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Trip on Acid Rainbows

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Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2008 8:52 pm

Alright well here are a few of my friends/classmates.

I'll post the photos I worked from on the last two; The first I don't know that well and would rather not have him get pissy at me.

Help/hints/opinions always appreciated. Also, I know that one guys arm is off, help with that would be good >_< It's been annoying the crap out of me

Like I said its been a bit since I've drawn realism... Or rather finished/came near finished in drawing it.

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I would prefer it if kindness was atleast attempted at yet honesty is obviously more important. None of them are quite finished, but this seemed like a descent post point.

Also, I know I closed his mouth, I was looking at these pictures on a cell phone screen, and decided against trying to draw teeth at this point in time, However advice on drawing teeth seems nice.

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Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2008 10:05 pm

Aside from the obvious bang hard on your figure and anatomy stuff....instead of copying what you see (which I'm figuring you're doing here), try to rebuild it on the paper/canvas (though this coincides with the task of understanding figure and anatomy more clearly).

Also....be more confident with your strokes....don't halfguess where your lines are going to flow and what your lines are defining, ya dig?

warrior_of_boognish

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SilverTiger

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Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2008 11:04 pm

I'm going to sort of go along with warrior_of_boognish and say that if you're practicing realism, you want to rely on outlines as little as possible. It's fine to sketch lightly before you draw anything solid, but outlining puts you more back into a 2D drawing mindset rather than 3D, which is what you're trying to convey.

You're using photos here - working from photos to do realism can be a bit tricky. You're translating 2D into 2D instead of 3D into 2D, which you would be doing if you drew from life instead - it's harder but ultimately much more useful. Your mind has to go through the process of taking a 3D object and putting it into 2D on paper, whereas with photos, a camera has already done the work for you. I feel it's a lot easier (and more beneficial) to work from photos when you're more skilled. Then you've got knowledge of anatomy and form and whatever to get you through the easy stuff and you can use the photos as reference for the harder stuff.

Not that you should never work from photos at all, but at this point, it'd be better for you to draw from real life instead, if you can. If you have to work from photos, try not to simply copy what you think you see in the picture (like outlines) and try to put down what's actually there.

Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2008 7:10 am

If you're trying to do realism but not trying to do chiaroscuro (IE, rendering an object purely by light and shadow), and you're working from a photograph, try using the relative distance between landmarks on the face, and their angle in relation to each other in order to plot out a loose sketch before filling in or defining features.

I personally start with the eyes or the jaw. It's easy to plot features inside of the face in relation to either the features of the jaw (where it meets the ear in relation to the bottom of the nose, for example) or the eyes.

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Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2008 7:17 am

SilverTiger

I'm going to sort of go along with warrior_of_boognish and say that if you're practicing realism, you want to rely on outlines as little as possible. It's fine to sketch lightly before you draw anything solid, but outlining puts you more back into a 2D drawing mindset rather than 3D, which is what you're trying to convey.

You're using photos here - working from photos to do realism can be a bit tricky. You're translating 2D into 2D instead of 3D into 2D, which you would be doing if you drew from life instead - it's harder but ultimately much more useful. Your mind has to go through the process of taking a 3D object and putting it into 2D on paper, whereas with photos, a camera has already done the work for you. I feel it's a lot easier (and more beneficial) to work from photos when you're more skilled. Then you've got knowledge of anatomy and form and whatever to get you through the easy stuff and you can use the photos as reference for the harder stuff.

Not that you should never work from photos at all, but at this point, it'd be better for you to draw from real life instead, if you can. If you have to work from photos, try not to simply copy what you think you see in the picture (like outlines) and try to put down what's actually there.

I almost exclusively work from photos now, but that is because I have studied anatomy and have a definite grasp on the human form, especially the face. Its okay to work from photos at the moment if that is all you have, but its tricky until you have more life drawing experience.
You need to look at face as shapes and not just lines. That is the biggest key. When doing life drawing I draw the basic shape of the skull and then lay out the basic facial features by the rules I have learned about where they lie. Then I focus on making them looking LIKE that person.
I need to get back into doing more life drawing. I have been so busy lately that I haven't had time.

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