Do you know the basics of drawing? Want to learn?

[Mindbendermind]

Anyone who feels like also learning - or teaching - drawing basics related to subjects covered by Vilppu, Mark Chong (one of his students), Loomis, Bridgman or any other good drawing teachers is very welcome to join me in posting comments/feedback/exercises, actually anything that's related to "Drawing basics" here. I have loads to learn from you guys and who knows, maybe I could even teach you something (I've been playing drums the last 15 years and I'm rather good at the history of literature ;-P). At least you could look at my humble attempts to overcome some of the more challenging aspects of drawing.

I will use blue in my posts to mark every new knowledge/procedure etc. that has been important for my understanding of the basics. (And that I think most if not all beginners would benefit from doing/reading/watching etc.). That's in order to make it easy for myself and anyone else to find those things quickly.

=== (Updated 09-07-17 ) =====================
Here's what my current "drawing situation" looks like:
- I'm 30+ and atm have no plan of making art a job - but I LOVE art and am getting seriously addicted to drawing... :-)
- I am currently following this plan:

1. Do a quick drawing "warm-up" on a preferably daily basis. Atm this consists of drawing lines ("hard" ones followed by "soft" ones, curves, and basic shapes from different angles in 3D
2. Draw gestures, preferably on a daily basis and submit to the "Spartan Training Camp" here at CA (found under "Community activities"). May also do the "optional study" from time to time
2. Following the "Basic 101" in the classroom part of the drawing/sketching section at Wetcanvas (http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=335), reading the book it's based on - "How to draw what you see" (De Reyna) as I do the corresponding classes
3. When appropriate complementing with the good old "Black and white" by Åke Skiöld, a correspondence course on every aspect of drawing in 15 parts.

(This one is probably out of print and only available in Swedish. Another really good drawing course if you don't know where to start is Vilppu's manuals. Followed these before I found my father's old drawing couse mentioned above. Articles based on Vilppu's books as well as short video clips can be found here:
http://mag.awn.com/index.php?ltype=C...&column=vilppu)

Seems the three big names mentioned over and over again when it comes to "Best drawing instruction" (in English) is Loomis, Bridgman and Vilppu. What makes Vilppu stand apart from the other two is however that there are videos and DVDs of him drawing and teaching the very concepts he has written about. I have begun going through his Drawing Manual (without copydrawing hardly any of his examples) and gotten through chapter 2, "Spherical form". Vilppu usually teaches his 12 chapters in 12 weeks, one chapter each week.

I may complement exercises from the course with "tenminutedrawing" exercises by one of Vilppu's students - recommended by surfandsnow (thanks a lot!). For instance that "drawing boxes in space"-exercise will fit nicely with exercises on drawing basic shapes and perspective. I will also use books by Loomis and Bridgman - and the old masters like Michelangelo, Da Vinci etc - for studies of more specific subjects that I don't feel comfortable with yet. Most studies related to drawing the human body will however most likely be found in my "Drawing the human body" thread (found in my sig)

3. Doing master studies from Frank Frazetta's paintings
4. Read and ponder "Practice and science of drawing" (Speed)
5. Keep working on and completing online art challenges that I join
6. Keep reading and doing exercises from Imagine FX, "Fantastic realms!" (Shane) and "Draw fantasy" (Jorsater)

--- My progress with studying "The Basics of drawing" so far: ---
Gesture
Basic shape: The sphere
Basic shape: The box. ROADBLOCK: Not enough perspective knowledge - consequence: Focus on perspective (using Loomis' "Successful drawing")
Perspective - began studying this, but went back to even more fundamental exercises since i found the correspondence course, resulting in:
Linework; Then discovered the "Basic 101" classes and started with class 1 -
Basic 101 Class 1 - Straight lines
Basic 101 Class 2 - Eye level: Foundation of perspective
Basic 101 Class 3 - Drawing Cubic Objects - a return to the point where I hit my first roadblock. This time with a better grasp on fundamental perspective principles...
Basic 101 Class 4 - Drawing Cylindrical Objects
Basic 101 Class 5 - Drawing Spherical Objects
==============

My reason for making this thread was that I thought I could improve more by getting some feedback and guidance on these things and how they started to show in my drawings (or not ;-)) - maybe even get some extra assignments related to the actual aspect I was working on. Hopefully this can also inspire others into drawing more.

It would be great to get some input/feedback concerning this approach to studying the basics. Any advices are truly appreciated.

As I wrote in the beginning of this post, anyone interested in coming along on the journey is very welcome to join in so we can learn from eachother.

Just to give some idea of my current (low) drawing level before starting off, I've posted some quick sketches of family (gestures), my own hand and leg and from TV (gesture-like, no frozen frames, I might add) that I drew some days ago.

Thanks to anyone taking time to read and reply to this - CA is truly an awesome site! :-)

~M

[Leggraphics]

hey mate. Im kind of new here and I am more than happy to share critiques with you if you like?

I would suggest looking at the drawing you have posted that you should try to imagine things in more of a 3D form. Currently it looks really 2D and flat and the lighting source isn't to consistent. how do you draw your creatures/ things from your head. Do you picture it in there and then draw it? Try creating your image out of 3D boxes and then converting it into what you see there. Ill do a paint over and post it tonight.

You can add my msn if you like funk_suspect@hotmail.com
and my art can be found
http://leggraphics.deviantart.com/
and
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/sho...84#post2208484

[Mindbendermind]

Hi and thanks for your reply and advices. I'd gladly exchange critique with you.
Really nice of you to offer your assistance. Yesterday I also became member in a SSG (see below), I guess that's a good step in the right direction as well. I'm sure you're very welcome to join as well if you want to. Just ask "crash..." in that case (that's what I did) :-). If you do join, we can talk in eachother's SB:s - if you don't we can use this thread instead.

Yep, this one was completely without reference and I didn't start with basic shapes the way I usually draw for instance trees or humans.

Thanks for giving me your msn, unfortunately I don't use that atm - maybe I can PM you instead?

Well, thanks again, looking forward to discussing art with you :-)

~M

[surfandsnow]

My favorite daily exercise http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ynxpq...e=channel_page
it helps develop a sense for 3d space and manipulate cubes and planer changes etc.

[Mindbendermind]

Thanks a lot - that seems like a great "tutorial list" for a beginner like me to go through.

Took a quick glance at that "drawing boxes in space" vid - seems rather tricky to me, which is what will probably make it a really good exercise! That guy seems to be a really good teacher. I'll be posting some of my attempts at those exercises here. Will use this thread to post really basic exercises I do - maybe some others could learn from my it as well. Thanks again :-)

EDIT: Took a closer look at this "Tenminutedrawing"-guy and his blog. He seems awesome (and a student of Vilppu - I'm working on his Drawing Manual atm...). SO many lessons, I feel like starting with episode 01 and then work my way through them all.

He also has a longer video (26 mins) on "What are the basics?"

Another great thing is that he uses ArtRage - that's the only art program I've purchased so far. Seems like you pointed me the way to a goldmine. Thanks in thousands!

Link to episode 1-12 of the "Ten minute drawing exercises":
http://tenminutedrawing.blogspot.com...1_archive.html

---
Okay then, here we go...

VILPPU DRAWING MANUAL, Chapter 1 (Gesture), session #1 (09-04-11)

Gesture drawings from posemaniac, 30 sec/pose. I have changed the order slightly, usually finishing with the head, first establishing the torso and hip/leg.

VDM Ch. 1, #2 (11/4)

Gesture drawings from TV-program

VDM Ch. 1, #3 (12/4)

Gesture drawings from posemaniacs.com, 10 and 30 sec/pose

VDM Ch. 1, #4 (12/4)

Master study of one of Vilppu's drawings in the first chapter. Posted in my human body/anatomy thread (nudity alert!):
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/sho...15&postcount=7

VDM Ch. 1, #5 (12/4)

Finished reading the chapter (of course read the introducton before that). Gestures from posemaniacs 10 and 30 sec/pose.

And that finishes the first chapter - onwards to chapter 2...

---
Vilppu Drawing Manual, Chapter 2 ("Spherical forms") #1 (12/4)

Some basic sphere-drawing, practicing drawing spheres in 3D

Drawings from session #1 and #3 (Ch 1):

[Mindbendermind]

VDM Ch 2 #2

More basic sphere practice

VDM Ch 2 #3

Drew my children, trying to focus on spherical and round shapes

VDM Ch 2 #4

Put tracing paper over and quickly followed the contours from two of Vilppu's drawings for the chapter - just to get the "feel" of it.

From Ch 2 #3:

[LosPescados]

You might want to draw the human poses first as stick figures, and not the outer lines.
First 5 seconds look intensely at the picture
Next 5-10seconds to draw the stick figure,
Last 15 seconds draw muscles and pose some more deeply.

As more you do the exercises it will get more natural to draw the muscles and you'll do it easier and easier each time.

Hope this helped;

-Tom

[Mindbendermind]

Thanks a lot, that makes much sense. I'm at chapter 2, "Spherical form" at the moment, though. Should I keep doing "quick gestures" from posemaniacs anyway? Have begun a master study (copy drawing) from one of Vilppu's drawings, will move on to chapter 3 after that. Have you gone through Vilppu's Drawing Manual or had him as teacher? (curious :-))

VDM Ch 2, #5

Master study from one of Vilppu's drawings. Feel comfortable with the sphere - on to chapter three: The Box!

[LosPescados]

No never read Vilpu before, it is lying somewhere around here though,
That is just the way I use posemaniacs. And yes I sincerely suggest to keep drawing from posemaniacs! (there is on the left a link to easy 30seconds pictures) Not only keep doing that one exercise but keep doing them all!
Because how more you practice how better you get!

I'm going to look for the book and might join you sometime this week!
Keep up the good work!

[Mindbendermind]

That's great! Looking forward to it. In case you don't find it there are articles based on every chapter here:
http://mag.awn.com/index.php?ltype=C...lppu&offset=20
("Gesture" is chapter one) :-)

[Mindbendermind]

Vilppu Drawing Manual, Chapter 3 "The Box", session #1

Practiced drawing the box in 3D and using perspective to rotate it horizontally and vertically. Thinking about adding diagonal rotation as well, we'll see. Since Vilppu recommends that you don't continue until you feel comfortable drawing the box in any angle, I'll probably be doing some 3D box exercises for a while now...

Here's an image from this first session:

[Mindbendermind]

VDM, Ch 3 #2

Drew boxes in space

VDM, Ch 3 #3

Drew some kind of robotic face using only box shapes

VDM, Ch 3 #4

Tried drawing the box from 1-,2- and 3-point perspective (no ref.):

[Mindbendermind]

VDM Ch 3 #5

Began drawing the robotic face from #3 using two-point perspective.

VDM Ch 3 #6

Real life drawing of four boxes in different angles and just one lightsource:

[LosPescados]

three point perspective is rarely used, most of the time it is two point perspective and occasionally it 1point.

Your boxes: remember that most lines must be diagonal. (a little near each other).

[Mindbendermind]

Hi again, thanks for the comment. Not quite sure I understand the advice about diagonal lines correctly, though. Do you mean that the angles should be smaller (more "compressed" boxes)?

---
VDM, Ch 3 #7

Kept drawing the "robot face" using a 2-pointperspective. Then I decided to face the fact: I have encountered my first big drawing roadblock: Perspective. Realize I'm not secure about that part at all and have decided to take a break in my "Vilppu studies" and work on Loomis' "Succesful drawing" from now on.

Since it starts with how everything we draw is built up by basic shapes it will probably be some valuable repetition in the beginning. Some of the diagrams look REALLY complicated though. But we'll climb that mountain when we get there.

Got "Science and practice of drawing" (Speed) today and he also emphasizes the value of studying basic shapes - so I guess I'm on the right track... Seems like a really interesting book - and those drawings and how he analyzes the line rhythms in them is just...sweet music to a musician. :-)

[LosPescados]

Keep in mind that drawing a box needs 2 point perspective, so that the lines (same color) need to go to a point, far far away. So when you draw those you need to draw them diagonally or let them come a tiny bit to each other. (Only a tiny bit because these boxes are small and close to you. Fe: when drawing a house you'll see the lines come near each other much more.)

[Mindbendermind]

Guess I should have taken some more time drawing those dices. Thanks alot for reminding me. Will bear that in mind for my future boxes.

Loomis "Successful Drawing" #1

And thus I have embarked upon my Loomis Quest. Study of how all drawing stems from five basic shapes: sphere, cube, cylinder, cone and pyramid

[Griffin's Wing]

OK Mindbender, I've come to join you. I started reading the web sheets by Vilppu today and Gestures being the first one, I leapt in and tried to follow his tutorial for 'speed gestures' with the following results. See what you think.

[Mindbendermind]

Hi there Griffin, glad to see you here. :-)

Looks like you've had a great start on gestures. Since Villppu says that the simple steps should be drawn below 30 sec (usually around 15 sec) I kept drawing 10 and 30 sec poses from posemaniacs.com on a daily basis until I felt that it wasn't too hard to draw a reasonable gesture in that time.

While doing that I tried to practice simply drawing these six simple steps - in one continuous line without lifting the pencil or pen - over and over again:

1. One line for spine leading to
2. One line for leg and foot leading to
3. One line for other leg and foot leading to
4. One line for arm and hand leading to
5. One line for other arm and hand leading to
6. One line for head

That's the way I did, not saying it's necessarily the right way. I think it's time to move on once you feel "comfortable" (fed up with ;-)) drawing gestures. I agree with Vilppu - those gestures could be continually practiced for a lifetime. You have to decide for yourself when you feel ready for chapter 2. And don't forget to have fun with your drawing - and draw whatever you simply feel like drawing once in a while as well.

Looking forward to following your progress and would be happy for any feedback on my own drawings.

-------------------------------------------------------
Successful Drawing (SD), "The Fundamentals" (TF) #1

Copydrew parts of page 10 - leg and head as based on the basic shapes of sphere and cylinder. Posted here:

http://conceptart.org/forums/showpos...0&postcount=13

[Griffin's Wing]

Thanks mate. I think my next port of call is Posemaniacs. I've looked but not used their resources. I'll definately need some more practice on this.

[Mindbendermind]

Yes that's a great site for practicing gesture and negative space drawing - and probably anatomy as well as it shows the muscles and body parts in detail. Good luck with your drawing. Don't be hard on your self if it looks messy in the beginning. Important thing is to just be loose and try to "feel" the pose - where it stretches out, where it pulls back - through the lines. Keep doing it for a couple of days (preferably once in the morning once in the evening, since its so short time limits it doesn't have to take more than five minuts/session).

Oh, one more thing: When you feel comfortable drawing quick gestures with a pencil you could try switching to a pen if you really want to practice confidence and accuracy. Good look with your posemaniacs (you can find MANY examples of my drawings of these at IFX (my SB and Daily SB) and in the links in my sig if you want to see how I did them. Have fun drawing all those poses. :-)

[Mindbendermind]

Back to gestures!

Just found my new daily practice and a way to get back into the habit of drawing gestures: "The spartan training camp" (under "Community activities"). Every week you're supposed to draw up to 50 gestures and then there's one optional study as well.

Let the fun begin...(are you coming as well, Griffin?)

[Griffin's Wing]

Sounds daunting! I'll have a butchers ( = a look )

[Griffin's Wing]

Wow, there's a lot of them! Which one are we going for?

[Mindbendermind]

Ah, sorry - Camp #84 is the latest. Goes on until sunday. Good luck on those gestures (btw - Anthis, the one who leads it points out that the important thing is NOT to pressure oneself to necessarily do 50. Goal is improvement from regular practice, not to reach a certain amount at any cost.) :-)

[the_jos]

Mindbendermind,

Recently I downloaded a book by Joseph D'Amelio: Perspective Drawing Handbook.
It's a good 90 pages read on perspective from the artist point of view.
Considering it's only €10,-- I might get it in paper version.

I'm going to check on Vilppu, I have all Loomis' books here on my laptop and one Bridgman book on my computer at work.

[Mindbendermind]

Thanks for the recommendation, I'll take a look at it - I guess "Successful drawing" is not quite meant for the beginner, more for the intermediate - advanced.

In the situation right now that I'm doing a little too many things at the same time because they're all so fun and instructive, hopefully I'll finish a piece I've been working on for a long time today and lower my tempo a bit. (That work will then be found in my "Fantasy art" thread, if curious).

[the_jos]

Succesful Drawing is a good book but it moves past some 'beginner' stuff fast. It's there, but easy to miss. For that reason I liked Creative Illustration (also Loomis) more.

I know the feeling of doing a little too many at the same time.
Lucky for me I can't draw all day so I need to balance the things I do.
Right now I'm expirimenting with color, something I didn't do before and really need to get a feeling for.
I know part of my struggle is because I forgot to do a value study before adding color, causing some colors to be too bright and others to be to dark.
I'll give some examples when I've had time to work on them (posting from work atm).

I did take a look at your Fantasy art thread. The picture looks nice, I'm probably going to put some comments there.
And to keep it easy let's it will be about .... perspective (you already had a comment on value from Macido)

[Mindbendermind]

Hi again. Looking forward to taking part of your color studies. Took a look at the book you suggested and it looks REALLY good (and more at my level). Thanks again for recommending it, will go for that one instead of Successful D at the moment (unless you recommend "creative illustration" even more? Have that one as well).

Will be interesting to read your comment on the fantasy piece. Did it a while ago and would do some things different today (to start with I wouldn't start with a full-color landscape piece not having mastered the very basics. Lol. Soon will have another fantasy piece to add. A bit more based on basic shapes and lineart this time. :-)

[the_jos]

Ok, I'm going to give a quick rework of pieces of this old work by Mindbendermind

I've put some red on the spot I'll focus on.
The main focus will be on perspective.
Please keep in mind that the little works are part of a larger painting and every element in the painting should have the right relation with all other elements. I'm not going to focus on this in this example.

What we have here are a couple of pieces from Mindbendermind's work.
Each has a different 'problem' which can be related to perspective.
Before going to the individual pieces please read my comments in the original thread. There is more information on the total painting there and you can admire more of Mindbendermind's art when he adds more

I will try to explain why each part is a problem from perspective and how to fix it in some new postings, depending on how fast I can work.

Introducing the problem parts:

Piece 1: the shoreline at the front.
Problem with this is that it lacks detail compared to the water which is far below and past it. Also the color is too close together and at some points the water is flowing over the edge.

Piece 2: the shoreline at the other side of the water.
This has a weird angle. I'll try to give some guidelines how to handle this.

Piece 3: the path.
This has a similar problem as the shoreline, but in vertical instead of horizontal.

Piece 4: The castle.
There are several problems with the castle which I will cover in a future posting.