Candy Cane Stripe Gesture Lines
You see when we draw the portrait and the figure for that matter we tend to become too timid with our lines. We start drawing, attempting to get the likeness and we draw with short choppy lines. Sometimes drawing with a short choppy line is appropriate. Especially in the initial stages of the drawing.
Jun’s Sketchbooks
Jun is a student currently enrolled in my foundation drawing class at the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan New York. To say that Jun is a Drawaholic is an understatement. She has just about finished two sketchbooks in nine weeks.
Avoid Drawing With A Flat Outline
Do you love figure drawing as much as I do? I’m certainly most passionate about drawing the figure. But when I first started my drawings looked flat. My figure drawings had hard edged outlines.
Complicating Your Portrait Drawings
Have you ever looked at your portrait drawings and wonder why they don’t look realistic. Part of the reason they do not look realistic is because the edges within and around the portrait are too simplistic.
How To Draw A Portrait With Abstract Shapes
Recently a member posted up a drawing to our Group Coaching Gallery over at Drawing Tutorials Online. The question this member posed was, how do I draw a likeness of Bette Davis in under an hour?
Are You Light Handed Or Heavy Handed?
Last week I started teaching my students all about how light hits form. Ultimately that involves shading. So the question I asked them after their first shading exercise was, are you light handed or heavy handed? It was a pretty fun exercise.
Do Your Images Tell Stories?
Do you know how to tell stories with your images? Whether it be a drawing or a painting, being able to control where the viewer looks first, second and third is crucial for storytelling. A lot of artists don’t even take into consideration where the viewer looks first. Now I’m not talking about a figure drawing, although this applies there too.
Do Your Drawings and Painting Look Flat and Faded?
A question I get asked all the time, why does my art look flat? Why doesn’t my image have any pop? It’s terrible to put so much time and effort into a piece of art only to realize it has that flat faded look.
An Easier Way To Draw A Ten Minute Gesture Pose
In this drawing tip of the week we focus on an easy way to draw ten minute gesture poses. Ten minutes is kind of that in between type drawing. It’s not super short, but yet you still have to draw pretty fast.
How To Handle A One Minute Gesture Pose
Well, there really is no one right way to draw the model within a one minute time frame. You really do not want to put all of this pressure on yourself to draw the perfect drawing within sixty seconds.
Gesture and Portrait Drawing
Most artists don’t really think about gesture when it comes to portrait drawing. Recently during a video critique session I noticed a recurring theme. It was the missing ingredient in three separate images.
Is Something Slightly off With Your Portrait Drawing?
Back in the day when I first started painting book covers for various publishing companies I struggled big time with matching values. I would drop off a painting and the art director would tell me the face was too light. Or perhaps the forehead was too dark. I really struggled big time..
Spiraling Out From Negative Space
For those of you who have been around the drawing block before “Negative Space” is kind of like an old familiar friend. I think it was either fifth or ninth grade that I was introduced to this technique. Betty Edwards has certainly created a whole cottage industry around this technique. All the power to her.
The Importance of Drawing Shadow Shapes
It sounds so trivial, drawing shadow shapes. But the fact is a lot of artists struggle with drawing, or shading in shadow shapes. A different term for this is “blocking in”. Some artists simply just don’t see shadows.
Jack’s Sketchbooks
I as gear up for a new semester of teaching at the School of Visual Arts my mind brings me back to Jack. Every new semester brings the uncertainty of new students. Last year I was blessed with an amazing class of twenty-one incredible students. Jack was the different student. At first glance I wasn’t sure what he was all about. But as the..
Level & Plumb Two Figure Drawing Must Haves
You really want to practice drawing with the Angles & Measurements technique on a regular basis. Even if just for the fact that it will keep your eye hand coordination in check.
See The Figure In Simple Shapes
All of the shapes you draw should be organic. Round all of the corners of every shape basically. There are no straight lines on the figure.
Two Minute Gesture Poses
I encourage you to listen to the video first writing down some of our quick tips. Then grab you sketchpad and play the video a second time. Draw the two minute poses in your own style. Don’t be perfect just draw.
Drawing The Rough Skeleton
It’s amazing how you can craft a figure out of nothing using this simple technique.
Julia’s Sketchbook
Julia is a young multi-talented artist with a bright future ahead of her.