Studying Michael Hampton; Number of Drawings after chapter?

[AkumaLuck]

So I'm studying the Michael Hampton book: Figure Drawing: Design and Invention, and I sort of decided on my way to study it. The basic flow I was going to go with is ready each chapter slowly one at a time, copying the drawings and figuring out the techniques explained then at the end of the chapter do a number of drawings on my own using the techniques learned. I would then from there, see if I'm satisfied of my understanding of the techniques, and if not, re-read the chapter and try again. My question to you all is, how many drawings do you think I should do at the end of the chapter as a good measure of how much I understand. An obvious answer would be "Until you get it" But for me to work efficiently, I need a number, something solid, it's just how I function. So any suggestions?

[Kaiser-chan]

I basically do the actual actual pictures presented in a section. When it comes to Hampton (and Bridgman, who is my actual other fav), I do a picture per his. When I complete a section I do studies from photos or life. What I find is from doing these I experiment upon the knowledge from the anatomy text and build upon it. It helps me take the real people and break them down in a way that is presented to me and helps me make sense of what I'm actually seeing. After a certain point I find real people have made the most difference in my understanding.

If I'm lacking a section I go back and re-do it. Often this is months after I do it originally, though.

Truthfully, while I love Gaia, if you are looking for suggestions on proceeding with heavy anatomy studies you are better off with a forum that is heavy in them like Conceptart or Permanoobs or a similar forum. Gaia is a constant inspiration imo but it doesn't feature a lot of people with a heavy training in this sort of thing. I'm not even remotely a teacher, either, but I do appreciate Hampton (and anyone who appreciates him as a result)

[NarpyTheCrimeDog]

A major misconception about these books is that you focus on things chapter-by-chapter, when really you should read the entire book. Then practice what you've learned, then read it again so more of the information sticks. Focusing on one area alone is going to present both bad habits and loss of information. Read the book with sketches while reading. Draw for several weeks with the knowledge you remember. Read again, incorporating prior knowledge with the new stuff you now remember. Rinse, lather, repeat.

[AkumaLuck]

NarpyTheCrimeDog

A major misconception about these books is that you focus on things chapter-by-chapter, when really you should read the entire book. Then practice what you've learned, then read it again so more of the information sticks. Focusing on one area alone is going to present both bad habits and loss of information. Read the book with sketches while reading. Draw for several weeks with the knowledge you remember. Read again, incorporating prior knowledge with the new stuff you now remember. Rinse, lather, repeat.

I could give this a try, but it seems to me like I'd have trouble retaining all the information through the book, without any real formal practice on specific parts. My issue with posts like this is the assumption that everyone has the same style of learning. How people retain information and learn is different from person to person, and assuming that everyone has to do it a certain way, I feel, is a misconception on it's own. I'm not saying your method is wrong, but assuming that the only way to do it is by using your method is wrong. I know lots of people that have to take things one at a time or else they get overloaded. I for one, will forget all the information I learned in chapter 1 when I move on to chapter 2 if I only do minimal work while studying chapter 1, which you seem to suggest is the correct way to do things. I agree with the concept of putting it all into practice once finished, but at least for me, this style seems inefficient and incorrect for my style of study.

[Kaiser-chan]

AkumaLuck

NarpyTheCrimeDog

A major misconception about these books is that you focus on things chapter-by-chapter, when really you should read the entire book. Then practice what you've learned, then read it again so more of the information sticks. Focusing on one area alone is going to present both bad habits and loss of information. Read the book with sketches while reading. Draw for several weeks with the knowledge you remember. Read again, incorporating prior knowledge with the new stuff you now remember. Rinse, lather, repeat.

I could give this a try, but it seems to me like I'd have trouble retaining all the information through the book, without any real formal practice on specific parts. My issue with posts like this is the assumption that everyone has the same style of learning. How people retain information and learn is different from person to person, and assuming that everyone has to do it a certain way, I feel, is a misconception on it's own. I'm not saying your method is wrong, but assuming that the only way to do it is by using your method is wrong. I know lots of people that have to take things one at a time or else they get overloaded. I for one, will forget all the information I learned in chapter 1 when I move on to chapter 2 if I only do minimal work while studying chapter 1, which you seem to suggest is the correct way to do things. I agree with the concept of putting it all into practice once finished, but at least for me, this style seems inefficient and incorrect for my style of study.

Realistically, do what works best for you. I'm never going to advocate the 1-1 drawing approach of an atelier, but "Passively remembering how something looks, and actively remembering how to reconstruct it are two separate processes."

Studying is for you. Whether you do it for fun or in school or whatever. Don't make the mistake of thinking you have to rote adopt someone else's shitty formula (god knows public school ingrains this something awful); if you're not getting something, just do that part until it makes more sense. If you're tired of not getting it, move onto something else and sometimes you'll have a break through. Even if you don't have a break through, you won't be tired of what you're doing. When you're ready to do so, go back to the thing that you were having trouble with.

But some formulas work, on a whole, better than others. I'm not saying Narpy is wrong, but the truth is I don't see a lot of pros whose studies involve blitzing through reading then trying to draw what they recall without doing studies in between. It's probably a studying tactic that works for the very bright, or is favored by the dull - I know personally I'm not the former so I never really tried it myself.

[Itchy the Hatter]

Just copying his drawings won't help. It's an important step to easing yourself into the process but you should also be applying his techniques to new content - first poses from life/photos, then if you feel confident, from your imagination. I'd say if anything keep doing it until you can work comfortably from your imagination. Consider copying his diagrams like doing sample problems in a math textbook during class with the teacher, working from reference as doing practice problems for homework with an answer key, and working from your imagination as taking a test - to compare it to the structured system of an academic class. You're not ready for a test after three sample problems from the beginning of a chapter - that's why your math teacher gives you homework, right?

You shouldn't be asking us for structured numbers like this, though, because we have no idea where you stand and how much you have to learn. Things like a solid grasp of perspective and rhythm can significantly increase or decrease the number of studies you'd have to do to get the concepts. In other words, Michael Hampton explicitly teaches anatomy but also assumes a competence in perspective, etc. If you're struggling with that too, it's going to take longer, if not more work on the side just to grasp it. To bring it back to the math analogy, it's like how some people need to talk to the teacher after class, ask TAs, go to tutouring, etc. Not everyone's the same, and not all facets of a subject are equally easy/hard for everyone. For example, I had no trouble with geometry, but I was blown away by calculus. How was this possible? I was a straight-A student up until then and passing math classes with no trouble and now I was going to tutouring. Am I good at math? Bad at it? No, because math is such a broad subject - fact of the matter is I'm good at geometry and bad at calculus. For that reason, no one can tell me how much work I need to do to master calculus - even if they knew how good I was at geometry.

And honestly, if you can't set goals for yourself and introspect enough to know how much practice you need, you're going to have trouble later in life in general. Not everything is structured like school with grades and syllabi. Get used to setting your own goals.

Also understand that there's no point (especially in art) where you're "done practicing." It's a fluid thing. You should always be studying everything all the time. There's no "end of the chapter," there's just temporary satisfaction for where you stand. "Chapters" are arbitrary divisions to make books easier to read. They mean nothing.

At the end of the day, Michael Hampton's book is not a textbook. I use it as a reference for when I draw other things but I don't treat it like a syllabus.