Demoralised by life drawing.

Steve Schulze

Gah, its horrible. My studio has just started an after work life drawing course. I'm surrounded by modellers and animators who've been doing this stuff for years, or at least have at some stage in the past and cruise through creating some damn nice artwork and enjoying themselves while they do it. I'm doing niether of these. I haven't done much life drawing in the past... drawing at all really, and while I consider myself to be pretty good with the modelling and texturing, I just can't get my head around this life drawing thing. Its pretty depressing sitting there with a page with a few scratchy lines on it while everyone else is showing their fully rendered drawings. I was so miserable after the last class that it took me about an hour to shake of the negativity when I came to start work the following day.

I'm tempted the throw it all in, but on the other hand, having some drawing skills would be useful in this line of work. I dunno. Basically I'm in need of some good techniques, types on how to get something more than a few sketchy lines after twenty minutes of scrawling. Practice is evidently a factor as with anything else, but I don't think I've really gotten the fundamentals down so can't really be getting much better.

I'm sure most of you will have done a bit of this in the past. What should I be doing?

MoP

Stick at it. I did my first life drawing stuff ever last year, surrounded by people who had already done it in school. I think you'll actually get better than you expect, faster than you think. It's definitely a very rewarding activity.

Ryno

Stay at it. It will help you immensely. No one is good at it the first time that they try.

I really think that drawing helps modeling, and vice versa, once you are comfortable drawing. Being able to recognize a form, and transform it into an artistic interpretation is very important for what we do. Getting good at figure drawing will really help with your character modeling. Proportions, curves, and weight will become a lot easier to model. It takes a lot less time to bust out a quick figure sketch to learn this stuff, than it does to create a 3d model.

Also, don't feel belittled by the process of learning. Look at it as an opportunity. You are surrounded by a bunch of experienced artists who know how to draw. Sponge knowledge off of them, they are a free resource. There's no reason to beat yourself up over the process, if your comrades have already learned from the school of hord knocks.

Bronco

listen to Mop and ryno

Stick at it man,as i just said on MSN try those mini exercises to start with so you get focused on the model and RELAX.

do very very loose drawing with your strong hand,then your weak hand.... etc

Try the one I said about just sitting and staring at the model,put pen to paper and draw....just don't take your eyes off the model...it doesn't matter about the quiggly lines all over your paper,just as long as your mind is focused on the model. I found this one really useful when I did figure drawing back in School....really wanna get back into it but struggling to find soemwhere local that does it .

john

Thermidor

it definately does help having good teachers

try drawing very short poses mostly ... take a sketchbook to a public place and try to capture ppl on the street. i found that really helped ... allthough i dunno how much time you have to do stuff like that.

also , like has been said, draw without looking at the paper , try drawing only the tonal areas, no outlines or detail, and always measure at first you will probly have to measure with your pencil , but after some time you can do it accurately with your eyes ... block out the general shape of a pose and measure to get the proportions right before doing the decriptions of form/details ect...

sorry about the way i come across, im not a good writer.

chip

if you haven't done much drawing, let alone life drawing, you're facing two hurdles -- unfamiliarity with the media and unfamiliarity with the subject. remedy for hurdle 1 -- sketch everything! fill sketchbooks during all free moments. doesn't matter how good your sketchdoodles are, the point is to build some "body-learning" of drawing techniques so it's not a self-conscious process. it makes it easier to work past the mechanics and focus on the subject.

for hurdle 2, there are many excellent books of anatomy for artists that can help build a background knowledge of skeletal and muscular proportion, form, and mass that is of benefit when interpreting the actuality of a life model. one need not memorize every bone, muscle and tendon, but having a familiarity with the "template" makes dealing with the real thing less daunting.

nkoste

I had my first life drawing class last september also, surrounded by fellow design students who'd all done it before. I felt pretty demoralised after that first course so I know pretty much how you feel. What they say: Stick at it! You don't need be do fully rendered drawings to begin with. Take your time, keep it simple, get the basics. Also remember that you usually have to warm up so the first sketches may not turn out well, but if you're patient it'll start to come. The more you do it the better you get at.

Good luck

Dio

Enough has probably been posted but heres my two cents...

Your job obviously isnt to draw concept art so dont weight your self down with expectations of creating aestitically minded stuff. Rather use the experience to explore the fundamentals solely for your benefit. Choose one of the basics like line weight, shape, or volume and focus that principal in the given sketch. Its hard not to compare your work to your peers so if you have to, identify one of the basics you like in their work and try to imitate the method. Imatation is the highest form of flattery. Your not tring to master the pencil, as your medium is digital, what you are tring to do is master the concepts universal to art which happen to be easier to explore with lead than a pixel.

Delaney King

stick at it... its the most important way to learn. Remember its not about learning to draw, its about learning to look and see.

adam crockett

You have to accept where you are at before you can move on.

Get over not being able to do it, and enjoy the challenge of learning it.

Like others have said, tap those around you as resources for learning and critique.

Always carry a sketchbook. Draw from observation as often as you can.

Keep going to those drawing sessions.

Dont take it too seriously, have fun. If its not fun, you arent doing it right : )

todman

Jacko,
you got a job!! Last I knew you were still looking--like me!! Hey, I've been drawing for 30 years. It's not as hard as it looks. Listen to the instructor. I thought I knew everything about drawing and my instructor proved me wrong. Use a lot of motion with your arms and think in circles and cylinders. Practice, practice, practice. Maybe practice at home in front of the Tele. Good luck and congrats on your job.

Steve Schulze

Hehe, thanks mate. Been over 9 months at Tantalus now.

We don't have an instructor as such, seeing as most people have some vague idea what they're doing.

Anyway, I've got another session tomorrow night. I'll shall take all of your words into account and report back here afterwards.