Gesture vs Anatomy

I think the gesture is most important.  Even more important the muscles and hair and skeleton. If the gesture is not captured then the rest of the accuracy with skeletal structure and musculature is useless information.

Gesture and key landmarks of anatomy are extremely important in figure drawing.

Some good areas to pay close attention to are the joints, shoulders, elbows, wrists, knees, and ankles. If we ignore these parts, the limbs will feel like noodles.  Without proper gesture, the figure will feel either unbalance or stiff.  Gesture is like the rhythm and beat of a musical piece.  Without that the music is lacking.

Rules vs Creativity

Like most things, it is helpful to know the "rules" before breaking them creatively.  It's good to know perspective.  It's good to know anatomy and then when you break the rules or change muscles or tones, it is done with the knowledge of how it should look and how things work.  I think anatomy helps creation of new or mythological creatures.  If you know where and how the muscles look on humans or Earth animals, it is easier to create a believable ogre or troll.  So no, I don't think drawing representational figures interferes with the creative process.  Rather it strengthens it.

More Children's Faces

100 Days of Children's Faces

After the exercise of 100 days of drawing hands, one each day, and then 100 days of drawing feet, one each day, I decided the next weakness in my education and experience was children’s faces.  After all how can I decide to become a children’s book illustrator if my drawing of children’s faces isn’t stellar?  It was a good challenge.  I draw one per day for 100 days in charcoal on toned paper and see how strong I can make my vision of all the nuances of children’s faces.

Children’s faces aren’t the same as adults at all.  The necks are much shorter and almost non-existent in infants.  Their cheeks are fuller and there should be no hard lines around the nose and mouth simply because drawing those folds makes the child look old.  Their eyes are larger and placed slightly lower in the face as if they have more forehead and brain than adults.

I learned that I can’t rush this process.  Some of these took only about 15 minutes and others I struggled with for half an hour or more.  The more I wanted to finish fast the worst the outcome.  Naturally.  Sounds about right.  Isn’t that what happens when you rush anything worthwhile?   I also learned that a good photo with good shadow shapes is essential to making a good drawing.  Using photos taken in the shade, under a tree, or with a flash makes for an awful drawing.

By the time I got to 80 faces I so wanted to quit but I just wouldn’t let myself.  I did take a day or two off here and there but I refuse to quit.  I am now at day 95 and soon will be done with my 100 days of children.  I love children’s faces.  I may just spend another 100 days on children for the fun of it.