Question for Traditional Sketch Artists:

#1

Hello all.

I am fairly beginner in traditional art. I have always felt that my Digital Art suffered for lack of traditional training. So I have decided to start drawing, to see if I can form some base skill. More importantly, the feeling of drawing something that looks better than my last attempt is somewhat of a drug for me. I love the feeling of drawing something that I am proud of.

So, here is my problem. I am HORRIBLE at spacial relation, terrible at transferring from what I see to the page. I am currently drawing from photo reference.

The problem I have is going straight from sight, to drawing my contours and shapes on the paper, they often come out VERY wrong. This is highly frustrating to me, and it doesn’t ‘feel’ as tho practice is improving this skill, or lack thereof. Take the below image as an example.

The page on the left is my first attempt at drawing a simple outline of the face. You will notice that the sizes of the features are way off, and the proportions severely lacking. The shapes however seem satisfactory to me. For the second attempt, on the right, I drew the same outline, learning from my mistakes, and then several times layed the page over the screen to see where my contours were off. I found that the jawline was in the wrong place, the lips were too big and positioned incorrectly, etc… So I viewed the page layed over the screen, then took it down and redid each part, trying to correct. Sometimes I had to do this several times in order to get the contours in the correct position although each time the shapes were OK.

So my question is: This method seems very similar to tracing to me. Although I am not tracing, I am viewing where the lines are supposed to be by holding it over the screen, then putting it back on the table and correcting.

Is this method preventing me from learning the spacial relation of the contours, or does it help? The more I do this, will I eventually learn and need to do it less? Or should I simply go cold turkey and never check my work over the original image? My fear is that I almost NEVER get the contours placed correctly, and I fear that I will never make an image that I am happy with because it gets messed up in the first step.

Any thoughts?

More of my sketches can be viewed in my Sketchbook Thread.

http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?p=4103364#post4103364

#2

Turn the reference image upside down.

Part of the problem you are facing is a well known perceptual challenge - your brain is familiar with the world and does not bother to spend a lot of resources looking at it, it takes a few “key shots” and then just fills in the rest with known information.

By turning the reference image upside down, the brain will have a hard time just “filling it it with known data”… there is none… therefore it actually has to see the lines and features as distinct entities and not as a “holistic” scene.

And as far as I am concerned, if tracing helps you train your hand and shows you the path to what you need, then trace away. I have to trace somethings once to see how the relations, but I find that the next time I have a similar object, I remember the lessons learned from the tracing (I try to change things like an arm or other part in a different position as this helps me build up my ‘tool set’).

What ever works, works :slight_smile:
Cheers
Shad

#3

The trick is to be able to see what you’re drawing as both tangible object AND abstract shapes. You can look at the facial features and know that is’t a nostril, a lip, an eyelash…etc, but at the same time, you have to be able to look at it as “Here’s an diagonal line with about 45 degree slant, and roughly 10cm from the ouside edge of the lip, and the bottom eyelid is roughly 15cm from that beauty mark, and the eyebrow is roughly lined up on the inside to where her outside of the front teeth are showing”

To be able to calculate/judge distance, angle, shape…etc like that is essential for drawing accurately. You have to be able to look at them like abstract shapes.

#4

the same thing happens to me,so i decided to to spend a few months concentrating on drawing alone…i think you should start reading(Drawing on the right side of the brain)

from looking at it ,it didnt appeal to me,but since teachers use it, there must be something good about it…lets say i picked it up and now im hooked.im starting to draw better from looking.

#5

Negative spaces are your friends.

Compare negatives spaces on your refs versus your drawing.

Goes hand in hand with proportions.

And…are you even using construction lines? Very helpful.

#6

Lunatique already said what I was going to - simplify things into shapes instead of drawing it just as is. Look for anatomy books and magazines, they usually show the base of this; if you can’t, I can sketch a few examples for you.
Once you get the hang of this, at least for a bit, try to sketch humans without reference, it’s a good practice. Then your brain and hands will take the opposite way - transform shapes into a figure.
If you use real reference, a good trick is to use your pencil as measure: use it’s tip as the beggining of a ruler then mark the end of the measure with your finger. Don’t stand up to go to your reference to take measures, just stay where you are and measure what you see; these sizes are just a relation to the others you take, not real measures. Things don’t need to be computer-perfect in art, otherwise it would be best to take a photo.

Yet the best advice I have for you is observe and practice. I’m far from being as good as many others here, yet I’ve learned with amazing traditional artists and they all come to this same advice. Pay attention to the world around, try to notice the small things, they make a great difference. And be in love with art, that’s how you get the patience to practice a lot - I don’t think I really need to tell me this, you said you love to see you’ve made something that looks better than your last attempt and that shows you love doing this.

#7

There’s been some good suggestions in this thread that will help you, and I think I can add two more.
Way back in art school I had a teacher that insisted on our doing so-called “contour” drawings from the nude but it can be applied to anything at all as a subject. It’s very very difficult at first and your first few drawing will be hilarious.
Here’s the technique:
Never take your eye off the subject. Never take your pencil up from the paper. There should be no breaks in the line at all. The idea is to co-ordinate the tip of the pen with the point on the subject as the eye moves along. Do it slowly with concentration. It’s a great method for training hand/eye coordination and the outcome is worth keeping for laughs. Nonetheless, over time you’ll see the drawing get closer and closer to the subject.

Next trick. I’m a trained sculptor so I see things as form. When I draw or paint I see shapes. A face is many small separate forms that touch on each other to form a single shape in our eye. In actuality, it’s nowhere near flat as the drawing/painting will be. By separating the forms within the subject you can learn to define shape. It’s a pretty simple method and can teach you to “see”.
I’ll add one more tip here. Don’t be in a hurry; it’s the journey that matters, not the destination. To be a talented artist is a laudable goal, but it takes much much hard work and many hours in isolation. Be prepared. There’s no simple easy route.

#8

All good suggestions guys and gals.

Having taken an intro to drawing class I have been taught many of the suggestions, and I am now enrolled in a figure drawing class and we are doing many of the same things.

I can actually see now a ‘slight’ improvement in my translating to the page, so alot of these things seem to be helping me, albeit very slowly (patience is not my strong-suit).

Thanks for the help all, I will post some new drawings in my Sketchbook Thread soon to show my progression. (Doing self portraits, and live models which are both much more difficult than picture reference[no frame around the composition]).

Thanks again!

#9

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