Figure Drawing Mom and Daughter

Had a pretty good figure drawing class tonight. I feel like I've loosened up alot when it comes to drawing people, but still not where I want to be yet. Alot of catching up to do. Tonight we had the privilege of drawing one of the models that has come back after having her baby girl. She even managed to keep the baby from crying the entire time! Came close though.

Things to Remember:

Babys' eyes are not located in the center of the head like adults or children. The eyebrows are in the center  and the nose is at the bottom fourth.  The bottom of the eyes are halfway between the bottom of the nose and the brow.

Quest for perfection

Ugh! The pain. So I sat down tonight to do some drawing for fun. Started on some faces (all from imagination) and moved on to the body. This is probably the only thing worth posting. I've realized something. I've realized I'm starting to remember how to draw. It's slowly coming back to me. Unfortunately, I'm also remembering all the things that I have been meaning to work on. Things that I was wanting to work on a year and a half ago. Ugh. So much time lost. I've been mindlessly copying figure contours at figure drawing instead of trying to learn REAL anatomy from them. Damn women hips. Why are you so hard to draw!? You're round, but you're flat, but you're round. And hands… don't get me started on hands… So much to learn. I was about to start learning folds and fabric a year and a half ago too.

SO, time to figure out how to do this. With me, I tend to grind experience (forgive the WoW reference), then do the big battle. But I need to get some actual work done instead of constant studies. I need to figure out this balancing act. I can't be constantly studying and not doing anything with substance.

Painting Class 1.20.10

Did a study of the planes of the face today. Getting ready for the model we are painting next week. The reason this looks kind of weird is because the right side of the face is an older person and the left is a younger. Had a good class today and I think all of the sketching has been helping. Each painting is a little better than the last. If anyone want's to buy one of these models, you can get them at www.planesofthehead.com.

Things to remember:

1) Even though the skull is round, it's good to imagine the top as kind of flat. It's not a perfect ball.

2) Adding a little background color to the receding forehead mimics atmosphere and shows depth as the head goes back in space.

Anatomy study

Something about the face that I just can't get. I see it in other drawings and even in the mirror,  but I just can't seem to mimic it. Annoying as hell. I've been trying to get better at faces and the body in general over the past week. Pulled out the ole Loomis book and been studying it while looking at myself in the webcam to try and make sense of facial anatomy. I just want a decent looking generic face. They all seem to look the same with the same flaws. Anyway, the second one is the one with loomis and a webcam. Took me a while cause I was mostly just trying to figure it all out instead of making a good picture. So much to learn, so little time…

Painting Class 1.12.10

Tired as hell, but glad I had my class today. Now it's time for:

Things to remember:
1) There should be no white in backgrounds or shadows. This rule can be bent if atmosphere is involved or if there is a small amount in reflected light. This is probably why I was having so much trouble at work today painting a mummy! Got to get better at painting white things.

2) Shadows and highlights have value ranges that are independent from one another. There should not be a value in the shadow that matches one in the highlight.

3) A local color has a shadow that is comprised of a a single value. All changes in value are due to reflected light.

4) Highlights have values that change depending on how light hits a surface. The more light, the lighter the value. Value will decrease until in shadow. No value should be darker than any value in the shadow.

5) Edges in shadow should not be sharp

Painters to research:

Academic
William-Adolphe Bouguereau
Rembrandt

Neoclassical
Anne-Louis Girodet De Roussy-Trioson
Jacques-Louis David

Pre-Raphaelite

John William Waterhouse

Dr. Sketchy's 1.11.10

So I went to Dr. Sketchy's tonight and got some much needed drawing in. I feel like it's been forever since I've done real pencil drawing and i'm kind of mad at myself about it. Sketching is key! So i'm a little rusty. Most of my drawings were kind of timid and I didn't do the amazing model we had any justice at all. No great pencil strokes! Kind of a bummer. So I went home and did another timid drawing with no great strokes, but it looks pretty good anyway. I think painting is killing my line-work a bit. I need to focus on drawing as well as painting. Tomorrow is another day.

Painting Class 1/5

Happy New Year! Here is my first painting of the year. Getting better! I'll try to finish it next week.
2 hours.