Merlin’s Sketchbook – Details

Merlin’s Sketchbook – Details

by | Dec 14, 2019 | Sketchbook Videos, The Blog | 6 comments

Merlin is currently enrolled in my foundation drawing class at the School Of Visual Arts.

What I love about Merlin’s sketchbook is the variety. She challenges herself to draw many diverse things. From birds, to interiors, to the figure to fan art, variety is her thing.

When you are on a journey to learn how to draw, a great thing to do, especially at the beginning of your journey is to draw diverse things. This will open your up to see what you like to draw.

Merlin has such strong line, she is very confident with her artwork, she powers in the lines beautifully.

The other great aspect of looking into Merlin’s sketchbook, you can tell right away that she is having fun with what she is drawing. She is diving right into drawing difficult poses and things like complicated birds. Do your best to follow Merlin’s lead, having fun while challenging yourself to improve.

 

 

Check out Merlin’s Instagram. Thanks again Merlin for sharing your art. I look forward to your next sketchbook.

 

Kaylee’s Sketchbook

Kaylee’s Sketchbook

by | Nov 30, 2019 | Sketchbook Videos, The Blog

Kaylee is currently enrolled in my foundation drawing class at the School Of Visual Arts. She is an A+ student, to say the least.It was pretty cool to hear that she has been watching DTO’s sketchbook videos since grade school.

I forget how long I have been filming them. I guess since the first generation iPhone came out.

If you stick with Kaylee’s sketchbook video you can really see her progress. Towards the end of her first sketchbook, she is drawing in a looser way. Most of her drawings have a lot of movement.

When you see the beginning of her second sketchbook that is where we really see her progress.

Kaylee did flip through her sketchbook a little fast. But if you look hard enough you can find some awesome little gems.

 

 

Definitely check out Kaylee’s Instagram. Her artwork is pretty amazing there. There is lot’s of digital color work with movement. Thanks again Kaylee for sharing your art.

 

Fitting The Head Onto The Body

Fitting The Head Onto The Body

by | Jan 26, 2019 | Drawing Tutorials, The Blog | 2 comments

In this very short figure drawing lesson I’d like to share with you how I begin to fit the head onto the shoulders. The two key words are short and begin.

In case you have not noticed I am a big believer in repetition in the mother of skill. I tend to teach the same things over and over again because they work for me. I have also seen these techniques work in the classroom on a weekly basis.

The main crux is to use targets to start fitting the head onto the shoulders. There are few other little techniques you can incorporate into the mix.

One, do your best to gesture into the head. In the video you can see How I use a gesture line from the side of the breast into the side of the face. Use long gesture lines whens fitting the head.

Two after the first few lines stop and get up off of your chair. Reset your eyes, looking out the window at something far away is a great way to do this. After you have reset your eyes come back to the drawing. You will immediately see what is working and what is not.

When we sit down for long period of time we loose site of the drawing in terms of proportions.

So the three keys, use some light target lines to start placing the head onto the shoulders. Incorporate one or two gesture lines to flow into the head as well. Within a minute or two of placing these initial lines get up and look at your drawing from far away.

Try these three techniques the next time you are working on a figure drawing.

 

 

If this technique helps you please leave a comment below. I’d love to hear anything you can add to conversation. If you have tried this technique and are still having issues with fitting the head onto the body I would like to help.

I would be happy to critique your work each and every Monday in our members Critique Gallery. It’s a cool place to get feedback on your work without all of the negative commentary you find on social media.

 

Mapping Out Proportions

Mapping Out Proportions

by | Jan 12, 2019 | Drawing Tutorials, The Blog | 3 comments

With this particular figure drawing I started with an abstract shape. It’s definitely a different way to start. Now what I’d like to share with you is how to branch out from the legs into drawing the torso.

That is drawing the torso with correct proportions. On paper it sounds easy. But executing this is somewhat difficult. It takes good eye hand coordination.

The concept is to use targets to branch out. What are targets you ask? They are little marks that you place on the paper to estimate where the edge of an item would be. The edge of the torso, the edge of the arm etc.

You’ll also want to look at abstract negative space between the torso and the legs. Take it slow and do not rush this step. Look and study more than you draw.

Lastly you’ll want to take measurements. Common sense stuff like what is directly opposite the model’s breast? What is right below the model’s navel. Not very romantic but these techniques work.

Like I said on paper this all sounds very boring and simple. But this really does take quite of lot of eye hand coordination. How to you get that, you draw everyday. 

 

 

If this technique helps you please leave a comment below. I’d love to hear anything you can add to conversation. If you have tried this technique and are still having issues with getting correct proportions I would like to help.

I would be happy to critique your work each and every Monday in our members Critique Gallery. It’s a cool place to get feedback on your work without all of the negative commentary.

 

Complicating Your Edge Line

Complicating Your Edge Line

by | Dec 29, 2018 | Drawing Tutorials, The Blog | 1 comment

Have you ever wondered why your figure drawings look stiff? Perhaps they look too stylized for your liking. The antidote to stiffness is eliminating all straight lines.

Straight lines on the edge of your figure drawings without a doubt create a stiff look and feel. No doubtably there are no straight lines on an organic figure. Now if you are in a life drawing class sitting fifteen feet away the model, all of the edges will look straight.

However armed with the knowledge that there should be no straight lines on the figure it’s your task to curve and complicate your edge line. There are specific areas to do this.

For instance you will want to complicate edge lines at the joints. Specifically the knee, ankle, elbow, shoulder etc. You do not want to complicate the middle of a limb. Keep the middle of the model’s limbs curvy and smooth, remember complicate at the joints.

Take a look at your work, tape of few of your figure drawing on the wall. Look at them as a unit, do they look stiff? Do you see a bunch of simplified edges? Do you see straight lines on the edge of your figure drawings?

Now you know what to incorporate into your drawings to to eliminate that stylized look. You now know how to create more of a realistic look and feel.

 

 

If you are looking to learn some new drawing techniques to help improve your figure drawing definitely consider a membership to Drawing Tutorials Online. I’m particularly proud of this new twenty-eight lesson course.

All of the lessons are really short, most under ten minutes. Each lesson focuses on a different technique. The course focuses on line, proportions, shading, structure as well as form.

Not to mention you can get your figure drawings critiqued on a weekly basis in our gallery. If the technique taught in the lesson above speaks to you please leave a comment below. Thanks for reading.