Tuesday 29 May 2012

Friday 25 May 2012

First visit to the Toronto School of Art

I headed to the Toronto School of Art  in order to attend their "drop-in" life drawing class. This one was a variety of timed poses. This was excellent practice for me. I was also happy to see that the model happened to be male. I can't draw males as well as I can draw females and need the practice.

I was a bit off my game due to being in a new environment, so I wasn't pleased with anything I produced. I picked the better of the bunch in order to have something to show.

10 minute poses:
This one below is probably the best out of the bunch. I spent a lot of time making him look like he was actually sitting and really studied the connection of the arm to the back. (That's a huge issue for my sketches around town. I tend to not measure the shoulder/arm connection properly and it looks wrong.)


It's still touch and go with feet and hands. I get how to draw a hand/foot when it's not doing anything, but I have trouble translating different positions of the hand/feet in my brain.
(The feet in the second image are TERRIBLE. )

25 minute poses:
This first one is just a study of what I didn't like about the first draft of the drawing.  I attempted to exaggerate the curve of the leg a bit more, etc.

 This is the first attempt. I am not happy with this one bit. I had trouble with the right arm as the negative space wasn't lining up properly. (His hand was actually placed much farther away from his leg.) I really should have scrapped it and started over. *nods*

The one below is not great. I like how the hand under his chin turned out but the feet are horrid and the placement of the hand resting on his leg is pretty off. 

All-in-all, the trip was interesting, albeit boring as I went alone. Given the amount of time and money I had to spend to get there, I wont be going again until I find employment and have an entire day to myself. I'm also going to look into places around the GTA, as I can just rent a car and drive as long as it's not in the city core. (I drove through downtown Toronto twice before and refuse to do it again.)

My only complaint about this place was the room was a bit small and there wasn't a lot of ventilation.  Otherwise, everything else was great. It was exactly what I wanted; something uninstructed where I could just go to practice. To people living in Toronto, you are very lucky. It's tough to find gatherings like this out in the Suburbs.


The next time I go, I'll definitely take a buddy. It's more fun during the breaks.

Wednesday 23 May 2012

Figure Drawing 1 - Class # 3



A few 1 minute warm ups to start.




We did an exercise where everyone in the class posed for 2 minutes. (We could use props if we liked.)
Most people were pretty creative with their poses. These are my 3 best.

Above is the final pose of the class, timed for 40 minutes. This one was a challenge! Reclining with foreshortened limbs. I measured carefully in order to fit the hands and feet on the paper. (I hate when I cut out of the feet or hands. I tend to draw large.) This one forced me to use all the skills I had been taught. (Measuring how many heads long she was, what was the highest point of her body, what angle are certain things on, where was her elbow joint on her right arm, etc ?) I'm not happy with how the right hand came out...but I was surprised I produced the rest so well!



Monday 21 May 2012

Some "Victoria Day" sketches.











It's the "Victoria Day" holiday weekend here in Canada. With the weather being so lovely, people flocked out in droves. Here are a few pages from my sketchbook. (More to come as I scan them.)

These were done with a brush pen vs the pen I was using yesterday, which doesn't seem to do well on this type of paper.  (Will stick to a smoother paper for that one.)

I was playing around with white Conte on some of them.

(I got to pet the Basset Hound ^_^)

Tuesday 15 May 2012

Life Drawing


Long pose from tonight. I had run out of time when I was going to do the ear and legs. (20 minute timed.)

We did some sequential poses that I'll post some other time.

 Picture quality is poor. I'll get my good camera out tomorrow and take a better one. 

Monday 14 May 2012

Hand Studies and switching up my technique.



I enjoy seeing rapid improvements.

I've noticed that I do so much better when I do very loose gestures to flesh out where everything is first. The rigid, Burne Hogarth style that is so popular (while still very useful in certain instances) tends to make my drawings extremely rigid. I also noticed that I focus too much to the point where I actually miss details and it looks wrong.

For instance, on the first hand from the left, had I not done a gesture first, I would have missed the fact that the pinky actually points inward (I would have put it in a straight up/down position).

I've switched back to loose gestures during my daily life drawing outings. I found the way I was trying to draw too rigid.

Thursday 10 May 2012

My cat.


This is Ashie.

She is moody.

She is violent.

She also doesn't like me.

This is the look I get from her at least once per day.....



Wednesday 9 May 2012

Gestures


1st Figure Drawing Class

My first figure drawing class started today. I will post more on the specifics of it in my next entry as I'm too tired to do any long-winded typing right now.

 My first 4 minute pose.


Second, 5 minute pose.

My last 5 minute pose. This one is favorite and probably the best of the bunch.


This was a 20 minute pose. It's got errors and I didn't get to finishing the hands. (Hands seem to be the trickiest things to draw...along with feet.) This one was tougher because of the foreshortening in the legs. The arm was bent and holding her weight like that...but if it looks wrong; it is wrong. *nods*


I learned a lot in just one class and can't wait until my next one!

Tuesday 8 May 2012

Sketches


Random people and a local chipmunk.

I start my first figure drawing class tomorrow. I'm a bit nervous...

Monday 7 May 2012

Some more sketches....


Gestures/Sketches over the past few days.

The animal proportions are off but turned out better than I expected. (I'm very new to drawing animals.)

The human gestures were from various locations around town and the Zoo.

Wednesday 2 May 2012

Gestures at Starbucks





I managed to nab a great seat at the local Starbucks. It was in the back where I could see the entire store and counter. These are the better ones. The longer I sat there drawing, the looser my lines got, which is a good thing.

I'm also working on animal studies for Orangutans, Goats, Indian Rhinos, and Elephants. I plan to draw those at the Zoo this weekend and need to make sure I have a basic understanding of the anatomy.

(PS: Apologies for the poor quality of the pictures, they were taken in low light.)