Figure Drawing

[Stitchy626]

Ok. I am really good at drawing still life and portraits as long as I have something to look at for reference, But when it comes to drawing something that is in my mind, I cannot get it. It doesn't turn out nothing like I pictured and lacks MAJOR detail from what I imagined it to look like. Anyone have any ideas how I can sharpen that skill so I can draw more from my imagination vs. using reference???? I have so many ideas but Can't put them on paper... Any help would be great!!!

[3ncryptabl3_lick]

most people try to do it this way first and it is the toughest. because memory is fogged most of our waking time, its hard to focus on the details that will translate into a sketch.

one good excersise you can try is to look at your subject, and trace him/her with your eye while your hand traces that imaginary line on paper. of course, your not suppose to look at the paper. stay focused on following the eye-line, with your hand.

its great to practice it as often as you can with the same subject so you get a chance to see your progression from scribbles to semi-formed shapes and on up. you can even use a picture if you want.

of course the more you practice, the more 'in-tune' your hand will get with your eye. what this does, in the end, is to allow you to mentally loosen your demands on your hand because your not getting the direct feedback of whatching the hand draw, and thus allowing the hand to move directly from memory - er, what your eye is tracing.

once you get a grasp of freeing the hand from mind, when you do put demands on it, they come off allot more focused.

[imaginemn]

Here is a little trick I taught my kids. Buy a pack of tracing paper. Start tracing other figures or the style you want to learn. Depending on skill, after you are done with the pack of paper your mind will be trained to do that style of drawing.

Some people pick it up right away others it takes more time. When you specialize in one type of style it can be difficult to switch styles unless you train yourself to do so.

It sounds like a stupid simple concept but it works.

[sandraseigle]

The tracing paper is a good idea, but some people also use a gridding system to learn proportions and such. I wish I could give you a visual here, and I hope I don't jumble it up and make it confusing for you, but here are some tips I learned that help when drawing a person freehand. Assuming you're drawing a person straight-on from the front view, here's a rough idea of typical proportions:

Of course we all know the default guideline sketch of the head is most easily done as an upside-down egg. You can shift the lines later to fit what you're trying to do, this will just be a beginning guideline.

From there, draw a slightly curved line straight down the center from top to bottom. Then, divide that upside-down egg sideways into thirds. The two lines you draw for this should be curved a tad upwards, to help remind you of the shape of the face. The top line is a rough placement of the hairline, and the bottom is about where the center of the point of the nose should be.

From there, the eyes should be almost in the center between the hairline and the center line, but probably a bit closer to the center line. In figuring the size of the eyes and how far apart they should be, you should be able to fit one eye of the same size between them, and one on each side (of course you won't, but again, for referrence purpose).

The mouth should go about halfway between the center line and the chin. Usually, the ends of the mouth won't go past the pupils in the eyes.

Ears usually span from the eyebrow to the bottom of the nose (on the sides of course lol)

A body is usually 7 heads tall (including the head), arms usually never reach past mid-thigh (hands and fingers included, of course).

Most importantly though, sometimes we tend to think TOO MUCH about what we're doing. Daydream a little when you're drawing . Think about the drawing and what you're doing, and concentrate on it of course, but don't stress over it too much. And, remember that even when you're really good at something one way, learning any new thing takes time and trial and error. Maybe you're just so used to drawing with a reference that you psych yourself out when you don't have a ref. You'll get it Good luck and I hope I made SOME sense here!