Matthew | Drawing Tutorials Online Blog

Drawing From The Wrong Photo Reference

by Matthew | May 27, 2017 | Video Critiques

Have you ever tried to draw a portrait for a friend that didn’t go so well? You had a great photo of a friend or family member and when you tried to draw from it, it was not a good experience.

It’s most likely the photo had front lighting from flash photography. Your friends looked great, but the photo had no shadow shapes to cling onto. Drawing a portrait from front lighting is super difficult. Of course it can be done, however you have to be well versed in seeing subtle value shifts.

The key to drawing from flat front light is practicing matching values. It’s also all about understanding form. Once you understand form and can match values you can pretty much draw from any photograph.

I see many new members of Drawing Tutorials Online struggle when trying to draw a portrait from front light. I get it, you might have a photo of a dear friend and you want to draw a portrait for them.

My suggestion is that you invite them to your studio in order to take a new picture of them. Make it fun, have a drink, relax and definitely use form light. Turn the flash off. Form light will provide you with shadow shapes that you can actually use. Drawing shadow shapes accurately is the key to drawing a likeness.

Take a moment to check out the video below. It will definitely help you if you have to draw from a flat photo.

If you would like a critique of your artwork definitely consider a membership to Drawing Tutorials Online!

Thanks for watching:)

How To See Gesture

by Matthew | May 20, 2017 | Video Critiques | 1 comment

This video will teach you how to see the gesture of just about any pose. It’s important to be able to see through complicated fabric folds. Fabric certainly will mask your ability to see the clean gesture lines within a figure.

You want to see gesture from the top of the figure to the bottom. Seeing what I like to call “Long Gesture” is crucial to drawing figures that have grace and flow.

Without gesture what you have is a stiff figure drawing. One technique that can really help you is the “Opposite C” technique. The “Opposite C” technique provides you with a physical way to draw the natural flow of the human body.

If you need help with your figure drawings consider a membership to Drawing Tutorials Online. Through our weekly video critiques we can help you to see the gesture in just about any pose that you try to draw.

Thanks so much much for visiting our blog. Enjoy the video below.

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Madeleine’s Sketchbook – Part Two

by Matthew | May 6, 2017 | Sketchbook Videos | 2 comments

Madeleine was enrolled in my foundation drawing class at the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan New York. Madeleine is definitely playing by her own set of rules. She wants to create her own animated series for Cartoon Network.

I am a very big fan of Madeleine’s artwork. It’s extremely non traditional. It’s extremely cartoonish. It’s extremely colorful.

Personally I tend to gravitate towards realistic art displaying a dull color palette. But when it comes to Madeleine’s work I just cannot get enough of it.

Being a professional artist my entire life I truly appreciate Madeleine’s output. She creates so much art in such a fast way. You can really see her passion shine through.

What you want to take away from Madeleine’s sketchbook is passion! Madeleine has so much drive and so much passion it’s something you want to take note of. Yes even if you are only into traditional academic style art.

I can really see Madeleine succeeding. She knows who she is as an artist. She knows where she wants to take her art. Madeleine has clarity to the ninth power.

Check out Madeleine’s website. Thanks again Madeline for sharing your art. looking forward to the next sketchbooks.

How To Draw A Three Dimensional Portrait

by Matthew | Apr 25, 2017 | Video Critiques

If you are looking to improve your portrait drawings watch the video critique below. In this video critique we help out Ilse with drawing a better likeness of the model within the photo.

We also show her how to create more three dimension through the use of shadow shapes. I’m a big believer of shading in shadow shapes in a solid way. If you leave white paper showing through your shadows, not only will you loose the likeness, you will also loose that three dimension look and feel.

Lastly in the video we show Ilse how to handle drawing the hair. Once again it’s all about light and shade. However with hair it’s also very much about drawing cylindrical shapes. Making sure that when you draw strands of hair they are in the form of a cylinder. Especially with the hair within the photo reference Ilse is drawing from.

I hope that you learned something from this video critique. If you are looking for some feedback and guidance regarding your portrait drawings visit members.drawing-tutorials-online.com to read up on what our site has to offer you.

Thanks for watching!

Feedback and guidance from a respected teacher means everything to your growth. We are here to help you reach your artistic goals big or small. Visit http://members.drawing-tutorials-online.com to take a site tour.

Sydney’s Sketchbook – Bouncy Cartoon Characters

by Matthew | Apr 8, 2017 | Sketchbook Videos

Sydney is currently enrolled in my Friday drawing class at the School Of Visual Arts. Sydney is an Animation major which is perfect. Her characters are quintessential cartoon to say the least.

What I love so much about Sydney is that she is super comfortable in her shoes. She is not wishy washy about what her work is all about. She loves drawing bouncy cartoon characters and she is really good at it.

I also love that every character has a definite facial expression. Drawing diverse facial expressions is super hard to say the least. Especially for someone like myself who was trained in an academic style.

Whether you like cartoon drawings or not Sydney’s work is definitely something to take note of. She is super clear on her process, style and subject matter. That means a lot in my book. It usually means success.

With Sydney understanding what her work is all about she really has a step up on the competiton. I really can envision turning on my TV, switching over to the cartoon network and seeing Sydney’s work. I just hope that she remembers to tell me when it’s on!

It’s so very important to have a clear vision for you and your work. If you don’t know where you are going with your work, all of that practice can make it feel as though you are just spinning your wheels.