More studies, focusing more on the hands and arms.

pose practice

Quick Gestures, I'm hoping to capture more of the feeling and readability.  These were all about 2 minute drawings and working at that speed, I wanted the actual feeling while attempting to keep the proportion. 

Tips I've used was looking at the negative spaces around the legs since that was my trouble spots.  Trying to lay down the whole body was more important to me rather than noodling over fingers and toes.

Katsuya Terada

I found this video, I stumbled upon just an artist thoughts of Katsuya Terada.  With just the insight of this manga/fine/digital artist, I thought about where it's to drawing, to keep drawing, and it takes a lot of time.  No artist is really satisfied because we're always in a constant pace of growing.  Terada mentions "I have many drawers" which means the references and experiences he's drawn and copied in memory.  "Now my drawers are full."  But that never lasts forever.

Practice:

 

The Ideal, Subjective, and Reality of It All...

This past week I've thought as I progressed in the blog so far in regards to drawing.  Here, I figured I could tie in what's been happening in my real life.  With real goals in the set to improve in my work, I was struck quick with what I thought was a cold into an illness (which was an infection, nothing too crazy.)  As frustrating I wasn't able to get a hold of my practicing goals, it was relative to my thoughts on art itself. 

  For me, it would be 'oh this is a common cold, I can get over this' which was the ideal situation.  Thinking about the ideal drawing style meant what generally accepted in the public eye.   A lot call it a certain 'aesthetic' or 'style' but if you lump it together: it's similar to say what the desired image is for today.   In a personal sense, looking at certain styles makes a budding artist to create studies from a specific form.  Most would even start creating mood boards, bookmark inspiration sites, etc. hoping by osmosis alone will give the person the talent or work you need. 

  When my cold didn't go through, I was having fevers, chills, and horrible headaches.  I felt like my eyes were going to swell up and my sinuses were closing.  In this situation, I'd probably call my Self Subjective,  where all my feelings blow almost everything out of proportion.  Sure I may have felt like I thought I was going through horrible pain, others may have felt different otherwise in the same situation: which is all subjective. 

  Frequently, when looking through the progress of our WIPs or finished products, there are times where there is no satisfaction. Either the proportion is off, or the pose isn't correct, the color is off, or the design doesn't compliment the background, the list can go forever.  Missing fundamental principles of learning either self-taught or academically creates anxiety and also frustrations within some artists.  Eventually, enough flaws or mishaps causes the drawing to be chucked or become overworked.  

  Identifying the self-subjective can help reveal your weaknesses, but even with the growing frustration, art is always evolving.  For the most part, art is all about how well a person can observe reality and transcribe or reinterpret what they see in their style or method.  It may take time but don't let the negatives get the better.  Learn from them by either looking up references how to fix those flaws and practice.  It may not be as bad as it perceives in the first place, which leads to the Reality.

  Just like how my cold was a minor infection, so is identifying the problem, and realistically looking at the whole situation.    In reality, taking the time and slowly fixing areas of a piece of work will improve in an artist's work.  Sometimes the own self can be the worst enemy for everyone.  Taking a step back or revisiting after a few minutes will help a lot for the general discouragement, or even talking with a few peers would help.

It's a pretty far stretch when comparing it from being sick and also the subject on art progression, but the phases are similar, well at least to me anyway.  We all have our ideal style to be fashionable and for that follower count,  but often our self-doubt on just skills alone cannot be on par with favorable artist styles.  In the end, just making small adjustments and learning every day to improve in the craft will get you there, it's only realistically speaking that there's much time invested. 

Self study

Getting used to life drawing without anyone for feedback can be pretty lonely.  Oftentimes our drawings are more observational, copying, and transcribing the images we see onto a substrate. The mind is passively observing, the moment we start drawing with intention becomes difficult.  

Or sometimes, just struggling to get the right pose and gesture is overwhelming.  Going back to the previous drawings and analyzing what improvements, even redrawing the gesture is helpful to reinforce what you learned from books, school, or free classes.

Oh Hello!

It's been a while since I've posted over here! I'm hoping to make this more or less a weekly thing.  I've been going through a journey where I would work, study, and still, I feel that part of my reflection I want to share it on the internet.   Most of my entries are my opinions on specific topics.