bloowabbit: Draw with Jazza

Showing posts with label Draw with Jazza. Show all posts

Friday, 22 July 2016

Drawing Anatomy

If you're going to draw realistic figures then it can be useful to know what lies beneath the skin. It can be time consuming learning Anatomy (with Physiology perhaps) indepth. Sometimes just a little understanding goes a long way. Twenty years ago I studied short courses in both Human Anatomy and Physiology to support a course in Aromatherapy - helps to know where the muscles are and what happens to them when you work with them - and some of that knowledge has stuck with me. However I'm am not an expert by any means and am currently striving to improve my figure drawing.

At art classes in school and in the life room at art college I did a lot of figure study but it's a thing that needs constant usage and over time I've gotten slightly out of practice.

When I create a doodle styled drawing that is freehand, without planning or pencil sketch, the figures are not perfect and the emotion or concept of the art is more important than accurate anatomy. When I create a more planned piece the figure is more accurate. Check out blogpost Updating old work.

from '101 Top Tips for Fantasy Painters' by Kevin Crossley

check out blogpost 'review: Art Book'

You can source tips and tricks of drawing anatomy in books, in blogs or in videos. I like a mixture of sources, looking at simplified breakdowns of the bone and muscle structure, copying from art and watching how other artists draw figures.

Plus I get out my mobile and snap a picture of my own head/hand/foot if stuck and draw from that. The hands of 'Mother of Butterflies' were drawn from photos of my hands.

A fun tool to use is a wooden movable mannequin although details of fingers, toes and muscle curves aren't indicated - it is a help if you already have a level of anatomical knowledge in your head or want a certain pose and then source anatomical details.

A resource available online to purchase and download is the Anatomy Reference Pack from Jazza's Studios - Jazza also has a few YouTube channels which are worth a watch. I've bought the ref pack and refer to it whenever I need to source a full figure to draw from. The photographs are clear plus each stance is photographed from different angles, some holding swords or pikes.

However the best anatomy resource I've found are the free downloadable charts from Sycra on YouTube with videos to follow. This artist studied Anatomy in order to understand the cause and effect of every movement from bone and muscle, sinew and tendon. He admits it took him a long time and to make things easier for other artists came up with the stylized charts. While they are not entirely accurate anatomically they show where and how to draw curves and planes on the human body plus they help the artist understand the relation of each body part to another. A great resource from a very sharing artist.

I hope the information in this blogpost is of use to you. There are other websites and videos linked below, some are filled with more information than others. I think you've just got to pick up a pencil and draw not worrying about perfection. But the use of anatomy resources with a little practice can only improve your quality of figure drawing.

Links:

Draw With Jazza - body construction tutorial

Sycra - simplified anatomy model

Mark Crilley - male body proportions

Artist Daily online magazine - very detailed guide to drawing anatomy

Pinterest page by Frank Hobbs - drawing anatomy links

Bloowabbit facebook page

bloowabbit Instagram page

bloowabbit newgrounds page

bloowabbit DeviantArt page

All rights reserved. The artworks/illustrations or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the artist except for specific permission granted with a free downloadable.

Friday, 1 July 2016

Artists I follow on social media

If you're a YouTube watcher then it's more than likely you'll have your favourites. Because I've an interest in planning there are planning YouTubers that I follow and have 'got to know' on a YT level - I usually leave a comment to help push their ratings and they usually respond. But I also follow YTers who have become more established over a longer period of time and have followers numbered in their tens of thousands. Not getting a response to comments doesn't stop me watching their videos.

I have a pretty dormant channel on YT, waiting until I can get a decent camera to take videos before posting my art processes. But I use my channel from which to watch other artists. First on the list has to be TheMonsterPaws - I've only been following her for a few months but her art is exceptional. I also like the advice she offers, pragmatic and real. If there is a YT artist that inspires me it's her. I like her use of mixed media and she has developed a style all her own.

Then there's Baylee Jae who has 3 channels, one being dedicated to art. Plus she live streams on Twitch TV which can be fun. Baylee comes from the world of animation but has evolved her own style of still work primarily using Copic markers. Her style has a certain cute quality but she's a good artist and it's interesting to watch her combine traditional and digital art techniques. Her YT history goes back a few years and she's very comfortable in front of the camera, possibly due to her doing a daily vlog since she started.

I've started to follow Draw with Jazza as his videos are often tutorials as well as being really good to watch. He mostly uses digital tools with which to draw and is both currently finishing a animation as well as publishing a 'How to' printed book later in the year. His videos are upbeat plus he runs competitions hand in hand with the NewGround website to inspire artists of all ages.

HulloAlice is up there with my favs. Her watercolour and pencil traditional art is superb. Among her playlists are tutorials, speedpaints and reviews. Worth a watch.

Other channels I watch when a piece of art catches my eye are:

markcrilley who is an excellent draughtsman and who does anime/manga tutorials
Kattvalk who opens art sub boxes, completes challenges and does fan art
Sophira-Lou whose sketchbooks are wonderful inspirational things
Juicy Ink who has a great quirky quality to her illustrative work
Zyra Bañez who creates fashion and Disney art among many other playlists
Bryan Collins who has done some amazing painting on wood
Sakuems who has completed some gorgeous fantasy pieces
Anita Gadzinska whose work is childlike and the stuff of storybooks

It's worth having a surf through YT and discovering artists whose work or ethos

interests you. Learning from other artists is a huge part of an artist's development.

Bloowabbit facebook page

bloowabbit Instagram page

bloowabbit newgrounds page

bloowabbit DeviantArt page

Monday, 20 June 2016

art challenge: Jazza's competition

One of the YT artist channels that I subscribe to is Draw with Jazza, hosted by an Aussie with a very definite illustrative style. He promotes a site called Newgrounds and runs competitions with them and as the first prize of the current competition is a Wacom Intuos Pro tablet I thought I'd enter...if you're not in you don't win. Jazza runs a shop and it's worth having a look - I recently purchased the Anatomy Reference Pack which is great for that pose you want to draw and don't want to be taking selfies.

For the art competition...

Each entrant had to choose a character:

Hairy professor who loves to draw who's wielding fire.
Murderer that is secretive whose eyes are bulging.
Orcish wizard that is on fire who has an impressive moustache-beard combo.

And a setting:

Princess's bedroom that has burned down and features a conference room.
Green clean park that is floating in space and features an alien race.
Giant maze that is extremely windy and features a demonic altar.

My instant preference was the orcish wizard in the maze with the altar. (Slightly Cluedo-ish, that). It must have been all those nights playing Dungeons and Dragons.

Pencil sketches, trying to get a feel of what the orc, his staff and the altar look like.

1st layout

2nd layout

The orc sorcerer needed to be the focal point yet I wanted to see the maze, so by tilting it I achieve that plus it gives a sense of valley and hills. As the character was described as having a beard I got a little inventive, making his beard a transient growth of fire. At this stage I wasn't sure what was in the centre of the maze but knew that whatever it was it was affected by the magic emanating from the wizard.

As I worked at the drawing subtle changes happened. The top of the wand became a small skull, possibly a lesser orc, and the wizard's flesh became mottled and spotted. The altar of carved demonic faces leaned to one side making it necessary to draw a stone under one edge of the sacrificial bowl on top - that's what someone would do to make it level. The more you draw something the more you get to know it and the more its story unfolds.

Inking the 2nd layout.

He just had to have that sweep-over hair which is caught in the wind...

I looked at fire images online to get a feel of how to draw and colour the flames. My son suggested I watch videos of flames and he's right - by watching how something moves you get a sense of how it's made.

final layout

Inking up the finished version was very intricate...why did I choose to draw leaves? !! But a leafy maze was what was in my head. Branches ending with twiggy fingers surround the base of the altar and echo the wizard's staff. I quite liked the manic grin of the small skull. Perhaps it has a life of its own like Bob the possessed skull from The Dresden Files.

A base layer of Copic, ProMarker and Chafford markers with some finer detail followed with my vintage Mars Chroma coloured pencils by Staedtler. Used a black UniPin fine line I defined the staff, orc & altar and popped them and the beard of fire with a line of white UniBall Signo. I also used some coloured gel pens to define the top of the hedges and the branches surrounding the altar. 'Amazing Orc and the Beard of Fire'...

Thoroughly enjoyed this challenge as it's always good to work on something different from my usual themes. Fingers crossed then, I've been eyeing up the Wacom Intuos to try some digital drawing.