Although we always associate lines with drawing, in fact drawings can be made without any lines at all. For this drawing, I used all my drawing media on a new sheet of paper to create as many kinds of shading as possible. The idea was to make smooth tonal variations from light to dark. On a blank sheet of paper, I drew in a series of rectangles to place the shading. I learned this method from a book a couple of months ago when doing a similar exercise. I performed some shading in pencil, conte, Vine charcoal, compressed charcoal and pen and ink. I found Charcoal to be the easiest to work with.
At this point, I took out my current drawings, put them on the floor, and look at them for a while. After looking at the drawings I noted down any realistic images I could see in the work. Secondly, I asked my self if I had used the maximum amount of different effects possible.
To answer the second question first, the answer is no I don’t think I produced the maximum amount of effects possible, because there are too many possibilities to count. For the first question the only drawings that gave me hope where my blot drawings. My favorite drawing was the one I could see a woman walking a dog, which was very accidental.
Structure of Man (Drawing the Human Figure from Your Mind by Riven Phoenix)
I purchased a training set a couple weeks ago called, up a human figure from your mind “the structure of man”. Like Jack Hamms book “drawing the head and figure” this training set uses repeatable patterns to help construct the human body. The training set is a strikingly comprehensive series of anatomy drawing videos, which at this early stage as helped me immensely. The series takes you from the basic formulas of human proportion to the creation of advanced skeletal and muscle structures. I have been trying for quite some time to understand the basics behind sketching a quick and accurate figure and this series of videos, as been the answer. I could not find any Canadian painters videos however.
At first, I thought my figures will come out a little wooden, but the result was quite the opposite. In fact, the majority of the old Masters used to use repeatable patterns to draw the human figure. Example Leonardo da Vinci sketch entitled “head of an old man” depicts the formulas himself used to construct the human face.
I have been working away through the videos, sketching as I go working my way from the front and side view of the skull to a full three-quarter. I have set out two sketchpads for human anatomy exclusively. You can see some of my efforts in my canadian artists blog