Gesture Practice LVL2 XP10

 So I'm still working on some points based system for myself, where every session of figure studies gets me 10 XP :P So to graduate with a stamp, I need to do 50 sessions, currently on my 11th since I started counting. 

I also decided to do a trial on the website NEW MASTERS ACADMY. They have really great model poses to use as reference, but also a ton of courses. I'm doing the one on FORCE with Mike Matesi. I took a course with him ages ago, and my drawing really levelled up then (but I was drawing A LOT of hours every week). 

I bought some newsprint and a LYRA GRAHPITE pencil, and currently on week 2, where he spoke about Gravity, and did the exercise on a 2 minute timer per pose.

Leg Studies

Ok

Started of with some copies of drawings by Michael D. Mattesi because ultimately it's my goal to draw with as much energy and clarity. All these drawings are from his book "FORCE dynamic Life Drawing for animators".

So here are some un-timed studies of legs using Virtual Pose 3:

The last 3 sheets are 2 mins or less.

Head Studies

All un-timed studies using reference from the awesome book + cd-rom, Virtual Pose 3. Got that on sale in Chapters in Dublin, highly recommended reference especially if you want to do more detailed studies!

Posemaniacs + Long poses

Yesterday I was drawing on paper and honestly had one of the worst drawing sessions since a LONG time. I take comfort in the idea that struggling with your craft means you're on the verge of learning something (since you need to overcome a problem). I went back to digital today with slightly better results, but all the more happy with my decision to exclusively study form & anatomy until next march.

Anyway here are 60 second posemaniac warm ups:

The one below stood out to me as the best, simple lines and some shape design going on in there:

Then on to long poses for the rest of the session. I really struggle with applying detail and keeping some kind of energy in the drawing...I've pulled off nice drawings in the past, but it only happens when mind. soul & body are at peace :P That was not the case today, so instead of moving forward, I went back to the same pose and worked at it again:

Using the same approach I did for that second attempt. I started this pose with a quick loose gesture and then went in with detail.

Same here

And a more detailed version, unfortunately I pushed those angles too hard in the gesture and as a result the legs look very unconvincing.

Force Drawings

Warm up drawings using posemaniacs on 60 and 90 seconds:

Here are some longer poses in preparation for my homework this week.

Figure Skating Quickies

Frazetta notes + Form drawings

FORCE Figure Drawing - Homework 4

Left out the reference images this time, these are mostly all from (http://artists.pixelovely.com/practice-tools/figure-drawing/), with a 5 minute timer.

A selection of my batch on A4 printing paper with color pencils:

I then switched to large A3 white smooth paper with coloring pencils:

The next batch was digital:

And these were just..because its fun to draw simple! :D