Art Quest Update 3-15-24

Art quest continues, albeit slower than I would like. In my dream work day, I would spend half the day writing and then the 2nd half of the day working on art, but alas, as it currently is, I’m doing both on the margins of most mornings and nights. 

 

However, progress is still going and I’m excited about what I’ve been able to do.

 

Mostly my concentration has continued on figure and form still, trying to perfect gesture as much as I can before moving on to more complex topics. 

 

I’ve done dozens and dozens of model studies from reference photos at this point (and even some of my family as they sit down on the couch for the evening.)  I wouldn’t say I’m near to perfecting it, but I feel like I’ve made some improvements. 

 

Some are shit, but others I’m happy with.

 

I completed the entire Proko figure drawing class, which pushed me into the realm of rendering by the end, something I’d never really been comfortable with. The results were mixed.  I liked to think I got most of the proportions right, but the face (which is two lessons away) came out a bit incorrect, and it was hard for me to get the details right of the lighting on the form when I drew it so small.

But I keep trying to remind myself that this is all part of the process.  That every misstep or crappy drawing is a step to the ultimate goal. 

 

Sometimes it’s hard to listen to that reminder when all I want to do is draw comics as beautiful as this:

 

Then I take a deep breath and get back to drawing stick figures, mannequins, and close-ups of human anatomy.  

 

I’ve moved on to Andrew Loomis’s Figure Drawing for All Its Worth and am about halfway through. It’s a bit of a slower pace than the Proko class and more nuanced, which I appreciate compared to watching videos when It feels like I’m rushing to keep up. I can spend plenty of time, trying to understand the page and what to do next.

 

After the book, I start up  Love Life Drawing’s YouTube series on figure drawing before switching gears to composition and visual storytelling.  I’ve already got my hands on Framed Ink by Marcos Mateu-Mestre and am preparing to have my mind blown by how much thought and detail has been put into the makeup of every one of my favorite scenes. 

 

That’s all to say I’ve still got a long way to go here, but I’m enjoying the process and the challenge.

 

I look further down the curriculum and I get excited about what’s on the horizon like character design, animals, and environments. 

 

Which, if I stay at my current pace, are still probably a year away.  

 

Or I could just use Dall-E or Stable Diffusion and conjure up the images in my head from a few sentences.

 

But where would the fun be in that? 

 

Till next time, Fellow Creatures!

 

Stay saucy,

 

-Jeff