Angles: Figure Drawing

In Lewis’ drawing classes we have always been drawing figures, and we have always been trying new methods of drawing. Below is the newest selection of drawings, using harsh angled lines to define form. When looking at the models, we tried to pick out the angles of the body (spine, legs, etc.):

Using angles to describe a figure, before putting more detail in was more effective as a method of creating form than I first realized. I enjoyed using multiple straight lines to describe images, it helped greatly in developing my understanding of drawing figures.

Catch-Up: Drawing to Music

After I missed a lesson with Lewis I decided to catch up on some of the work, I asked a friend who attended the class (cheers Curly Matt) and apparently drawing to music was one of the prominent exercises in that lesson. Not knowing entirely what I was supposed to be aiming for, I drew back on my previous experiences, where I did something similar at college two years ago. The photographs of the drawings have bad levels of noise due to a high ISO, but the marks and dividing lines are still visible.

The marks are my visual response to the music, entirely through mark-making, nothing particularly figurative is present. I took this approach because although specific music brings out a specific emotion, the thoughts and feelings in terms of shapes and forms that are inspired by the music are entirely different (in most cases at least). Lines and marks are more expressive than literal figures.

 

From top to bottom, the music in order is:

Guano Apes “Open your Eyes”

Rolling Stones “19th Nervous Breakdown”

DragonForce “Through the Fire and the Flames”

Bottom Image:

Hurt “Ten Ton Brick”

Godsmack “The Enemy”

Beethoven “Moonlight Sonata” (Opening 2 minutes only)

Slipknot “Psychosocial”

Even if this isn’t what was taught in Lewis’ lesson, It’s still good mark making practice (aggressive marks for heavy metal Slipknot and more passive, smooth flowing marks for Beethoven etc.) as well as being generally enjoyable and almost therapeutic.

30 Second Drawings

Further installments of work created during the drawing classes taught by Lewis. All of the drawings created in our drawing classes are poses lasting no longer than 5 minutes (but these are very rare). The Drawings below are mostly 30 second drawings, just getting the form down on paper as quickly as possible, almost like a visual reminder. Absolutely no retouching is done after the allotted time period, if I can’t get it all down in 30 seconds, then I need to try harder.

As I mentioned, most of these are created within a 30 second time period (individually) with the occasional image being done in 1 minute, or 3 minutes.

I’m not entirely happy with my drawings, I have never been particularly confident at drawing over short periods of time. Usually when I’m struck by an idea and I need to get it down on paper quickly before I forget it etc. I draw something very quick in a minute or less, and normally they are very scruffy, untidy, drawings. This is because it is only a drawing that represents a reminder to me the quality isn’t always important, it’s like writing an idea quickly, as long as you can read the writing it doesn’t matter if it’s untidy. In most cases such drawings would be followed by a more detailed but still very quick drawing just to re-affirm the idea I’ve had. Nevertheless, I will endeavor to improve my quick-drawing skills in the future.

More from Drawing Class

The following are continuations of Lewis’ drawing class work:

 

 

A sense of depth created using perspective drawing to isolate and separate the two characters (my hobo and Ross’ teenager). This scene, at a bar/pub, is an environment that both characters could conceivably inhabit at the same time. Obviously the expressions of both the characters illustrate a sense of negative emotion (arched neck, etc.).

Practicing drawing other people’s character’s (as is common in animation): Character’s include design’s by Robert Fyle, Steve Willey, Tracey English, Georgios Charalambous.