45min Sketch experimenting with colours

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Comment by Justine Wardle on March 14, 2012 at 2:49

Thanks Dee your pointer are much appreciated.  I do have an issue with heads ending up to small I seems to happen when I draw the shoulders then things grow.  I don't do a lot of measuring I try and judge to whats next to it must be where I getting into trouble so will try the unit thing.  In this case I used the negative shape which the head was outside of these areas.  Yes the colours a bit of handful but thought I might try it.  I joined Richards site to get my head around it.  The grey didn't do what I thought it would seems to close to the lighter colour or maybe I should of taken the lighter colour over it.   I think I know what you mean with the spider man pose.  Meaning some how I made his leg down the footstool look likes its disjointed from the hip?  Does that mean I made the torso to long or have done the shoulder trick again pushed the leg out to far. I think I had a closer line in on the leg to start.   It took a while to work out the direction of the backbone so this could be wrong also.  I am thinking about it, just watch the distance between the points and should fall into place?.  (you probably realise that the other leg is going underneath thigh of the leg down the stool not that clear in the drawing) Hope I get another opportunity to see this hip to knee foreshortening relationship again and have another go. I might try a sketch from this and see if I can work it out. Thanks your pointers are great.

Comment by Dee Berridge on March 14, 2012 at 1:43

Hi Justine, thanks for asking me to comment. With both this drawing and the previous 'Spiderman Pose'  you've done well with placing the whole figure on the sheet and there are some really nice bits. You're seeing some parts of the figure very well e.g. here the shoulders and the curve of the torso...and the model's left knee which is extremely foreshortened. That 'difficult' foreshortening can often help us to look extra carefully to understand what's happening, although in the other drawing (I know it was quite a quick pose!) the general foreshortening of the head and torso has thrown you quite a bit...have another look at the distance between his hips and knees. In both drawings the head is too small. Chin to hairline is roughly the same as base of palm to tip of middle finger. My suggestion would be to continue with 'fitting in' and then really measure and check the key proportions. A classic way is to use the height of the head as a unit of measurement. With colour, remember to go for values first. For now I'd suggest you stay away from colour which complicates things, and focus on proportion. I like that you're not afraid of hands and feet and they look convincing...and I'm enjoying those lovely loose lines on the couch. Good job!