My thought was to approach the drawing as an abstract collection of values instead of being concerned with proportion as I normally would with a figure drawing. I was hoping that this method would help break through my anxiety based procrastination that I’ve been experiencing lately.

Also I was feeling guilty about sitting down for 30 minutes and drawing when I should be working. To counter this I decided to limit myself to 10 minutes of drawing time each day for three days. Spending 10 minutes a day on a “frivolous” activity in this way was somehow acceptable.

Armed with these ground rules, I gave myself permission to fail and then started drawing.

The First Ten Minutes

My first 10 minutes of sketching resulted in a basic outline of the left edge of the figure (see screenshot below).
I was being too prissy and I wasn’t working over the whole figure at once. Also if you compare it to the original, I had chopped the figure to just below the torso – because I had paid no attention to the proportion of the figure.

Beginning of the Figure Sketch @10 Minutes

The Second Ten Minutes

The next day, after examining my progress, I decided to keep at it despite having cropped the figure. I blocked in the right side of the figure with a heavier stroke and attempted to map out some of the values of the torso. I also tried to pick up the pace a bit here, and after another 10 minutes this is what the sketch looked like.

nude female figure sketch torso @ 20 minutes

Thirty Minutes

The next day I sat down to finish the drawing with my last 10 minute chunk of time. I concentrated on shading the figure and trying to get the values properly related to each other. After my 10 minute session was over I was happy with the results, but thought with a few more minutes of work would be required. I decided to put in another 10 minute session the next day just to smooth out some of the rough shading.

nude female figure sketch torso 30min

The Final Sketch

The next night I spent another ten minutes just going over the whole figure and background.

Nude female figure, final sketch. Drawn with a Wacom tablet and Corel Painter Sketchpad.

At the end of my little exercise I was pleased with the results. The only problem I have is that by the time I completed the drawing the original Deviant art account had been closed down and the original stock image removed. I didn’t take note of the artist’s terms of use for the stock so I hope I’m not in violation of them by posting my sketch here.

Lessons learned:

1. Better record keeping required on my part.
2. Next time I’ll use stock that I’ve actually purchased the rights to.
3. By scheduling small blocks of time on my calendar I’m more likely to practice.
4. Write the purpose of the practice piece/session first.
5. Giving myself permission to fail helps to overcome my anxiety.

The post 30 Minute Figure Sketch – Female Nude first appeared on darren brant.

I had the best of intentions of sitting down Saturday and painting for an hour, but home renovations beat me to the point that painting wasn’t an option. I did get a chance to do a bit of preparation work though.

For my subject I selected a male nude figure from Deviant art (figmodel10’s stock image account) that I had saved on my computer last December.

Male nude stock 8 by figmodel10

For reference I printed out a greyscale copy of the original stock image with my laser printer. Then I decided to try something different. Instead of sketching directly onto the canvas board I drew a 1/2″ grid over the printout.

The idea behind this was to use the grid to copy the original to the larger canvas, keeping the proportions of the figure.

Transfer grid on original

My first big problem was figuring out what size of grid to evenly divide up my canvas as I had done with my printout. I only had an Imperial measuring tape and was ending up with grid sizes of 41/64th” and other foolishness. I finally ended up just eyeballing it after much trial and error – settling on a 6/8″ grid on my canvas. I marked the grid out using a 4h pencil and called it a night.

grid on canvas panel

Once I had my grid penciled onto my canvas I grabbed some charcoal. I started to draw a rough outline, copying each grid on my original to my canvas panel. I stopped and took the snapshot below when I was about half finished the sketch.

It was right about this time that I realized that I have never painted a figure before. This could get ugly.

Next week I’m going to try and paint an undercoat. We’ll see how it works out.

Charcoal sketch on canvas

The post Transposing an Image to Canvas first appeared on darren brant.

The problem is that when I set that particular artistic goal I didn’t think too long upon it. It’s a crappy goal. Conventional Internet Wisdom (TM) and an authority no less than Wikipedia tells me so.

I’m told that goals should be SMART:

• S = Specific
• M = Measurable
• A = Attainable
• R = Realistic
• T = Timely

I’m pretty sure my vaguely worded goal only satisfies Timely, as I had given myself a one year time period. More thought required.

Here then are the meager results of this week’s lunchtime sketch. It was a bad week and the drawings reflect that.

Figure Sketch Oct. 7, 2010

Source for this drawing is Posemaniacs

Paper: standard bond

Media: BIC ReAction Gel 0.7 pen

Size: 229mm x 305mm

I had to cut this one short – probably about a 2 or 3 minute sketch.

Figure Sketch Oct. 8, 2010

Source for this drawing is Posemaniacs

Paper: standard bond

Media: BIC ReAction Gel 0.7 pen

Size: 229mm x 305mm

The post Daily Scribble Oct. 4 – 8 first appeared on darren brant.

Figure Sketch Sept. 28, 2010

figure sketch 9-28-10

Source for this drawing is Posmanics.

Paper: acid free 82 GSM

Media: BIC ReAction Gel 0.7 pen

Size: 229mm x 305mm

I spent so much time worrying about the height of the figure in this sketch I used up my budgeted 5 minutes of drawing time. You can see the vertical tick marks that I was using to keep the figure in proportion. The distance between each tick is the same as the length of the figure’s head.

Figure Sketch Sept. 29, 2010

figure sketch 9-29-10

Source for this drawing is Posmanics.

Paper: standard bond

Media: cheap pen

Size: 5.5″x8.5″

After my failure from the previous day I jumped into this sketch without fussing over measuring the source figure. I was pleased with myself and the outcome. It’s a passable little sketch and I can’t see any problems until I compare it next to the original.

Figure Sketch Sept. 30, 2010

figure sketch 9-30-10

Source for this drawing is once again Posmanics.

Paper: standard bond

Media: cheap pen

Size: 5.5″x8.5″

Still flush and pleased with my success from the previus day, I jumped into sketching again without continuously measuring my sketch against the source figure. The results were not pretty. Lesson learned; I’m not ready to “wing it” quite yet. More practice required.

The post Daily Scribble Sept. 27 – Oct. 1 first appeared on darren brant.

Figure Sketch Sept. 24, 2010

Source for this drawing is Posmanics.

figure sketch 9-24-10

Paper: acid free 82 GSM

Media: BIC ReAction Gel 0.7 pen

Size: 229mm x 305mm, scan cropped to 88.9mm  x 206.4mm

I’m happy with the length of the figure, but the width is off. Next time I’ll have to pay more attention, as I have been concentrating on the height of the figure.

The post Daily Scribble Sept. 20 – 24 first appeared on darren brant.

Figure Sketch Sept. 16, 2010

figure sketch 9-16-10

Used a stock image from Deviant art by lesoleilfoncestock called Old Ballet.

Paper: standard bond

Media: crappy pen

Size: 5.5″x8.5″

The deviant art stock section is a good place to look for reference material and I had planned on using it exclusively for my sketching practice. I found however that many of the images weren’t of use for studying proportion. Either the pose was cropped or too awkward for my basic drawing skills.

Figure Sketch Sept. 17, 2010

Male figure sketch 9-17-10

Quick 60 second figure sketch I drew one the back of some scrap paper at work. For reference I used posemanics. I had forgotten about them, I’m going to use them more.

Paper: standard bond

Media: crappy pen

Size: 5.5″x8.5″

The post Daily Scribble Sept. 15 – 17 first appeared on darren brant.

I am rusty and out of practice. Unlike riding a bicycle, you can forget how to draw. I need to find the time and force myself to practice. I also need to manage my expectations – not every sketch will be a master piece, and not every sketch will be an embarrassment. I am my own worst critic and detractor, so I need to try and not sabotage myself. I need to overcome my fear.

Daily Lunch Scribble

I want to concentrate on improving my figure drawing skills; proportion in particular. My plan is to spend five minutes or so during lunch to work on a quick figure sketch. I had thought about a daily posting of the results of my sketching, but maybe a weekly compilation might work out better. The challenge will be to not just sketching but to sit down and sketch regularly. I’m good at procrastination and avoiding things that make me uncomfortable. We will see how this works out, if at all.

Wish me luck,

db

The post Plan For Improving My Drawing Skills. first appeared on darren brant.