• Feeling isolated? You're not alone.

    Join 20,000+ people who understand exactly how your day went. Whether you're newly diagnosed, self-identified, or supporting someone you love – this is a space where you don't have to explain yourself.

    Join the Conversation → It's free, anonymous, and supportive.

    As a member, you'll get:

    • A community that actually gets it – no judgment, no explanations needed
    • Private forums for sensitive topics (hidden from search engines)
    • Real-time chat with others who share your experiences
    • Your own blog to document your journey

    You've found your people. Create your free account

Art tips thread

mysterionz

mysterionz

oh hamburgers!
V.I.P Member
Mods, move this somewhere else if it isn’t fit for OT.

I have been drawing close to eleven years, the last five years of which I’ve been taking seriously. I still feel like a noob in some areas. I want to improve at anatomy, drawing hands, and posing mainly. Let’s share art tips here. :) Check my art thread linked in my signature to see examples of my artwork.
 
I had to do 5 minute poses - we had models - the trick was to circle all joints and lines to connect them. If time for broad contours great. Helped with positions and posture and foreshortening.
 
My style is so freeform it is hard to believe I took classes for a while :)
 
Do you have a poseable wooden body model/ manikin? It is helpful for making poses without a live model.
shopping


These are also available for hands as well.... although I have drawn my own hands a lot. When I studied art in college, I used a lot of anatomy books to get the placement and shapes of muscles down and then applied this to drawing from live models. I found that you need to draw from a live model to get the feel for how the weight of the body and pose is affecting the muscles, fatty tissue and skin. I don't know if you are comfortable with it, but drawing nude models is really the best way to see what the body is actually doing under all the drapery of the clothes. Mastering nude drawing makes clothed subjects much easier to draw. Non muscular bodies are actually the most challenging to draw, because while the muscles will pretty much always follow what we see in anatomy books, breasts and fatty tissue can settle in more than one direction: 1) in relation to gravity, 2) structure of the bone and muscle 3) how the first two items respond to the body's pose. Are there any art studios/ classes/ drawing groups that you can join, so that you can get practice with a live model? Different body types and poses have huge variations between them....and if you can see a variety of these and make drawings and sketches, it will give you a reference point for drawing people from your imagination in the future. When I was in college, and after, some artist colleagues of mine used to have drawing groups, where we would hire a live model and split the cost... that way it was only about $10 per session. I also used to draw my brother when he was sleeping a lot... and would go to the museum and draw some of the statues of people.

In classes and drawing sessions, we started with 1 minute sketches, then 5 and 10 and 30 minutes. Then we moved on to full hour poses. We also did sketches where you would put your pencil down and start drawing, without lifting it from the paper, until you completed the whole sketch. Doing these different types of sketches allows you learn how to capture the essence of the lines, the weight of the pose, and the general composition, without getting bogged down with the fine details. It also helps you to learn perspective and foreshortening in a more intuitive way, rather than applying the mathematical rules and tricks that are taught to artists for proportion and sizing in drawings.

The Art Students' League in NYC has some online classes for figure drawing, etc. I have taken live classes there over the years, and they are awesome!

The Art Students League of New York
 
I like to paint some. What really was the biggest breakthrough was reading up on color theory and realizing how to highlight/shade other than just adding white/black into the paint mix. It was really eye-opening and looks great.
 
Yes, adding pure white or black to other colors, to make lighter or darker colors, can make the colors muddy and dull. I do oils mostly, but started with watercolor... so I learned to use the white of the canvas for white areas, then I use sheer or moderate layers of color over each other to build the colors in different areas. I almost only use white for accents. I either mix or layer my dark shades. I don't own any black paint. I find painting this way gives the colors a luminosity and brightness and avoids a monotone or muddy quality that can ruin an otherwise great painting.
 
Here is an example of using white of the canvas
 

Attachments

  • The Jack jmh.webp
    The Jack jmh.webp
    58.8 KB · Views: 38
This is not black or white.. I scratch paint off in some areas for the white to show through, after painting an area. I do love texture
 

Attachments

  • dragonfish jmh.webp
    dragonfish jmh.webp
    17.5 KB · Views: 35
I e always found hands hard too. It helps to practice on your own hand a few times in a few poses, but unless ambidextrous only one hand. Pictures Do Not Work!!! Too flat. I still suck at them though
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

New Threads

Top Bottom