I have started the new sketchbook project that I mentioned in the previous post. Though at this point I’m not sure how new it is. It’s coming along, I am about halfway through the sketchbook. So, I thought I would fill you in a little. And by a little, I mean that this will probably be a short post.
As I expected, this project has been a challenge. I have struggled to get some consistency. I think it is the nature of the project and the images I am working from. Not the quality. More the poses themselves. I am not used to drawing full body poses, figure drawing.
I find I have two challenges. The first, which I’m getting better at, is scale and placement. Which sounds like two different things but in this case, not entirely. I sometimes have trouble fitting the entire pose on the page. This is sometimes the scale that I don’t get quite right and sometimes it is placement. That last is an issue I have struggled with when doing portraits as well. I tend to start with the eyes too high and lose the top part of the head.
The other challenge is proportions. Some of the errors I have made are things like getting the head too small for the body, or too close to the body. Sometimes the legs aren’t right compared to the rest of the body. And I’ve even gotten the body a little too long or tall depending on how you want to phrase it.
I do have some poses that I have gotten much more right than I expected. Even when I thought I’d chosen a really hard pose. So, I keep going and keep trying. I do find it interesting to see how the body moves and the contortions it undergoes when doing certain things. Those stranger angles and poses I don’t choose to work from. I may attempt some as the project continues. But for now, I have enough to master.
As I usually do, I’m including a few examples from the Body In Motion Sketchbook Project for you to enjoy. I will be posting the gallery of the facial expressions soon. I’m a little delayed in posting that. I did a not very smart thing New Year’s Day and injured myself in a way that makes a lot of things, including, mousing and typing uncomfortable so I’ve had to pick and choose the things I work on and when. And while I am on the mend and finding things that help, some things just take longer to happen right now.
