drawing checklist

remember how i'm teaching figure drawing for animation at byu this semester? i'm so glad i am, because man...it's a blast.

the main reason for this post is because it's sort of an appendage to the post that i wrote a while back. and honestly, i just don't feel like making a powerpoint for my students (powerpoints...gross). so all of you get to peek at what we're learning about today. it's basically pulling together what we've talked about in the class so far. yeah, process! 

construction // 

i start every drawing the same way, whether it be a 30 second drawing or a 3-hour drawing. literally. it goes sort of like this --

some famous artist said it first and more elegantly, but i let the pose determine how i begin drawing. sometimes it's an amazing gesture. sometimes it's the midline. sometimes it's a sweet shape. sometimes it's the emotion. whatever it is, i find that and start there. then this is a reeeeeally rough process of what comes next:

1 -"ghost in" the figure -- lightly compose it on the paper with broad, general marks (usually the widest side of the conté or drawing medium)
2 -gesture first: exaggerate the pose and essence of the model in its entirety. meaning, at least imply the main parts of everything: torso, head, arms, legs, hands, feet. you can loosly incorporate the shadows if you'd like, to help explain the shapes. or, you might want to put in lines for proportion, ie where the feet, knees, pelvis and shoulders are if it's a standing pose, getting the dynamic angles in there. 

3 -build on top of the gesture with basic shapes (often, i start with the torso, because that explains the rest of the pose as everything else is an appendage to that. but again, let the pose decide the way to begin)
4 -commit a few areas, meaning, make some areas clear with firm, decided marks to say "this is where this line is", and then let all the other marks you put down subsequently relate to that area.

hmm, these numbers don't exactly match up with the list but you get the idea, yeah?

now i'll let you in on a secret -- this is what constantly goes through my head as i continue into a more extended pose, whether it be 10 minutes or 3 hours.  

mental checklist //

-keep the gesture alive

-construction: is the structure still there? 

-constantly draw through the figure (or at least think through it, literally)

-establish darks and lights

-light is for detail, dark is for form

-establish a focal point

-SIMPLIFY: choose to see less

-keep eye and hand moving

-think in terms of explaining and interpreting

-merge dark shapes

-pay attention to negative space

-always think: big to small, general to specific. from the tool in hand to the shapes on the page 

-when applicable, grid and relate points to each other

-commit lines and points

-strengthen and clarify. always! 

-when time permits, walk away and come back with a fresh view

SO. if i start to "lose" my drawing (meaning it's going well then something happens and it starts to look weak or not as good), go back to the top of my mental check list and figure out where i "lost" it.

i have the top 5 of these (the ones that are most important to me, or the ones i forget most often) written on my drawing board, to help me remember. construction is always on there, because you just can't really move on from a poorly constructed form. that has to be in place first. before value, before cool swooshy energy lines, before anything else. another famous artist said this: "you must build the house before decorating it." 

sooo...capisce?

drawing principles // 

keep these things in mind as you draw as well, after you get a good grasp on structure and construction and the essentials. 

-general to specific

-make sure to get the whole figure on the page. don't sacrifice this! 

-straight vs. curve 

-push the design: our mind always tends to straighten things out when they're on paper. we have to compensate for this in our designs. if the model looks slightly bent, draw them more than slightly bent and our brain will interpret it correctly when it sees it on paper. 

* * *

thoughts on value //  value refers to the lightness vs the darkness in a drawing. this is often where students get excited, but ironically where their drawings go downhill.

as far as value goes, this is one of the best tips i can think of. i'll even let go of my stylistic writing choices and capitalize my letters for you like a big kid just for clarification's sake:

Light is for modeling (it’s where the information and rendering should be) and shadows should be flat. Thus, leave detail out of the dark. Instead, make the dark shapes pretty flat. This will also help you to think in shapes and planes. Again: Light = texture, detail, rendering, modeling, color (if applicable). Dark = shape-making, flat, low hues (color). Now, some artists have reversed the two. This is just the approach I've found to be most successful. Either way, pick one to have the most information: light or dark, and go with that.

The next part is super helpful, so tighten your thinking caps one just one time:

The separation of light and dark is important. The lightest areas of the shadow still shouldn’t be lighter than the darkest areas of the light. I know...it sounds confusing, but it’s honestly one of the best concepts to grasp with value. If it’s not like this, it’ll look over-modeled, which is no good.

a quiver of tools // 

now let me be clear: the implementation of value does NOT make a good figure drawing. there are absolutely gorgeous figure drawings made solely of line! however, if you can learn to use value properly, it's another tool to add to your toolbox and you can pull it out when needed. there are times you might not even want to use value.

think about it: if your model is 90% in shadow (you likely came late to class and got the shadow side of the room), you might opt to just do a really great line drawing. but it will need excellent construction and a knowledge of anatomy. but to make it look superb, that's where the line quality tool comes in. that's why everything is built on top of everything else. you need to know the basics to understand what you're doing (and no artist can skip these, no matter how good he is), but the quality of the drawing is shown by incorporating the awesomes.

b a s i c s :

gesture

proportion

construction

shape making

a w e s o m e s :

line quality

value

force

exaggeration

composition

Our drawing surface will likely remain our best and most objective teacher.

~Ted Seth Jacobs

until next time, young padawans.....also, questions? leave a comment!

small portion

so it's still slow. BUT. i had a good inspiring weekend so hopefully i'll whip stuff out like nobody's business.

monday/tuesday/wednesday of last week, i just wanted to get my hands drawing so i could actually see what i'm doing. i was a drawing fiend. here are two of the studies.

most of 'em were meh-looking. but, the book art and fear notes that an artist’s failed pieces are just as relevant as their good ones. it also claims that a lot of art must be created to make a small portion of it good. so i'mma go with that.

i tell you what, after not drawing for 7 months, it's hard to hit your stride again. but when you do, it feels great.

confession

so...i kind of haven't really done art in like...um...six months. i got really burned out and needed a break. then life just got crazy with health and home problems. sooo now i'm trying to graduate! yesterday i went to two figure drawing classes just to get back into it. it was super helpful but also really hard because i've digressed so much. below is one drawing i did. it has a ton of proportion issues as well as other stuff. but i need to just post it so that i'm obligated and accountable to get better. i just need to start drawing again; i'm hoping the skills will eventually come back.

my first full-length figure drawing in...a year? 

exhausted after attending those classes and two meetings regarding my final bfa show, i ran into my wonderful friend and fellow illustrator melissa, who asked me if i'd like to "play art". the tired, puzzled look on my face told her she needed to expound on that idea, and she explained that it's her term for doing art just for fun. i had kind of forgotten about that novel idea. below is what i drew in the few minutes i had. it was fun and low-pressure exploratory and very imperfect. a good re-start. (while i did that, she was busy with THIS. clearly, she's been keeping busy with her art and it certainly pays off!) 

and what did i see...

the other day, i walked into the h-fac and was pleasantly surprised to find this poster, plastered all over the walls:

i was happy because it's my drawing from last year's show. :) i was humbled that this drawing received 1st place last year, and even happier to share the so-called "winners podium" with my amazing friends natalie and nikki, whom i miss!

i'm excited to see the show for this year's competition: this exhibition is always one of my favorites.
i hope you come, too!
[feb 16 - feb 28, byu h-fac]

drawing is my favorite.

{except for writing this sentence, i'm skipping obligatory "sorry for not posting for so long" preface....}

this past semester, i took a head painting class. as part of our out-of-class sketchbook assignments, we had to draw portraits with different lighting situations. i decided to draw them bigger and with nu pastel and conte crayon because i miss figure drawing. so, here they are! it's been a while since i've drawn, so it makes sense that the consecutive order of the drawings were also, in my opinion, good --> better --> best.

the two pinkish ones are self-portraits in nu pastel and it was fun to draw from the mirror. the others are drawn from photos in conte.

yeah. the paintings will be posted soon, but drawing's still my favorite.

life drawing :: my process

i had the privilege of teaching the friday illustration labs for the freshman seminar class last semester (fall '10). i only had two hours with each group of pre-art major students, and constructed my labs so that ideally, we'd cover three main areas within that time: we defined illustration and the illustration program, established basics of life drawing, and let the students practice after my demo. it was crazy full, but there were some good times to be had. and the students were troopers.

...

i made the following slides* as part of my presentation. don't take this as doctrine, but hopefully it makes a little sense of what probably went on in my head as i drew.

let me know if this is at all helpful, or any other thoughts or questions you might have. i'd love feedback!

the final product: 

i'm highly influenced by my professor, bob barrett. if any of the above process makes sense to you and want to learn more, i would suggest studying his life drawing book which goes into great depth. 

*apologies for the quality of pictures; when i drew it, i wasn't intending on using the process pictures for anything other than checking my progress. obviously my cell phone camera isn't the most hi-tech thing in the world....