Anatomy – Analysis of Me

This week we were to bring a few organic sketches and drawings to criticize and give feedback to each others knowledge of anatomy.

I did not receive as much feedback as I had hoped for, however, there were a few things they mentioned that I cold agree, I probably had to work on some more. One thing that was mentioned was that I had a tendency to use straight lines a bit too much. This does not happen all the time, but it is visible in some of my drawings. I think it is mainly because I do not always have a good workflow, and easily get stuck on small details and lose the perception of the entire picture as a whole.

I was given some really good advise on how to practice to avoid breaking the flow and getting stuck on details. I was advised to give myself time challenges, give myself maybe five minutes to make a quick drawing, leaving no time to stop and iterate on minor details. I was reminded of the importance of drawing a lot, and fast to get the flow of drawing the all parts of the body into my head (cognitive therapy right there). The only timing I have previously done on my drawing (except during life drawing sessions) is occasionally looking at my watch and saying to myself; “gee, I have been drawing this hand for three hours, maybe I should move on”.

Another thing I need to practice more is life drawing. There are a number of parts of the body that I do not exactly know how they look, especially on the back. I am often too lazy to actually find good references when drawing these parts, and that is a hazard for my learning. There is one thing that is far worse than not knowing, and that is knowing wrong. Adopting a flow were I draw faulty anatomy could take me a painful amount of time unlearning, and you never want to have to do that.

 

As for a plan on what to do the following months to improve, firstly, I would like to spend more time on life drawing. Not only human figures, but also landscapes (which I would say is one of my big weaknesses), props and clothing (especially armor). I used to do life drawing on a daily basis for some time, but started to drop that habit as school got more intense. In any case, as a first goal, I would like to become more secure in human anatomy, and make sure I know the musculature. For this I would also try the speed drawing exercises suggested to me.

As a second goal, I would like to improve my ability to interpret movement and action into my drawings. I studied animation before I came to Gotland, though only the basics, and I am eager to continue exploring that path, learning both how to properly breath life into my still art, and animate. For this there are two books I would like to spend the time reading through; Drawn to Life, that was part of our course literature last year, and The Animator’s Survival kit. I would also like to read Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life, but I from my understanding it is difficult to come by these days.

Finally, as a third goal I would like to be able to put all these things to use, and design my own creatures, with believable anatomy and movement. I have always been interested in mythology, and creating my own worlds and creatures is something I really enjoy, and would like to get better at. For this I would probably need to look into traits of different animals, focusing on analyzing their traits, and how the compliment the animal’s lifestyle and ability to fit into it’s natural habitat.