Week 14 Studies
June 23rd - 29th
Time for more Pencil Kings' Figure Drawing Challenge 2014 studies!
In Week 2 of the challenge, we fleshed out the stickmen figures with more detailed heads, torsos, hands and feet. Here's the rundown:
Day 6 Heads! Added eye sockets, nose and mouth to the front, side and 3/4 view of the head. Also began to experiment with masculine and feminine features.
I was quickly reminded that the 3/4 view is tricky to draw - must practice that more. I'm making progress with the front and side views though, I used to find side views especially difficult!
(On a side note, if you're wondering what happened to Day 5, there was no homework for that day.)
Day 7 Fleshed out the body with masculine (inverted triangle) and feminine (hourglass and inverted heart) features. Then had a go at posing these more detailed figures in the bonus round of homework.
Day 8 Basic hand construction from front and back view. The hand was broken down into 3 basic shapes - the palm, thumb and fingers - and used to interpret photo reference into sketches.
I felt the instruction could have used a bit more detail in describing the construction of the hand. I found I relied more on what I had already studied back in Week 11 to complete the homework. As with those 3/4 view heads, there's still much to learn through practice!
Day 9 Basic foot construction - we built upon the elongated triangle used in earlier iterations of the stickmen by adding the ankle and toes in front and side views. Exercise 3 used photo reference and the basic triangle to sketch out different angles of the foot. Then we applied the feet to the stickmen in the bonus round (yeah, they look a little silly!).
Day 10 Negative space, which is the area around the subject of focus (positive space). By observing the negative space, it can often be easier to accurately place complex details and gauge if widths or lengths are "off".
Exercise 1 involved drawing in the negative space of found objects. I only filled in parts of the negative space to show how shapes can be observed within that space. The entire area surrounding the objects could have also been filled in.
In exercise 2 we sketched figures from photo reference, using the negative space as a guide. In hindsight I should have sketched full figures and indicated the areas of negative space - it would have made for a stronger study.
To complete the week, the bonus round tasked us with creating characters based on stickmen poses. Mine came out a bit rough, but it's progress nonetheless!
As a result of The Figure Drawing Challenge, I have also been drawing a lot more faces too. Yay! In the images below, the first are sketches mostly from imagination, while in the second I had a go at adapting photo reference into more 'cartoony' versions.
On reflection of the past 2 weeks, I'm really grateful for the Figure Drawing Challenge. I still carry a mantle of fear around art making but this course (and the kind advice of many wonderful people) is helping to shake it off.
The confidence I'm gaining in undertaking these studies is really restoring my sense of fun and desire for exploration through art. I want to play around with variations in proportion, shape and scale of faces and figures. I want to start creating characters and their settings. I haven't really felt that since I was drawing creatures all day back in early highschool. That's pretty incredible.
So on that note, I'd like to leave this thought with you:
Avoiding error stifles creativity and growth. The path of discovery and success is paved through the action of drawing both the good and bad.
Keep up the good and bad art, everyone!
Until next time,
x Kristy Kate
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