tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1145698890819231126.post1565935096970467430..comments2010-03-09T04:56:03.059-08:00Comments on Road to artistic successification: Weekly assignmentspeppehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04659860505177899091noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1145698890819231126.post-17112065541962614592008-12-10T12:55:00.000-08:002008-12-10T12:55:00.000-08:00Hey there! Great updates, man! You are working s...Hey there! Great updates, man! You are working so hard! Great work!<BR/><BR/>I'll start with the sketches you did and go from there.<BR/><BR/>Hands. Hands are trick to master. They contort and do crazy things while changing shape, but while they are changing their forms so drastically they still look like hands. What I've done is to learn to draw hands with little reference so that when i do draw a referenced hand I still understand the forms better. I started drawing hands as soft cube shapes - a rounded cube for the palm, rounded cubes for fingers and thumb. It's funny that it's rare to find an artist who can draw hands from life if they can't do a decent job from imagination. You're doing a fine job with these. I especially like that you did one from life and one from imagination, which is something I would strongly suggest anyone doing if they want to learn to draw hands convincingly. Good job.<BR/><BR/>Interesting sketch of Odin. The first thing that stands out is that his arms are too long. You seem to have that tendency in general, so watch that. The elbow ends just around or below where the rib cage ends and the wrist just below where the greater trochanter is. Keep that in mind and you should be golden. The design is interesting, he's got some cool stuff going on with his head. I think the costuming could use some love. Researching and studying actual article of clothing could help you here in creating some truly believable costuming. The way capes are sewn, the way accouterments are held on a figure, like the skull on the belt. Stuff like that.<BR/><BR/>The pinup figure is a good place to talk about using reference to create a better, more believable image. When I use reference to create an image from life and imagination I have reference for almost everything, they just won't be together, or related to the final image. For instance, say i want to create a lizard man in a 1920's Americana type setting, in a bowler hat, suit, cane, tommy-gun, that sort of thing. I'll start a sketch completely from imagination. Then, based on the sketch I'll grab some reference, a few pics of lizards, some pics of old 1920's clothing, hats, maybe a few vintage photographs, an old tommy gun etc. After I gather my resources I'll then 'put them together' in my drawing. So, while a sketch of a 1920's gangster-lizard is obviously from imagination, the entire image is supported on my use of reference. You're image of the woman leaning on a car could use some reference of a trunk of a car. There are a kagillion cars probably outside your door that you can go shoot a piece of reference of. Do a little legwork and you should have plenty of material at your disposal. Many many illustrators spend fully half their time on paintings just gathering good reference. Not just any old reference, but really good reference that will directly help them create the best possible picture. I don't expect you to do THAT much for a sketch, but just so ya know.<BR/><BR/>Concerning drawing things from imagination: If you can see it clearly in your mind you can successfully recreate it. CLARITY is king here. You are right. This is why we do studies, to fill in the gaps in or mind. That's why when I talk about doing studies, when students do 'studies' of things like toasters or a butt or whatever, I say 'that's fine, but what did you LEARN?' WE are learning from the studies to gain more clarity. We work on or goals to gain clarity in our lives. You did a good thing coming to this largely on your own. Awesome. Completely.Mark Wintershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14296663851392670593noreply@blogger.com