Hello Jorge,
First of all thank you so very much for having taken and completed my course! I hope you learned a lot of good information that you can continue to apply to your own work.
Good job on your drawing! It is a nice pose with a bit of movement as he’s slightly twisting to his right. A lot of good subtlety to capture in order to make sure all of his structures line up.
Overall his proportions look good. Your model is pretty broad-shouldered which shows his athleticism. I’m wondering if his arms, then, aren’t a bit too thin compared to his back. As you have drawn him, it is possible, but it strikes me as just a bit imbalanced. No big deal though : )
His forearms however are indeed too thin, both at the elbow joint and all the way down what we can see. His head is also just ever so slightly on the small side, particularly in width. Remember that whatever hair mass the model has is ON TOP of the skull, and thus adds to the visual size of the head. It’s a bit difficult for me to tell in your drawing what kind of hair your model has, but even very thin hair would add just a bit more mass to his overall head size.
In terms of your use of value, that is also looking good. There is a strong notion of light coming from the right side, and you’ve respected the “light-shadow” barrier by controlling the subtle value shifts within your shadows. Good job!
I can also tell that you have a variety of finish quality in your rendering, from some of the grainy 2B in the shadows, to the smoother HB and 2H in the lights. Nice! This is not a rule of course, but I personally enjoy these kinds of changes in texture (plus human skin is like that: passages of very smooth areas contrasted with passages of very textured areas).
To continue to improve on your drawing, I would firstly encourage you to continue studying your artistic anatomy. Anatomy is a never-ending subject we can always improve upon, and the more we know the more efficient and structurally accurate we become in our drawing.
There are just a few anatomical errors in your back anatomy, namely the scapula placements. You are correct that in pulling his right arm back a little, the right scapula will approach the spine. And while pushing his left arm forward a little the left scapula will glide to the left a little, away from the spine.
In the drawing though, on the right scapula I can see where you placed the root of the teres major (the little dark curve shape) which indicates the bottom of the scapula. I can also see via the subtle modelling where you placed the scapular spine (good job).
But then the mass of the trapezius bulges all the way over to the spine, and this distance is too great for where you placed the scapula itself. Yes, the trapezius can indeed have an impressive volume, but it is intimately linked to where the scapula is. It appears to me that your trapezius is actually the more correct area, and that it is the scapula placement itself that should have been a bit more to the left (closer to the spine).
For the left scapula, we can clearly see the scapular spine (it is just a bit too straight and apparent, though; if you soften a few of the edges and darken its upper right portion a little, it will sit better under his skin), and also where the scapula begins to descend on its medial (inside) border. But then there are 2 diamond-like shapes that I can’t quite place muscularly, and we then lose the understanding of the scapular structure.
This kind of information is very easy to confuse in the live model because every little movement the model makes will shift these muscles and scapula, and as a result we can end up at the end of our hours and hours of drawing with a combination of multiple positions (as subtle as they may be). But the fact that I am talking about these kinds of details with you is a good sign, because we’re getting closer and closer to really nailing the forms!
One other suggestion I have is about the contour. Just always take a moment towards the end of the pose time to really trace the model’s outline with your eyes centimetre by centimetre and do your best to capture the subtle high points and low points of the figure. Strong attention to detail at the contour can make a huge difference in the realism of your figure.
I can see that you were indeed attentive to the contour, but there is an overall “roundness” to your outline that could be strengthened by looking for more straight lines (i.e.: the triceps on both arms, the left quadricep, the gluteal cleft).
I hope this information helps you out not only on this drawing but also for your own, personal work as well.
@shane_wolf
Hi Shane, thanks a lot for your words. You´re so right in every aspect your refer as "not so perfect" (size of the head, arms...) . I learn a lot with your comments and they will be very helpful in the future. I don´t know if your comments were based in this "finishing the drawing" (work in progress) or the real final artwork (there´s another photo i post with this subtitle). Anyway the problems are present on the final artwork too...
Thanks again, I will be following you in Instagram and i hope one day you have more classes here. I loved every lesson and advices in your course.
@jorgebandarra Great, I'm glad my comments can be of some use!
I apologize as I did not see your post of the finished drawing until you just said so. But yes, the comments still apply. Your value work is even better in the final drawing, with stronger shadows and thus stronger overall forms; nice job!
Thank you for keeping an eye on my Instagram; good stuff coming up this year...
3 comments
shane_wolf
Teacher PlusHello Jorge,
First of all thank you so very much for having taken and completed my course! I hope you learned a lot of good information that you can continue to apply to your own work.
Good job on your drawing! It is a nice pose with a bit of movement as he’s slightly twisting to his right. A lot of good subtlety to capture in order to make sure all of his structures line up.
Overall his proportions look good. Your model is pretty broad-shouldered which shows his athleticism. I’m wondering if his arms, then, aren’t a bit too thin compared to his back. As you have drawn him, it is possible, but it strikes me as just a bit imbalanced. No big deal though : )
His forearms however are indeed too thin, both at the elbow joint and all the way down what we can see. His head is also just ever so slightly on the small side, particularly in width. Remember that whatever hair mass the model has is ON TOP of the skull, and thus adds to the visual size of the head. It’s a bit difficult for me to tell in your drawing what kind of hair your model has, but even very thin hair would add just a bit more mass to his overall head size.
In terms of your use of value, that is also looking good. There is a strong notion of light coming from the right side, and you’ve respected the “light-shadow” barrier by controlling the subtle value shifts within your shadows. Good job!
I can also tell that you have a variety of finish quality in your rendering, from some of the grainy 2B in the shadows, to the smoother HB and 2H in the lights. Nice! This is not a rule of course, but I personally enjoy these kinds of changes in texture (plus human skin is like that: passages of very smooth areas contrasted with passages of very textured areas).
To continue to improve on your drawing, I would firstly encourage you to continue studying your artistic anatomy. Anatomy is a never-ending subject we can always improve upon, and the more we know the more efficient and structurally accurate we become in our drawing.
There are just a few anatomical errors in your back anatomy, namely the scapula placements. You are correct that in pulling his right arm back a little, the right scapula will approach the spine. And while pushing his left arm forward a little the left scapula will glide to the left a little, away from the spine.
In the drawing though, on the right scapula I can see where you placed the root of the teres major (the little dark curve shape) which indicates the bottom of the scapula. I can also see via the subtle modelling where you placed the scapular spine (good job).
But then the mass of the trapezius bulges all the way over to the spine, and this distance is too great for where you placed the scapula itself. Yes, the trapezius can indeed have an impressive volume, but it is intimately linked to where the scapula is. It appears to me that your trapezius is actually the more correct area, and that it is the scapula placement itself that should have been a bit more to the left (closer to the spine).
For the left scapula, we can clearly see the scapular spine (it is just a bit too straight and apparent, though; if you soften a few of the edges and darken its upper right portion a little, it will sit better under his skin), and also where the scapula begins to descend on its medial (inside) border. But then there are 2 diamond-like shapes that I can’t quite place muscularly, and we then lose the understanding of the scapular structure.
This kind of information is very easy to confuse in the live model because every little movement the model makes will shift these muscles and scapula, and as a result we can end up at the end of our hours and hours of drawing with a combination of multiple positions (as subtle as they may be). But the fact that I am talking about these kinds of details with you is a good sign, because we’re getting closer and closer to really nailing the forms!
One other suggestion I have is about the contour. Just always take a moment towards the end of the pose time to really trace the model’s outline with your eyes centimetre by centimetre and do your best to capture the subtle high points and low points of the figure. Strong attention to detail at the contour can make a huge difference in the realism of your figure.
I can see that you were indeed attentive to the contour, but there is an overall “roundness” to your outline that could be strengthened by looking for more straight lines (i.e.: the triceps on both arms, the left quadricep, the gluteal cleft).
I hope this information helps you out not only on this drawing but also for your own, personal work as well.
Congratulations on finishing the course!!
jorgebandarra
@shane_wolf
Hi Shane, thanks a lot for your words. You´re so right in every aspect your refer as "not so perfect" (size of the head, arms...) . I learn a lot with your comments and they will be very helpful in the future. I don´t know if your comments were based in this "finishing the drawing" (work in progress) or the real final artwork (there´s another photo i post with this subtitle). Anyway the problems are present on the final artwork too...
Thanks again, I will be following you in Instagram and i hope one day you have more classes here. I loved every lesson and advices in your course.
shane_wolf
Teacher Plus@jorgebandarra Great, I'm glad my comments can be of some use!
I apologize as I did not see your post of the finished drawing until you just said so. But yes, the comments still apply. Your value work is even better in the final drawing, with stronger shadows and thus stronger overall forms; nice job!
Thank you for keeping an eye on my Instagram; good stuff coming up this year...
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