Sova Fanart 4: Class Unit 2 Day 1

UNIT TWO: Dynamic Figure Drawing | Day 1 – Explore figure sketching techniques/simplification

I’ve been actively avoiding working on this challenge all day. I feel like it is because it is so damn overwhelming. It took so much for me to even just sit down and start working on this.

But now that I have sat down and am working on this, I want to create a mini lesson plan for today.

Since today is about exploring figure sketching techniques and simplification, I shall design a lesson plan to make it impossible not to get good at those things. As I’ve said before, lesson plans let me connect to the present moment, on one task at a time. This in turn helps me work through the feeling of being overwhelmed.

Mini syllabus for: explore figure sketching techniques/simplification

Total time: 90 minutes (est 30 min per unit, 10 min per part)

Mini unit 1: Research

  • Part 1: OpenAI and Bing
  • Part 2: Google
  • Part 3: Youtube

Mini unit 2: Experiment

  • Part 1: School of thought 1
  • Part 2: School of thought 2
  • Part 3: School of thought 3

Mini unit 3: Practice

  • Part 1: Simple poses
  • Part 2: Dynamic poses
  • Part 3: Foreshortened and perspective poses

Mini unit 1: Research

Part 1: OpenAI and Bing

Part 2: Google

Why You Should Start with Armatures When Learning to Draw Figures (artistsnetwork.com)

How to draw figures without a model – Artists & Illustrators (artistsandillustrators.co.uk)

Draw Heads On Any Angle, From Your Imagination (howtodrawcomics.net)

Part 3: Youtube

Main school of thought to try out:

  • Basic armature
    • Circle head, half for nose line, half of that for mouth line
    • line for neck
    • line for spine
    • line for hips perpendicular to spine
    • line for shoulders perpendicular to spine
  • Head shapes
    • circle with lopped side for skull
    • cut cube for face
  • Sketchy woodwork for finding pose
    • Keep scratching until a form emerges
    • Erase or lighten then refine
  • Advanced shapes
    • triangle tricep
    • triangle forearm
    • teardrop thighs
    • diamond calf
    • box pecs
    • triangle delts
    • pen tip torso

Mini unit 2: Experiment

Part 1: School of thought 1

I practiced basic armature and it looked pretty bad. I think I started to improve when I moved the hips a little higher.


Part 2: School of thought 2

Things started to improve a little here. I really like the method of simple shapes for the head. I felt like I understood the geometry much better.


Part 3: School of thought 3

This is when I used the sketchy woodwork carving out a pose and when I refined it, I used the advanced shaped coupled with everything else I learned. I really really like this method. Gives me dynamic poses without losing the anatomy.

I didn’t get to Unit 3 because I feel complete and it is 2AM and I want to go to bed.

Very happy with today’s progress. I feel like I killed it at the figure drawings and I feel much more confident drawing figures.

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