Workshop participation thread for Muse

Hello everybody! Below are scans from the last three pages of my sketchbook, which should give a rough idea of where I'm starting from. I have no artistic background, but I've been sketching off-and-on on my own for the last 5 years. In the year 2000 I might have said I had no artistic talent whatsoever, but I have since become convinced that "talent" is just a word other people use to describe a given person's implacable drive to improve himself in a particular domain. Using that definition, I would say I have a very, very modest amount of artistic talent :-)

I'm especially interested in improving my ability to draw good character art, but I'm sure I'll have a lot to learn from all of the lessons we do together.

Well, I had a go at assignment 1. The watch is in the less challenging of two poses I tried, with most of its band under it. I stopped wearing it because the band had partly ripped from the head and the face had lost one of its two buttons. The glasses case seems mostly all there, except somehow when I drew it my brain rearranged it so I was drawing at less of an oblique angle (ie the perspective in the drawing is closer to overhead than it was when I was viewing the model). I seem to do that alot when trying to draw in perspective; my brain must not like foreshortening!

Right Dave, the first thing I notice are your lines. Whats really important in line drawing is to give the illusion of whats closer to the viewer. So basically if you have something thats curving towards you, the line will get darker and then fade out as it curves away. If it all just stays the same tone then the drawing can appear very flat. Another thing to remember is to keep the line defined. I notice with your glass case that some of the lines become two or appear rough. It's important to have good clean lines.

For your watch next time try laying it on its side to get more of the strap in. I think that way you could get a lot more depth. Something I always tell my girlfriend is to keep the lines soft while your getting the overall shape otherwise if you press too hard and you come to rub parts out, you get marks left and indents on the paper. This can become a nightmare when you start shading as the graphite won't lay nicely over these dents.

For your figure sketching, your on the right track. But just like I tell myself aswell, keep on practicing. Have you ever done any life drawing before? Always a great help and if you want to get a start in, then sketch people at home while they are reading or watching tv. I knew people form art school who were made to go wonder the streets and sit at a crowded place and just quickly sketch people.

Quote: Original post by Muse
Well, I had a go at assignment 1. The watch is in the less challenging of two poses I tried, with most of its band under it. I stopped wearing it because the band had partly ripped from the head and the face had lost one of its two buttons.

The watch is a fairly complex object, and trying to capture all of its complexity is hurting your overall drawing. The purpose of the first assignment is simply to sketch, not to realistically render a faithful facsimile. Try it again, but ignore the interior details and focus on just conveying the overall shape of the watch. Don't do any shading, and try to use the fewest number of lines possible (which is generally true in drawing, anyway).

Quote: The glasses case seems mostly all there, except somehow when I drew it my brain rearranged it so I was drawing at less of an oblique angle (ie the perspective in the drawing is closer to overhead than it was when I was viewing the model). I seem to do that alot when trying to draw in perspective; my brain must not like foreshortening!

This is far more common than you might think. The greatest challenge many beginners face is overcoming the cognitive information their brain has about the object that causes them not to draw what they think, but what they know.