PJ's Challenge Sketchbook

Just some random artist on the internet trying to improve her art.

[pjs-challenge-sketchbook]

DAY 5 - 3/12/22

Well, I took another break. I did get a bit busy with school, but I also felt a bit discouraged with how to improve my gesture drawing technique. But taking another look at Proko's gesture drawing vid has helped me get back on track! I see now that I have been focusing too much on contour and detail--how the body looks--rather than how it FEELS.

I also took a few notes on the vid, not only to cement the info in my mind but to have it as a handy ref for when I feel like I’m slipping back into contour mode

I followed the adage of using CSI (drawing with only C and S curves and straight lines). I also tried to avoid chicken scratching, though that’s a bit of a harder habit to break! Also tried to look at the reference more VS my paper (eyes should be 80% on ref and 20% on paper!) but that has also been a bit hard. But the more I do it, the better I’ll get! I think I already see a little improvement!

With my hands, IDK if I’m doing hand gesture studies “right” or not, but I’ve been trying to apply what I’ve learned here too.

Now that I’ve practiced this a bit, I think I’ll take a look at Proko’s next vid on the topic. I’m excited—he’ll go into more depth on his strategy to gesture drawing! Yay!

[pjs-challenge-sketchbook]

Ehf, why can’t I edit my other pages on mobile...???

Well I’m just gonna out this here as reference for tomorrow. But anyway...keeping track of missed days.

Missed days for gesture - 3/8/22. 1 day so far.

Missed days for Drawabox - 3/5-3/9/22. 4 days so far.

Getting more feedback on my drawings I see I REALLY need to try to finish Drawabox lesson 1. I need to be more purposeful with my lines in gesture drawing—no chicken scratching. 80% drawing and 20% looking at the model as well!

Well for now I’m gonna try to make it to my end date, and we’ll see how many missed days I have. I can then adjust goals and think about how to do better keeping them. Then make another challenge for myself.

Anyway, gotta do Drawabox in the morning for 15-30 min at least! No excuses. 8:30-9:00 or so is probably a good time as any.

Oh and yeah, note to self: I need to watch this guys video (and the one after it!) again... https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=74HR59yFZ7Y&list=PLtG4P3lq8RHGuMuprDarMz_Y9Fbw_d2ws&index=1&t=7s

[pjs-challenge-sketchbook]

DAY 4 - 3/9/22

Well, I skipped doing drawings yesterday, but I’m back at it today! (Hmm, maybe I should keep track of skipped days somewhere? I’ll have to adjust my end date or something).

Anyway, here are the drawings of the day. The last hand (the fist) I fudged a little in that I accidentally restarted the timer and had to figure out how much time I had left. 🙄

(I probably should draw these on separate pages so I don’t accidentally draw them on top of each other, but it saves room, and I like just...doing this without thinking too hard about it. I probably [again] need to be a little more purposeful, but as someone who overthinks everything, this is kinda freeing to do!)

Pro of the day: my mum looked over my shoulder and told me in awed tones that my drawings looked really good...I didn’t really think so but that certainly gave me a boost in confidence. Thanks, mom. 😌

[pjs-challenge-sketchbook]

DAY 3 - 3/7/22

Aight, did some more gestures drawings tonight. Again I didn’t do Drawabox because I’m lazy and tired. Hmm. Maybe I should learn to do Drawabox in the morning and do gesture drawing in the evening...?

Funnily enough, it looks like the most “undynamic” pose is my best here. Though the lady on top isn’t too bad—that one I tried to pay more attention and not making my line of action “s” curved. (S curves are a big no-no, apparently).

Still gonna look up some forums to plop my art onto...

[pjs-challenge-sketchbook]

DAY 2 - 3/6/22

Did some more gesture drawings today (although later in the evening instead of the morning! College work and procrastination, man). Still didn’t get to doing Drawabox, but again—the fact I’m keeping a personal goal for two days in a row, sequentially, is a big win for me 🤡

I’m currently looking around for ways I can get advice/critique from others with these drawings...found a couple cool forums. I’ll check those out and see what happens 👀

I still feel like I’m jumping in drawing these things haphazardly without a sense logic or purpose here. I know I can do better to draw more...purposefully here somehow! Hopefully critique can help me recognize how I can do so (I’d I can find somebody who’s be willing to look at it ahhhhh).

Me rn:

Welp! Onward to tomorrow’s study!

EDIT: OOPS I just remembered I didn’t do the hand studies!! 🤦‍♀️ ...funny how these look better than my bodies. Huh.

[pjs-challenge-sketchbook]

DAY 1 - 3/5/22

After a couple of false starts, here's my first crack at gesture drawing! Proportions are a bit wonky; I DO need to get better at body proportions, but I think it's also a result of me feeling a bit nervous or getting too caught up in details. I'm not used to being timed so I tended to rush a bit; I'll have to work on calming myself down and taking my time to carefully observe vs jumping in haphazardly! Also need to work on drawing a bit smaller so they don't get cut off (my last hand--whoops).

Tried to incorporate advice from these!:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74HR59yFZ7Y

https://drawpaintacademy.com/gesture-drawing/

https://www.artistsnetwork.com/art-mediums/drawing/simplify-hand-drawing-confident-results/

Con of the day: didn't do any Drawabox exercises due to poor time-management/laziness/work. <.<;; Will need to work on that...

But hey! Woo! Go, me--I finally fulfilled an expectation/goal for myself, however small. This is a win for me! :)