Drawing Room: Figures: Seeing Shadows as Shapes

[MichaelRH]

Hi everyone..Looks like Lesson #2 is up and ready. I hope this second lesson will not intimidate anyone..it only LOOKS difficult!, but judging by the number of great drawings submitted for Lesson #1 (so far!!!), you're ALL "up" for this kind of work. I thought one more on "seeing" would be important. Lesson #3 will be much less complex, (I promise) I hope to see even more responses, and I'm sure we will ALL benefit by seeing each others drawings. Look foreward to seeing your results for Lesson #2 posted here. Feel free to ask questions as we go.
Have fun, Michael


(looks like there is a bit of re-organization in the works..here is a link to the lesson) http://www.wetcanvas.com/ArtSchool/Drawing/DrawingRoom/Figure/Lesson2/index



[This message has been edited by MichaelRH (edited July 03, 2000).]

[MichaelRH]

(((((((Llis))))))) ....thank you!

[llis]

http://www.wetcanvas.com/ArtSchool/Drawing/DrawingRoom/Figure/Lesson2/index.html

[Deb]

Michael, here's my try at lesson #2. I thought I would try a pen, never used one before. Boy, did I realize how addicted I was to an eraser! I know there is a lot wrong. You can see I fretted over her hands, but I still was happy that they turned out at least looking like humans. I would have used a black pen but one of the kids made off with it and a red was all I could find.

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[Mayet Ankh]

Wow Deb that looks stunning in the red. I like it. Very dramatic.
Mayet

[Gerak]

Wow...Deb....it's pen only ?
It's great.

[cagathoc]

Michael,

Another excellent lesson, well done! I especially like your drawing in this one; it's one of my favorites of yours.

Deb,

Your red version is cool! http://www.wetcanvas.com/ubb/cool.gif


Cindy

[Gerak]

Xerox paper and 0.5 HB pencil

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[tammy]

Just to let you know I've not given up
yet! My brother thinks I should. Ha.
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[MichaelRH]

Deb, you have a lot of courage. Black pen is intimidating enough, but RED! Your drawing reminds me of a woodblock print..is appears a bit rough around the edges, but the fact that you used pen would greatly limit your ability to develope GRADUAL shadow changes. You were able to accomplish a degree of this in the areas circled, but it is quite a bit less...subtle than the areas in the original photo. I often use "plumb-lines", drawn VERY!!! lightly, to show the relationship of one feature to another, in this case, you can see the discrepancy between hand and chin. There is also a bit more cheek to the left of my vertical plumb-line. I think the use of the red pen created a much more high-contrast drawing..and I can see where you attempted to record gradual changes in value with your variations in lines and marks. I hope these two examples are not TOO small to be of help. I will say that your drawing is a very expressive "interpretation" of the original photo. Much more daring in approach. Deb, I hope these added lines and circles are helpful..they were used only as points of reference.
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[This message has been edited by MichaelRH (edited July 06, 2000).]

[MichaelRH]

Gerak and Tammy, It is quite late tonight, and I will have more time tomorrow to go over your drawings with you. I would like to use the same approach I used for Deb...I feel the smaller examples (with the lines and circles to point out areas) will be useful..btw, I'm still gaining some skill with these tools.

Tammy, I DO appreciate your lessons on how to post quotes..I just haven't had a chance to get back to that..(I'm CLOSE..to having it down)..it just takes a few minutes to "play" with the functions..cut/paste/copy...etc. thank you again!..just have not had time to apply the things you've taught me. http://www.wetcanvas.com/ubb/smile.gif

[sherville]

Heres my attempt at this lesson. This one was my fourth try at it and I have not got much experience with drawing people (especially their faces). I think also the girls hand looks like that of a cartoon characters'.


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[MichaelRH]

Good morning Gerak - I've taken the liberty of drawing some instruction lines again. I hope that everyone realizes that my intention is ONLY to help you evaluate your own work. (I'm sure I could find a number of areas on my OWN final drawing for this lesson, where it could have been "fine-tuned" even more.
Don't be discouraged in the least, you've handled many areas in your drawing very well.
I have a feeling that some of my lines are self-explanatory. They usually indicate distance or width discrepancies. The small squares are areas I thought you had handled well. I won't be able to cover everything in each lesson (with "help"-lines and comments), but I will tackle some of the things I am seeing.
AND..please excuse my SLOPPY use of the mouse in Paint Shop Pro...(I would LOVE to have one of those drawing pens (?), not sure what they are called..but would be MUCH better than freehanding with a mouse!
The enclosed free-handed areas, were areas that I thought were quite dark (in the original photo)and I thought that you could have "punched" them up more..(made them EVEN darker.
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Gerak, I like the way you drew the eyes, especially the man's. I see the shadow area, with the eye details drawn into that shape. The shadows below both noses could be a bit darker. The angles of the heads is good, and both figures are placed in relationship to each other fairly well..just the hand/chin discrepancy. Gerak, you are doing VERY well! Doing better and better drawings is LARGELY a matter of practicing and sketching a lot..you'll just start seeing more and translating better....the more you do it. Michael


[This message has been edited by MichaelRH (edited July 06, 2000).]

[This message has been edited by MichaelRH (edited July 06, 2000).]

[Deb]

Michael, the plum lines and reference points were a great help. I liked how you put them side by side because I could instantly see what was off. I sketched them again, this time with pencil, and tried your suggestions. It's not perfect and I see that I am still off a bit, but it's a lot closer and it seemed easier to draw this time although I spent more time on it(must be the eraser!)Thanks for your help.
Deb
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[Titanium]

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2nd attempt - A light and shadow pattern .
Titanium

[This message has been edited by scottb (edited July 07, 2000).]

[Mayet Ankh]

Here is my effort. I have left my construction lines on my drawing. I used Michael's idea of marking out the shapes to begin and then I used my usual technique of mapping out the faces. Still managed to get the guy's nose a bit too long I think.
Mayet

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[This message has been edited by Mayet Ankh (edited July 07, 2000).]

[scottb]

Cleaning up this thread a bit...

[jnet11]

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here's mine, boys and girls ...
thanks for a nice project, Michael
j*

------------------
Just because no one understands you doesn't mean you're an artist.

[This message has been edited by jnet11 (edited July 07, 2000).]

[cagathoc]

I thought that in the reference photo the guy looked like a drugged out addict and the girl looked smart and sexy. I tried to reverse this. I changed the facial expressions, head, neck, shoulder and arm positions on both figures a bit trying to reverse the trend.


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Cindy




[This message has been edited by cagathoc (edited July 07, 2000).]

[MichaelRH]

Tammy, I hope you won't mind, I've printed your drawing on my end..and have been looking at it. Your placement of the figures in relation to each other is good. Some inaccuracies in the details (the features of both of the faces), but I also did not capture an "exact" likeness in my OWN drawing. One of my goals in Lesson #2, was to present ONE way of developing a figure drawing. Recognizing that shadow areas are actually distinctive shapes is ONE way of learning to construct areas of a drawing. I think your handling of line and value is good. I will go back to some simple basics ..simple anatomy in Lesson #3 Your drawing does have a nice quality/feel to it, and what you might lack (at the moment) in accuracy, you are more than making up for in your line work and shading. Nice job!

[MichaelRH]

Titanium - I haven't seen you here at Wetcanvas..so just let me welcome you. What medium were you using? I think it is an interesting study of the light and dark patterns. Reducing shadow areas and value areas to this extreme degree does make for an interesting composition, the effect almost looks like the kind of results you can get when you take an image and use the "solarizing" or "posterizing" tools to alter an image. Did you sketch out the varous shapes free-hand before you painted this?
Thanks for posting. Your handling of this composition has a MUCH more graphic feel than do the drawings submitted. Interesting I think, to see the relationships as you have done here.

[Titanium]

Michael ,

what your seeing there is a Light and Shadow pattern , which I usually do in mars yellow on a white ground [ linen attached to panel ] as my undercoat before I do a colour coat , for an oil painting .

I normally draw images from my imagination , and use that approach to add in the direction of light .Working off of a cartoon [ brown paper ] , I use reality to correct or intensify the imagination .

To do that drawing , I drew a simple sketch , placing eyes , mouth for example as just
very simple shapes. A circle for the eye ,
lines for lids . Then I squint and record the line between the light and the dark .
The dark is filled in as [ supposed to be high medium grey ] , I did this in poster colours .

The idea is to confidently remove all detail , adding in only what the image needs . It is really useful for oil painters who work in layers .

I thought you might like to see what the Ateliers are teaching - Renaissance and 19th Century techniques and philosophies.

A pre - requisite would be cast drawing under north light in a shadow box , model studies [ one pose a week ], and anatomy .
As well as sight -size and memory training.

If you have any questions , I will be around.

I think what you guys are doing here is excellent , definitely helping .
Titanium

[ReNae]

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Michael,

I've been on vacation so I didn't get to do until now. Hope you like...I found that I made his lips like Mick Jaggars - I used a graphite HB and 2B. Spent less time on this one then the baby...not as many shapes...thanks for the critique your opinion is valuable to me.

Warmth,
ReNae

So, sorry this is so huge..I'm having a lot of difficulty with my files all of a sudden...I reduce and it still comes out huge and my IE is coming on HELP!!!!

ok,,,fixed it,,,smaller image,,,sorry!

[This message has been edited by ReNae (edited July 10, 2000).]

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[LdyBiss]

This is wonderful. Great work from all of you
and I also like the "Red Work". I have missed
you all as I have been on vacation and am now back and hope to have a little time to join in the drawing fun.