Now OPEN!!! Open Figure Drawing Workshop with Hong Ly and Rebecca Kimmel 003

#101

Hi folks, here’s some more work on the image, including an almost complete reDraw of the figure. Basically printed it out, traced in ink, then scanned again. The feathers are created with Maya’s paint effects, converted to polygons, rendered, and color corrected. Any comments are appreciated!

Rebeccak:
I tried to fix up the porportions, specifically on the leg. Is it looking a little more porportional? Tried to get the wing arms to do a little forshortening, but i’m not sure if it reads that way.

drawMonger:
Wow, that’s so cool! You really have some great skills. :slight_smile:

b2dermawan
Very nice work! I like your color choices. You’re right, her pose has a great flowing feel. :slight_smile:

#102

pixelkeg,

It’s great to see you take this in a cool direction! :slight_smile:

The thing I have to say is that the background, as it is now, is not working so well with the foreground figure…I think pictorally, the image is suffering because you have a sort of ‘shocking’ or unusual character in the midst of something of a Sears backdrop sky, and placed smack in the middle of the picture plane ~ so that while the character is rather interesting, the pictorial arrangement is not. I think that were you to expand the canvas so that the figure is not so centered, and then gave the sky more interesting colors than the kind of standard sky texture blue it has now ~ maybe something with red, to offset the green of the figure ~ then it would definitely become more interesting from a viewer’s standpoint. :slight_smile:

I also think that what is causing the picture to suffer a bit is the fact that there is little VALUE differentiation between the figure and the sky. The figure looks as though it might be lit within an interior scene, while the sky is really bright and sunshiny. I think a darker, more moody background would suit the character much better, and would also offset the figure by providing contrast. :slight_smile:

I hope you continue to work on this, and to post your results! :slight_smile:

Cheers! :slight_smile:

~Rebeccak

#103

drawMonger. Wow. Seriously impressive work, even more so since you say it is your first fully finished piece.
Very nice feet, hands and head. I love the drapery and the textured background. Overall a great image. Watch the upper body though, it does seem to be a little too elongated and somewhat straightened out. The angle of the crease in her abdomen on the near side, (bottom of her ribcage), doesn’t quite tally with the angle Where her abdomen meets her hair. I’d definitely leave it as is though. Because of the elegant, classical feel those proportions give to the figure. Well done, look forward to seeing more from you.

b2dermawan. Nice Start. Trickiest of the two poses, I think.

pixelkeg. It’s been great fun watching your image progress. I just see a seated nude, you see a winged creature. Marvellous. I think this image would make a great album cover, if there were still such things.

#104

this workshops really show some great improvments and artworks =)
just some comments I wanted to through in if thats ok

drawmonger this turned out really great I love the brown tones you used
kaloro simply beautyfull- nice expression on her face
bonedog hehe thanks, yes we both seem to made the head a bit weird :wink: - but expect for the head I think your turned out really nice- like her feet alot
pixelkeg I really like the concept here! Hope you dont mind if I critiquize a bit?
As you can see I m not good at anatomy but here are some things that popped into my eyes, like the legs. Especially the feet look like facing in another direction, and the left leg looks a bit to long. The left arm looks also a bit weird -compared to the right arms they are really good!
For the backround you might (since I personally find she looks like sort of a godess)want to add maybe a jungle - and shes looking down on it. Maybe a small river- something like that.
Hope I dont feel offend by my critique- would like to see further upgrades on that one =)

#105

wow~~~! so many great works here, i’m later~~~:bounce:

sketch in openCanvas 3


#106

zhuzhu,

Great start! :thumbsup: I only think the legs need to be bigger ~ to match the upper body. Beautiful upper torso and arms! :slight_smile: Thanks for posting! :slight_smile:

Cheers, :slight_smile:

~Rebeccak

#107

drawMonger: wow very nice! and congrats for finishing figure 1 with such success! great rendering and values used in general, esp. on the face and the upper torso! can’t wait to see u taking the next fig.

pixelkeg: thank you, i really appreciate it. And wow, you’ve got cool imagination, very creative indeed. quite an interpretation that her left foot would stand on her right knee, but it seems believable enough, so i guess it’s okay:thumbsup: . agree w/ Rebeccak about the bg to improve your piece. keep updating please!

PSR: hey thanks a lot :). and yes, it’s tricky on its own account with the perspective thing. trickiest of the two? damn, i wrongfully picked my hell then lol (well, got to do them soon or later, anyway).

zhuzhu: wow that’s awesome! your sketch certainly looks like finished product to me! and great interpretation for the face, love it!

Rebeccak: thanks for the support and your usual invaluable insights! work a lil bit on it tonight, mainly on the head and hands. i’ve added more of the legs, as you suggested, does it look more proportional now? (wanna make sure before dive to detailing). i’ve added a lil bit of the lower torso too (there’s some perspective issue on it, hopefully will be solved by playing in darker values). and i’m really looking forward to your further directions! thanks in advance!

#108

Rebeccak
Thank you for the honest feedback! :thumbsup: Too bad we didn’t meet during the Master and Servant challenge, I could have used the help. :slight_smile: I agree 100% about the background issue. I should download an actual Sears backdrop and use it, lol. Anyway, I’m gonna try a few things in a widescreen format. Possibilities:

-She is a parrot creature who is imprisoned in someone’s home, then escapes.
-She lives in a Jungle setting with a huge Mayan pyramid in the background. (thanks Hagarun for the suggestion) She can be looking down on a young Mayan warrior or something.
-She’s in a mating flight with a male birdman type, with more of a red bg.

PSR:
Thanks! We should start a band and make an album, then we can use her for the cover. :twisted:

Hagarun:
No offense at all. The proportions of the limbs have been a big challenge for me, I think i draw things to where I think the image flows in an interesting way, and kind of take liberties on the lengths. I’m working on it, though. :slight_smile:

b2dermawan:
Thanks! Now that you mention her left foot, it feels a little too small, might try to work on that. Nice refinements on your piece, by the way. If you’re planning to expand on the wings idea, it might be good to have them tilt in the same way that her back does so it can be all flowy and stuff.

=pK=

#109

b2dermawan and pixelkeg,

A wee bit short on time at the moment, but b2, looking good, and I will definitely comment more later, and pixelkeg, thanks for being such a great sport, and I will also respond in a bit to your thoughts.

Cheers guys! :slight_smile:

~Rebeccak

#110

b2dermawan and pixelkeg,

Instead of critiquing your pieces individually, I thought it might be useful for everyone if I just did a brief demo using the photoreference from which you were both working.

I worked up a bit of a demo for this pose just highlighting a few key basic concepts which are important for constructing any complex figure ~ hopefully this will be useful for anyone working from this particular photograph.

The key thing to establish is the head’s direction. The head can be represented simply with a circle and some simple axes representing the center of the face and the axes of the brow, eyes, nose, lips, and chin.

The basic direction of the neck is of secondary importance.

The major thing to establish third is the center line of the torso. In this instance, the figure is seen from the front, so her center line runs from the pit of the neck (the hollow space between the clavicles) down the sternum, thru the belly buttn, to the base of the pelvis. When you draw this, of course this is an approximation.

The basic volumes of the torso and pelvis can be expressed with a simple spheres. The goal is to keep things loose until the figure is laid in and basic proportions established.
I’ve chosen to just represent the torso with Opposing Curves which loosely describe the outlines of what I imagine in my mind to be squashy spheres defining the torso and pelvis respectively.

You may then wish to establish the basic direction of the limbs. Limbs are always secondary in importance to the major attitude of the torso and pelvis. Limbs can be simplified in terms of cylindrical and boxy shapes. Again, I’ve just used loose Opposing Curves to define the basic shapes of the limbs. Exaggerating the Opposing Curves is always a useful device for expressing Volume ~ you never want to describe Organic Volumes such as comprise the figure with straight lines, even if they appear rather straight to your eyes. Exxaggeration of Opposing Curves is key to getting organic volume to read.

These are just the basic steps for the Gesture or Lay~in of the figure. They are steps which are more or less modified and expanded upon as one progresses through a drawing. They should be consciously refined to bring the figure closer and closer to a meaningful whole ~ the more confident one is with these basic concepts, the better off one will be when attempting a complex figure.

[left]

Hope this helps! :slight_smile:

Cheers, :slight_smile:

~Rebeccak
[/left]

#111

Unn this is the first time I’mmah post in one of these threads, but I’ve been watching em and they’re a really awesome idea - really high standard of work as well :eek:

Anyways this is mine, not finished yet…ack and already I can see a few mistakes…

b2 whoa those colours are so vivid and rich, the shading looks dead on too. Looking at it I think maybe you’re placing her right breast too low considering she’s leaning more towards the other side and has her arm stretched up. Or maybe it’s just cuz it’s morning here, and I’m still dopey…

zhuzhu, sodangcool…I can’t get opencanvas 1.1 to do anything for me, so this is just crazy…

pixelkeg omgash it does look really Incan/Mayan. Nice job on the winged arms too, the design is wicked and I like the way you’ve done the ‘hands’ of her winged arms.

drawMonger somehow it reminds me of one of those really formal studies in oil, so beautiful.

Aaugh sorry I’m sobad at constructive crit :blush: [edit: whoa though rebecca covered everything just then in that post, wahh] Anyways thanksu somuch for creating these threads, they’re so helpful. Meh, now I go do art homework on Andy Warhol.

#112

moonlantern,

Welcome to the forum! :slight_smile: It’s great to see you finally post your work, and it looks like you’ve got a great start! :thumbsup:

There are some really beautiful aspects to this drawing, and your linework is one of them. You also have a very nice touch, and I appreciate that you’ve really brought out the subtle patterns and undulations of the skin through shading without compromising the main shape of things ~ for example, in her right leg. I think your appreciation of using Opposing Curves to create form, whether conscious or not, is really wonderful, and the only area where I think you’re getting lost is around the head and a bit around the upper arms.

Drawing in this direct way with a difficult to erase medium can be stressful, and I think that part of the way to alleviate some of this stress is to lightly lay in the complete figure with, say, a sharp 4B (relatively soft) pencil before going in to really render with the fine gradations of charcoal. It is difficult to simultaneously concentrate on expression and basic proportions at the same time, so it makes sense to separate the two processes.

There are, of course, many benefits from just drawing directly onto the page ~ you learn to trust your instincts, to take risks, and to learn how to fail and learn from your mistakes. (By no means do I think that you have made major ‘mistakes’ in this drawing). I think of drawing itself as an act over time ~ you do a lot of drawings, and it’s all a process of learning how to ‘draw’. So it’s not always useful to fret over single drawings…the goal is to do many, and to improve how you see.

I think also if you have not already done so in school, that you would greatly benefit from doing Master Copies of Drawings, Paintings, or Sculptures by Renaissance artists like Michelangelo, Raphael, DaVinci, and later artists like Rubens.

Great work so far, and I look forward to seeing how this turns out! Please post your updates, as many as you feel necessary. :slight_smile:

Cheers! :slight_smile:

~Rebeccak

#113

Rebeccak. Thank you for the very elegant and concise explanation for tackling a complex pose.

Finally managed to get something done for this session. A grey scale study of the first pose. Still not happy with the extended leg or feet, and her hand. But wanted to post before the next figures arrive.

](http://imageshack.us)[/IMG]

I’m also taking Samanthies tutorial for a spin, with a colour version. I’ll post the results if I can finish it in time

#114

PSR,

You’re totally welcome. :slight_smile:

Your figure is looking really good so far…the basic lay~in of the head, torso left arm, and left leg are all looking great. The bits that need to be fleshed in more in terms of drawing are, as I’m sure you know, the right arm, hand, and left leg and foot. But I think you’ve done a great job of roughing in the values and making the bkgrd a really nice, deep gray which offsets the figure very well.

Value~wise, be careful not to go too light on her left leg, as you will run out of value range quickly. It’s easy to throw a low opacity gray layer over the leg area and start to build lights through additive painting, or erase from the gray layer to reveal the lighter layer beneath in a subtractive process with the eraser tool set to a low opacity.

Keep working on this, and it will be great to see your progress! :slight_smile:

BTW, are you guys finding that 2 weeks is not long enough? Would 3 be better? I just wonder if giving TOO much time might hurt the flow of things…but please let me know. :slight_smile:

Cheers, :slight_smile:

~Rebeccak

#115

Good tip, I’ll give it a try, thank you.

Two weeks is fine for me. :slight_smile:

#116

Rebeccak: Awesome info, you rock!:buttrock:Btw i think the two week time frame is just fine if it’s still good with your schedule. For me it’s plenty of time to get going and develop an idea as much as possible.

cheerios
=pK=

#117

pixelkeg,

Lol, thank you! :scream: I lean toward keeping the two week time frame as well, because I think it kind of forces us to keep moving along, even if it isn’t always quite enough time to finish ~ the momentum is good, I think. :slight_smile:

Cheers! :slight_smile:

~Rebeccak

#118

Hi Rebecca
Still have alot of refinements to do. Worked on face yesterday.
Lips in photo kind of vague so I made up my own version.
Working on feet and hair tonight.
Thinking about placing her at jungle’s edge overlooking water fall.
Sitting on boulder or tree branch, maybe.
Starting to get image and composition in my mind’s eye.
Don’t know if I like that idea or not.
Glenn

Hi_Res_3_21.JPG550x976

Hi_Res_face_3_21.JPG550x857

#119

hi all :thumbsup:
Worked a bit more on this, focussing mostly on head and upper torso but hoping to improve limbs in near future… and now I shall sleep
…zzzzzzzz. :slight_smile:

#120

Spirit Dreamer and AOAH,

Just a quick peek here as I am in class, supposedly being a TA, lol! :scream:

Spirit Dreamer,

Your piece looks beautiful so far, thanks for the closeup of the face. Very dreamy yet not too smudgy ~ definitely keep going, you are doing a fantastic job, as usual. :slight_smile:

AOAH,

Great to see your update! I would recommend keeping the bkgrd a solid color (mid~dark gray) until you establish the figure more fully ~ also, keeping the bkgrd one consistent value will really allow you to judge values in the figure more carefully. Right now, with so much going on in the bkgrd, it is going to be more difficult to tweak the subtle values within the figure.

Looks good so far, though, and I will definitely post more comments later when I am slacking off from my TA duties again. :hmm:

Cheers, :slight_smile:

~Rebeccak