Figures...make me blush.

 Another two weeks after the animation, I found myself going back to Proko, Mathew Matisse, and Glen Vilppu and even started more certificate-driven courses all on figure drawings and gestures. Been months of focusing on primitive objects, the foundations of art, and using them in storyboards and the 4P playground exercise, and even though gesture sketching was already a short routine since I first passed through Proko, I felt it was time to hone in on this skill to make my routine more structured and knowledgeable, but also to dive my storyboards the characters they deserve.

    This was a deep rabbit hole I did not expect and came to find out it is one of the longest to master skills as traditional artists can be paid good money for understanding, proportions, anatomy, and likeness. It was time to lay down the chalk and begin using a real sketchbook. Especially if I was to start proving my work outside of Linkedin, I suppose no better time than now to sketch for real. A lot of courses on figure drawing give exercise files for reference dieing, but there are a few great sites that have live models pose, just as only other classrooms. Croquis Cafe, DrawThis, And New Masters are just a few. ALso tools/exercise sites like a line of action and quick pose help with gesture practice.

    So what is a gesture? This blog assumes most of you know this knowledge and are just a bystander to my Artistic Struggles. However to those who don’t and aren't. Gesture drawings are quick sketches capturing the overall essence of a particular pose. Exercises tend to be anywhere from 1- second to a minute in between poses. The masters and mentors suggest doing this before worrying about more complex mannequins. The line of action is what you strive to show without actually showing it. It is the overall direction of a pose. Which should be on your mind throughout the process of your drawing.

    After getting a solid grasp of what gesture drawing is and incorporating it into my exercises. It’s time for the next step of figure drawing fundamentals. Giving form through the use of Mannequinization. Using primitive objects in place of limbs we can not only understand the basic 3d structure of the pose but its lighting and foreshortening of space as well. A few different mannequins should be progressed and then remixed to fully build visual and muscle memory of proportions.

-Sketch        -Block        -Ovoid        -Spiderman

-Gesture    -Perspective    -Organic Form        -Anatomy

    Doing these Mannequins over and over in different angles and poses is one of the more intense and time-consuming exercises. However, if you want accurate well down human figures it is highly suggested as a long-term exercise goal. May a  few hours a week. Not enough to kill your time in other practices responsibilities, but enough to increase your muscle and visual memory as needed.

    Proportions can be measured via Loomis, hales, or the more intuitive reily rhythms. Loomis is the most common and widely used method of measuring proportions using the human head as a basic measurement ruling off of the averages and their slight deviations. Hales uses the sphere of the cranium as the unit of measurement which has an advantage over Loomis when it comes to foreshortening and perspective. The sphere never changes shape in perspective, just size. The last method of proportions and measure control is Reilly rhythms. Which blew my mind away as the human body has unchanged rhythms that lock its structure in place. Understanding these lines allows one to bend a pose to your images very quickly and effectively!

    Getting to do basic anatomy through promo and then Scott Eaton and his in-depth anatomy courses, has opened my eyes to the complexities of the human body in a way I never realized. I for one probably never gonna fully memorize the names (more of a doctor's field of study I'm sure.) but it got me intrigued and excited nonetheless. Thinking back at some of the storyboarding classes, specifically the graphic novel class, I can see how they need to spend so much time on the human to make everything not look off or weird. Forget spinning a few primitive objects in perspective with a camera. We are moving on to more complex organic tapered teardrops.

    The more accurate and proportionate drawings get, the stiffer they eventually feel. Noting this early on brings me back to my figure drawing Ido Mathew Mattessi. He uses Force as his main thought component behind stroke, shape, and form. Making poses more exaggerated, more lively, and still believable to the proportions of likeness. I could probably go on forever just about his techniques and exercises but I highly recommend just checking him out yourself in the masters & mentors references section.

    My last shout-out is to Amy Wynne who runs an Elearning course on LinkedIn covering figure drawing fundamentals. She was not only inspirational and informative but provided proof of certification of concept. She covers tools to measure models by finding plumb lines or using the sight measure method. Her course is easily digestible and well organized, I know I will find myself coming back to it in the future as little refreshers and reminders of what I have learned so far.

Overall these masters made me feel more comfortable not only drawing and practicing figures but feeling pretty darn good at it. I didn't feel like my drawings of people were just empty and Npcs anymore, and would finally incorporate them into my storyboard practice.