too. Good color scheme.

Allenatiā€¦Looking really good so far.

Mybutterflyirisā€¦Coming along very well.