contour practice

I decided to practice the contour and gesture line technique learned recently in class.

My friend was painting his frames for his art project and he couldn't sit still, but I managed to get something. The feet were the most detailed since his feet didn't move as much.

Even as he was watching a movie, the slightest movement can throw off the entire image. Looks like George Bush to me.

Medium: 2B pencil

First in a long time

Inspired by Frida Kahlo and her famous self portraits, I decided to draw one. I drew a couple before, but haven't drawn one recently. And I'm sure my drawing skills have improved so shall my self portraits.

I think I started with a difficult position. I wanted to draw one where my head is slightly facing downwards emphasizing my eyes and de-emphasizing the lower part of my face.

Maybe I should have done one with one facing head on. That's my next project!

Medium: 2B pencil.

Tiger

My friend sent me three photos to draw from and I selected these two for now, contemplating about the third's approach.

Both of these were photos of him in the car, but I decided to just draw a different background for the first one. I was thinking about a get well card for Asian Gangstas.

Yes, this one is Asian. I hope that came across in your first impression. Still more practice!

I'm going for black and white drawings now rather than outlining and coloring in photoshop. Let's see how this works out.

Medium: 2H and 4B

Viewport & negative space as shapes [02/25/11]

2 minutes

I did all my 2 minute drawings with negative space shapes and contour lines. They really came out pretty nice.

I felt bad for the model since she heard Gordon tell some students that he didn't know about this model since she was late the first time and was assumed late this class. She wasn't late.



20 minute
Viewport

I remember frustration. I kept on looking through the viewport, but my organization on paper was still inaccurate. I probably spent 5 or 10 minutes figuring out where everything went.

During the first drawing, she kept on looking at me through the viewport. We made eye contact, which somewhat threw me off.

I didn't use the large newsprint and only used the rectangular paper from home. Also, this was also the first time I only used a 2B pencil throughout the entire class.

Medium: 2B pencil

Contour and Negative Space [02/22/11]

2 minute

This new model, Julie, didn't use a timer so her 2 minute poses seemed longer. She was probably counting in her head.

Before she arrived, we did a lesson on drawing the shape of negative shape with contour lines. Gordon brought out the skeleton and we practiced with the ribs and arm bones until Julie arrived. It has an interesting look, the negative space contour drawing.

I tried doing negative space contour drawing within these two minutes and it seemed to only work best with certain poses with large amounts of space. You can tell which drawings had negative space contour lines.

20 minute
I found that when certain body parts are abnormally bigger than average, my proportions are off, such as the darker one I drew.

A classmate came over and commented on the lighter drawing, saying that he really liked the body proportions. I wasn't that proud of it, but it seems that things that we may not be too proud of can please others. He suggested I go home and fix up the leg and I'll be set.

I was thinking that I wouldn't edit the drawing because it wouldn't be considered a 20 minute drawing if I spent more time on it.


Long pose (55 or so minutes)

This went by fairly quickly. She asked if she could end a few minutes early, so I'm not too sure the exact time for this pose.

I used my new used charcoal from SCRAP and there was this very dark one that really brought out the very dark parts of the drawing.
Gordon was surprised! He was like "wow! this is very good!"

There was a lot to draw too since she used many props. I used the negative space contour technique here and it helped specifically with the airpit, breast and arm area. I made her should too long and corrected it with the help of this technique.

Medium: Dark charcoal and Charcoal Pencil - 4b soft

Something learned: As long as I scan the whole drawing, I can still use "Auto" under photomerge and "Interactive Layout" wouldn't be necessary.

Gesture and Contour [02/17/11]

2 minute

20 minute

I'm beginning to notice things about figure drawing that I haven't before.

• Drawing the background really brings the model to life. My first 20 minute drawing implied a background, but looking at it some more, darkening it would have made it pop.
  
• Little marks in the background can make a big impact on the drawing, so every mark is important.
  
• Dark and light is vital as well. I'll need to work on this too.

I also bought used charcoal sticks from SCRAP and can't wait till I use it in the next class. So, my medium wouldn't be as specific since there is a variety of them, which I don't have the exact name for.

Contour and Gesture [02/15/11]

2 minute
This new model didn't set her timer correctly at first since she posed for more than 2 minutes on her first two poses.

Note the differences between the left and the middle compared to the rest of the two minute poses.







10 minute
I find that my drawings turn out very fat. Somewhat vertically condensed since the head looks so big and then somewhat wide too.

I'm also wanting to draw the face with more accuracy, but it seems that with time, I will get better doing both. I see some of the more advanced students drawing faces that look very accurate.



20 minute


My first, second and third 20 minute drawing from left to right. I decided to emphasis the shading more as time went on. I used the compressed charcoal for the dark shading and then smudged it with my fingers to give it a more solid look.

I'm also beginning to incorporate some of the background into the drawing as well to give it more ground, stability. I feel more committed to the drawing when the background and deep dark shading is added.

I used vine charcoal for the overall sketch and for the lighter shading while Charcoal pencil for outline and slight dark shading.

Medium: Vine, Compressed Charcoal - soft, Charcoal Pencil - 6B

Gesture and Contour [02/10/11]

Two minute


I'm getting better at drawing the figure quickly and accurately within these two minute poses. It's warm up and I am getting the hang of it. It's very useful to do these in the beginning of class all the time.

With these two minute poses, I'm using smaller paper for very good reasons. For one, it is quick so the smaller I draw, the more detail I can get in with extra scribbles and since these drawings won't be as polished, the bigger paper wouldn't do it much justice and I save the bigger paper for longer poses. For convenience, the smaller drawings can be saved and scanned easier than if I had to scan the larger paper with unfinished poses. And lastly, I usually draw on smaller paper outside of class, so it would give me practice for that as well.

I did draw the other 2 minute poses on the large newsprint with vine charcoal and it does warm me up to the longer poses. But, I wouldn't save them since I would erase them with the chamois. I do like the background the erased marks leave, but I realized that those marks can be made as I am drawing.

medium: ball point pen


5 minute

Five minute drawings go by very quickly. To be honest, sometimes I'm already contemplating whether or not I should outline the drawing because I'm already thinking that I should erase it before time is up. It's hard to erase outlines since they are darker than vine charcoal.

This happened already happened where I would erase the drawing with the outline because it wasn't finished and it looked bad.

Five minute is a challenge. I really have to find a balance between making something looked finish and getting it right to keep.

medium: vine charcoal with charcoal pencil - 4b for outline

20 minute

I'm still struggling with dwelling on somethings too long and making mistakes that should have been fixed with the gesture drawing. My first 20 minute drawing was one of those in which I dwell too long and 20 minutes was over. [The one with the chair]

I'm really proud of my last 20 minute drawing. [The one with legs propped against the wall] I got the proportions correct and I had enough time to shade and everything.

medium: vine, compressed and charcoal pencil.

Before class, I found a vine charcoal stick on one of the seats next to me! yes! Vine charcoal runs out so fast since I use them so often. They are easy to erase with too so they are very loose and somewhat powdery as a stick. I need to buy more.

In Design
I decided that I am going to convert my online entries into a magazine issue with InDesign!
Very exciting!

Everyday Guy on Brochure

This guy was on a brochure of a water company. I forget which one. It took me two iterations to get this one right. I may need a third iteration, but I'm not going to do one.

The first one had legs that were too slanted to one side. This one looks alright since it looks more balanced.

Medium: Graphite 2H, Rolling Ball Pen

I'll work on more detail for future drawings. Maybe color them with color pencils or crayons instead of photoshop and then scanning them in.

Medium: Graphite - 2H, Rolling Ball Pen

Gesture and Contour [02/08/11]

It's a man for once!

Using the gesture technique to draw the model really helps in finding the correct proportions and setting up the overall figure on the paper when starting out.

Basically, gesture drawing is the wire frame that builds the model from the inside out. Start with the overall direction and position, according to the model's pose. Then, fill out the parts of the model that occupy space with squiggly lines, trying not to stop the charcoal on paper. I find this to accomplish a lot such as shading.





20 minute drawings

I started out with gesture drawings on all of the 20 minute drawings. I believe I got the overall shape in about 5-10 minutes.

The rest of the time was adding detail, but sometimes when outlining certain parts, I notice that the proportions were still a little off. So I would erase certain parts and re-do with my vine charcoal. Then outlining it again with the charcoal pencil.

A lot of the times, I feel that 20 minutes go by really fast too!


40 minute drawing

I think this long pose usually takes about an hour, but I noticed most people who believe they are done, stop at a certain point. I stopped at 40 minutes and haven't tried staying till the end. The more advanced students stay and use up the full hour.

I can really tell the difference between the 20 minute drawings and the 40 minute drawing. This one is much more detailed.




Things learned

1. Material
   

• Charcoal pencils used for contour, simple outlines
• Charcoal sticks for shading

1. Scanning

• Scan all pictures equally, because even with Interactive Layout, some parts can show up missing.
  

Medium:

• Vine Charcoal
• Compressed Charcoal - soft
• Charcoal Pencil - 4B

Asian guys [12/25/10]

Asian guys are invisible to everyone especially in the American media and every other media where there are no Asian people.

And when the media do depict Asian men, they are usually scrawny with a one dimensional nerdy character. Never have they been portrayed as real people just like everyone else.

Here are some pictures that I decided to reference. Muscles actually look the same on all races. And capturing the essences of the Asian face will take some time.

Obviously the differences seen in people are clear, yet these photos could be represent any race.

Medium: Ball Point Pen

Many faces... cont'd [12/25/10]

Since I couldn't get it exactly right doing a life drawing of my friend, he decided that I should draw from an existing photo from facebook.

I did. It still somehow looks off.

The face is awkward... I think what really throws me off is that the photo showed that the head was tilted, so I drew a tilted head. But then the facial features weren't drawn tilted, so it looks awkward. I did fix it on photoshop tilting the head to align with each other.

Medium: Ball Point Pen

"classic..." [01/12/11]

As my friend was watching TV at his apartment, I decided to sketch sketch sketch!

The portrait drawing was a little off proportion, but somehow it looks okay online. I did fix it in photoshop afterwards by cutting and rearranging the right eye to come down lower. We did agree that it was too high.



Medium: Ball Point Pen