Thursday, October 6, 2011

70 Figures II

     When grading you 70 figures, I looked for a complete assignment; a good understanding of the 3 basic shapes; of weight, rhythm, and balance; and of light and shadow on the forms. 

     Everyone did a nice job on this exercise; enjoy these fine examples:





     Every week for the rest of the semester, in addition to the week’s regular assignment, we are going to do 70 figure drawings from the imagination. I hope you are finding this to be a worthwhile exercise- because it is. The more you conceptualize the figure, into its basic shapes, balance, and rhythm, the better you will get at drawing the figure from real life. You will know what to look for “within” the live model. You will be drawing a conception of form, balance, and rhythm, rather than just copying what you see on the surface. Copying the surface results in stiff lifeless figures- it’s a conceptual understanding of the way the figure is built and the way it moves that gives drawings life. Continue to consider the 3 major masses (head, ribcage, and pelvis) the way they are in oppositional balance with one another, the rhythm that runs through upper forms, the leg that carries the weight of the upper forms, and the secondary leg that supports and balances. The arms are of secondary importance when building of the figure.





8 comments:

  1. I really like the second 70 figures drawing, because even though the figures are not neatly spaced you can tell them apart especially because of the shadows underneath them.

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  2. My friends keep telling me that my tiny figure drawings would look good as wall paper

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  3. I like doing the figure drawings. I think they're a good example of how practice makes things improve.

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  4. I really wasnt too crazy about these figure drawings at first, but i must say that i can feel my hand loosening up a great deal with the repetition, and my gesture drawings have been noticeably improving. So I guess i look forward to seeing how much better we all get as the semester progresses!

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  5. I'm with Eric. I was not crazy about the epic page we produced the first time, but now that I know this will be a weekly exercise, I feel that I may approach things a little differently.

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  6. I really like the middle picture of figures because of the shadows underneath each figure. It makes them look very grounded - they're not just floating on the page. Perhaps Ill give this a try next time.

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  7. Thats really true! I might try that too. I like using this technique when I'm just sketching, because I often draw friends and random people on the street and stuff. I'm guessing/hoping I'm not the only one who does this. Anyway its been working well for that.

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