My first time life drawing, 15yrs old

[emceeONE]

Not bad. I'd say draw from the inside out. Focus more on capturing the skeleton, worry about anatomy less for now. It'll help you nail proportions more accurately and give you a solid foundation on which to build your forms on.

Which leads to my next tip - focus on forms (cylinders, boxes, etc) rather than the outlines of muscles.

Check out Howard K. Frosberg's book here:

http://www.amazon.com/Approach-Figure-P ... 0891340238

Great tips for any artist who wants to learn how to draw the human body.

[mateo]

Hey these are great!! Just keep drawing first of all, and you shouldn't have an problems developing. Draw from magazines, internet, t.v. There's an oceon of reference for life drawing or anything else at that matter. Just draw what you see. Exercise your eyesight, thats the key. I'm not sure about boxes and cylinders, it might work, but that type of process always complicated me, I mean if you have a model, try to draw the model as you are seeing it. Yeah start out with basic shapes, but honestly,its hard enough without having to invent objects that are'nt there, you are already going to be battling against a symbol system, thats going to be trying its best to get in the way of reality. I would probably go with countour too, looking at your model more than your paper, drawing quick and lightly. These look fantastic, keep drawing everyday, find reference everywhere, sports pages, the library, and you'll definately grow.

[emceeONE]

haha @ mateo

Our approaches are so different. Awesome. I think it really comes down to what your brain is more receptive to. I love mateo's work, so I'm not going to criticize his method (and it's actually helped me improve too).

I suggest boxes and cylinders only starting out because they help 'standardize' the human body for me. Once it becomes like a formula, I can draw it easily from my imagination. For example, I know how big the thigh is compared to the foreleg, etc.

Of course, I still had to train myself to draw in the way mateo suggests because the way I suggest is incomplete. You need to be able to draw what you see. Contour drawing has is important, but I also suggest measuring the angles and "constructing" the figure that way.

You basically hold out your pencil and line it up against different edges of whatever you're drawing. You then copy that angle of that on to your page. To figure out the lengths and widths of any one line, look for where lines, if extended, intersect.

Here's a toy's head that I drew using both methods at the same time..

I tried to get the overall shape and "size" of the object using angle construction then put in the rest building him out of simple shapes and forms, as if I were using clay. Then I refined it paying attention to the contours and shapes/lines specific to that head. About 10 minutes total.

[mateo]

emceeONE, thanks for the nice words, I love your work too and I think your animation is dope! There are so many ways to accomplish good solid drawing. For me its doing it everyday, like driving. In the beginning all your actions are very intentional and obvious, and your judgment of space and distance and the relationship between the two are not so well, but the more you do it the better you get. I mean when you park a car you don't have to get out and measure anything. Your eyes have been trained to see and recognize the distance, size, shape, all those things,... same with drawing. Now I think emceeONE's process is really good, say if you're creating a character, and you are looking for consistancy, but even then it complicated me. Vision and memory are just as powerful. Try all the ways, and feel it out, I will say this again, daily application is absolutely neccesary. Think of it like this, even if the magican shows you how he does the trick, you still have to practice it everyday to execute it like a true magican. And its all magic.

[emceeONE]

Couldn't have said it better. Practice!

[mateo]

Thats it kid!!!

[emceeONE]

I think gesture drawings are the wrong way to go for the beginner.

Focus on getting to know the structure of the human body first.

Get good, then get fast.

Start with the 10minute+ poses.

Also, I think of methods as a tools. The more tools in my tool box, the wider range of problems I can fix

[mateo]

haha! I hate to disagree again, but I think gesture drawing is a fantastic way to learn how to draw the true body structure and shapes of the human, and not the fantasy formatted body structure. The best way to learn how to draw a knee is to draw a knee, not a symbol of a knee. And I'm sorry but i don't have to know the anatomy of a horse or rabbit to look at one and draw it completely accurate but I do have to see clearly. If you want to get really good at drawing horses or anything else just draw them all the time. Anthing you do everyday you're going to get good at. I dont have to know how to build a plane or fly it to look at one and draw it completely accurate and realisticaly. So ou can do a few 2 minute drawings, a 10 minute drawing a 20 min and or a 30 or 45minute. Exersicing the ability to put in the time required for the finishes are important too. Draw all kinds of different humans as well, not just nudes. Draw athletes, and dancers, and children. Work on faces and hands and feet. Look at them closely and their unique shapes, pic and problem solve, and do it again and agian. Rember nothing is really in back or in front of the other or going back into the distance or coming forward, lines are moving next to each other up or down or curved, higher or lower than the other, its all flat, the volume is an illusion. but like I said before try all the ways, feel it out. Another thing you can try is copy other artists that you like. Learn a little about their line work and vision, what they focused on and what not. Heres a 60 second gesture sketch of a soccer player. Just love it!!!!

[emceeONE]

I'm not denying any of that.

Gesture drawing is great. And if you do it enough, you'll get good at it doing nothing but that.

But you can get good at it a lot faster if you have a solid grasp of basic human proportions, how to convey form with simple lines, etc.

And you can learn those things without ever doing a single gesture drawing. And you can master them much quicker without restricting yourself to a 30sec-5 minute time limit.

Drawing quickly is important, but I wouldn't worry about being quicker than 10 minutes until you feel like you understand what you're doing with that pencil in your hand.

And if you want to be able to draw from your imagination more than something that is greatly simplified, as well as inventing new things such as monsters, aliens, vehicles, etc. on any professional level (like for hollywood movies), knowing detailed anatomy is essential.

I can draw the car in front of me. And by drawing lots of cars, I can probably draw my own car. And it'll look like every other car out there.

But I won't be able to design one that looks completely different AND actually works until I study what makes a car work. And it's not as easy as simply drawing what I see.

Edit: also, without studying animal anatomy, there would be no Thumper or Bambi, no Simba and Scar, etc. Cartooning those animals, and designing them in a way that retains their real animal nature but makes them different enough from each other and unique enough to identify as characters, requires intimate knowledge of the stuff you can't see from the surface.

But I concede that depends on your goal as an artist. Not everyone wants to create those types of cartoons. But you'll never get me to say knowing that stuff hurts you as an artist.

[mateo]

Well I can draw anthing wether looking at it or making it up. Realistic or cartoony, as well as making it move using several different means. But again you are talking about something else. You're talking about comics and disney animation, not life drawing and realism. By the way, I own Disney's illusion of life and these guys were always doing gesture drawings of humans and animals as well as using real reference for movement and the use of rotoscope, even for vehichles. I'm not saying not to study these things or draw boxes if you want, I read anatomy books, I have a bunch of them, and my thing is realism, but I'm telling you for life drawing and learning how to draw things correctly from looking at them, alot of that is unnecessary. Thats like saying I have to know how to sow in order to draw drappery. You need however to be able to see things as they actually are and not made up, or how you think the are or how you want them to be. I thought the kid was talking about human gesture drawing anyways. And this is what I do. But it all depends on what direction you want to go in, I met Genndy Tartokovsky and he looked at my work which was mostly realistic life drawing and the first thing he said was he hated life drawing haha. In my opinion, observation is essential and key for an artist, wether hes going to do it exact or style it up. I draw, teach, and animate realisticly all the time. Its something I love and would love to see more of( realistic animation that is) But hey, try it all and see what works for you. Trust the results. Now emceeONE, i want to see some realistic art and animation on my desk by Monday haha.

[emceeONE]

Haha

Deal. I want a drawing and animation of Mickey Mouse from your imagination on my desk by Monday. We'll trade.

[mateo]

I'll do even better, I'll have it you tonight HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!