Over the past few days… or almost a week really… it has been the holidays and I have not been working as hard as I should…
I mainly did sketches of poses and looking up human anatomy tutorials, reading and thinking about them. It wasn’t until December 26, which is the date I posted this under, where I started to see more about learning how to learn.
At first, I was simply looking at human anatomy tutorials, and I can best describe my observation is learning bits and pieces and combining it to have it aid my drawing. I don’t know how effective this is but so far that’s what I’ve been doing to supplement my pose sketches.
I was wondering about how to balance drawing from reference and drawing from “feeling”.
I came across these two tutorials that kind of mention how thing does not need to be 100% accurate, but rather capturing the feeling of it is more important.
And I wondered, when should I start doing it? As I mentioned before, my pose lines were kind of off until I just drew more poses in all its outline glory before my lines became better.
If I were to start trying to draw from feeling from a less “experience” level, I feel like it could have more “feeling” while my poses looked bad.
As now I have more experience, I can capture feeling while making my poses look presentable. I THINK. So it’s a combination of learning how to capture the feeling, and having studied enough proportion to make it look decent.
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I don’t think I’m quite so good at capturing the feeling yet, and a lot of the time I find my proportions off too. But I think now it’s just down to drawing a lot as practice (while purposely trying to capture feeling) and studying proportions so I have a better understanding of how the body works which will aid me in my drawing.
I came to the realization today that more formal studies help me in my drawings. I mention how I’m learning things piece by piece and kind of combining it together. I can kind of see it working.
I learned a bit about how muscles in the neck and shoulder work, so when I drew the arm, I naturally had a “feel” for drawing those parts and can draw it almost immediately after looking at the picture reference. While it may lead me to draw something in a predetermined way, I think learning it with proper understanding is key.
When I first started drawing I got so overwhelmed by details. I would see a lot of bumps and shapes and get confused on how to exactly draw them onto paper. So I would turn to other artist’s tutorials and they would break down the shapes for me. I still didn’t fully understand, but the artist’s way of seeing kind of helped as they simplified the complex shapes (or so I percieved). In a photo reference there is usually a lot going on, 3D forms, textures, lighting, gentle and subtle curvesof a muscle. As a novice, looking at it and trying to break down all the shapes felt like a nightmare and way too much work for my brain to handle.
I was worried that by studying how to draw the side or the face, or drawing the eye, I will only be able to draw that part in that specific angle, and nothing else. And I think I am kind of right for that concern. It’s because I don’t have an understanding of the objects. And that’s OK.
I think I got really overwhelmed by my lack of understand and stress of not knowing how things worked in its different forms and perspectives. I tried to look at many different tutorials that featured different styles of teaching and showing body shapes in different angles. I’d follow the shapes the lay out to draw a body. Draw a few circles here and there and there you have the body! Great I can draw this for THIS body, by how can I transfer it to another pose and angle?
I tried to make arbitrary measurements and lines and curves that would uniformly apply to any angle or perspective or body structure but without success. I can’t say if there is or isn’t a way to do it, I just haven’t found it to be useful so far.
Every body or shape has it’s own unique shapes and forms. There is not really a uniform way to do it. I’d have to look up a guide for every single pose I wanted to draw and that’s impossible. What i should be trying to learn is not certain shapes can make X pose. But rather, how can I use shapes to draw a certain pose, how do I decide for myself? I needed to see the shapes for myself, not look up a guide for every pose I wanted.
But how do I start seeing shapes for myself? Experience. And also by watching other artists. It seems like a cycical answer. Well I can’t rely on other artists to help me see how a pose works, but you’re also telling me I have to see how others work.
As I mentioned, as a novice, all those shapes were so confusing to me. Looking at how other artists percieve it helped break it down. When that has become easier (I get a “feel” of how things work), then I have to find a way to naturally produce breakdowns myself (which I think will strengthen that ‘feeling’). It’s a back and forth or knowing when to look at guides and then spending time myself learning how to construct things that look right.
Slowly by studying many tutorials, I understood how certain muscles look or connect to other body parts. And it has helped. When I was drawing for fun as a way to relax today, I found myself just “knowing” how to draw a certain body part. While it isn’t perfect, it helps me draw without agonizing about how a body part looks like. I already do. Of course I can fine tune and refine that understanding and build on it, but I’m starting to be able to “see” and “feel” for myself.
60%
I used to look at my favourite artists and admire their abstract styles (I’m describing this with my more novice brain). I liked styles that were kind of messy and abstract because I felt like I could emulate it because I knew I have poor lines so if I could just get my point across with a wild splatter of shapes and lines, I could maybe do it.
I am not saying those artists are hiding their lack of proper linework. If anything they know exactly what they are doing. Not to mention the amount of basic understanding it takes to even get to that point. Its like trying to draw chibis without anatomy understanding. Sure you can do it, but without the more complex understand it’s difficult to simplify well. It will look OK, but it won’t look right because it lacks the fundamentals ( can draw chibi from what others do but not rotate or change easily for my own). They know what exactly to simplify to work!
An artist came to my mind, which is Kim Jung Gi, and I think of him as avery talented individual and I’m sore many people do too. I was wondering if he is an artitistic genius, what exactly is his thinking and how does his mind work. So I went to read and watch some interviews.
I went through about 3 interviews and I think I got a decent idea of some of his tips (as similar questions are asked).
-Get the feel of it
-observe intensely (memory and visual library)
-60% (Gestalt)
>so instead of getting every excruciating detail, draw it where the viewer can make the connections.
~draw with pen
Goal: Commit things to memory
-read the guide about finding the right shapes yourself (as a way to go about it)
I also thought that when I first started observing the human anatomy, it was so overewhelming. So instead of trying to get every detail, just try to get 60% of it. I also thought, over time as the 60% is refine, the artist can add more and more detail. I remember in an intevriew for Kim Jung Gi, he mentioons how he can add more detail. An artist maybe does not need to 100% anything, but over time as we draw the 60% and observe more we can add a little more to the 60%. This 60% makes it less daunting and it can also grow. The percentage of what 60% means can change as well.
-ovberhwleminb and daunting – dont see all these hsopaes artiosts do – slowly understajnd.. I stjdies anatomy – or yea, thats how shoulders look and that part exists in the body! So drawing it isnt as daunting anympre
-pen think before drawing
—What do I even enjoy anymore? What do I desire to draw? Anime?? Not anymore…
-understand
-get a feel for it
-make it your own
Idk if im advanced enough for this but for now it at least answers my questions. Now how do we GET that point? Lets see how it goes!
Its not just that we should do it… but why?