Schedule 7

The 5 hour contour killed me. That just dragged on. I started ok thinking - draw slowly. Then 2 hours later, I honestly ran out of stuff to draw, and I have a messy desk with a lot of stuff. I cut the session short on the last hour. I just couldn't bear to do it. I should probably practice this one as I am still not slowing down enough, but the pain!

I have also started to sketch the daily composition in pencil and go over with ink once I am more certain where I want the lines.

5 hour contouor

Modelled ink

Schedule 6

I am so bad at the right angle studies, but they are also so interesting. I would like to get good at it, and can definitely see the merit in it. I mainly rely on images on the internet for most of these exercises (which is not ideal, but I am assuming it's better than not doing the exercises). There are some sites with 3D models/scans, which is fairly good for the right angle studies. For instance, SketchFab (there are some free models, though I don't think there are many free human models) and Bodies In Motion (3D scans of people, but require membership/payment). Nicolaides has also said it's good to do the right angle study with objects, which I need to get around to doing. 

I don't think I really understood instructions for the watercolour modelled drawing. I ended up consulting the comments on this blog post on how it works, and I think it seems to work a bit better towards the end. I initially tried to treat it like a watercolour painting, which is not the point of the exercise at all.

Schedule 5

I'm 20% of the way through!

The modelled ink initially started off being an absolute pain, as per usual for the contour part of the exercise. It was only on the 3rd day that I realized - I am holding the pen incorrectly. In hindsight it should have been obvious, but if the drawing board and tilted towards you, there is the tendency to hold the pen almost horizontally (or even tilted upwards). That is not useful for the ink to be drawn out by gravity. After that little revelation, it was a lot smoother. I quite like the outcome from the modelled ink to be fair - it does look sort of 3D. The process somewhat reminds me of 3D pen. I've also recently started to read through anatomy books and that really helps keeping things interesting when scribbling away. The act of trying to identify and "feel" the muscle/bone bumps was good.

Daily composition is good, though I think maybe doing 4 from memory + 1 from imagination per day might be a bit of an overkill. Still managing it so far. I guess one of the problems with the composition from memory is that I remember vague scenes from many incidences, but none of them super clearly. I hope I am not stretching myself too thin. It feels that it's been easier to remember many scenes. I usually remember about 6 or 7, though the "ordinary" scenes (such as people having a picnic, couple walking amongst trees) are harder for me to remember.

Schedule 4

Memory drawing is so tough!

I quite enjoyed the other ones (though they're a little difficult with online photos rather than life drawing models), especially the descriptive pose. The descriptive pose and the reverse pose really forces you to think rather than just copy, which I think is much required for me. Sometimes my brain just wonder off when I am doing gesture drawing. The group pose is quite fun - I have never considered looking at the group as a connected unit and I think that conveys a better flow.

I re-read the daily composition exercise and think I missed a little bit of the instruction - I believe the exercise wants you to place the figure in relation to its surroundings, whereas I have been mainly trying to remember the figure, and just fill in the surrounding roughly from what I remember/imagined. However, I think we're suppose to see the whole thing as a unit, like the group pose. I try to pay more attention to the surrounding of the subject now.

Schedule 3

I didn't quite understand the weighted drawing, though when it moved to modelled drawing, it eventually made sense. Strangely, it does feel like you got a lump of clay and you're trying to push your hand/the side of the crayon to shape what you see. Initially I had a hard time trying to slow down enough to span through the full duration of the time allocated - I ended up finding more complex image so I got more stuff to work on for longer. However, the more I fully internalised the idea that I am molding something that is almost like clay, the more I can slow down as I would sit back and just stare at the picture to try to understand which bits are rounded/flat. I started pressing in one end of the side of the crayon, almost like using a sculpting tool, to shape what's on the page into what I see. One huge benefit that I noticed from this exercise is that now when I see things, I think of them as 3D volumes much more so than before - for a long time I think in 2D when I draw.

I have been doing 4 daily 24hr memory compositions + 1 imaginary composition everyday. It has been immensely fun. It's also been the drive for me to go out and run around in the park. Perhaps 4 daily sketches is a bit much. We'll see.

 

Schedule 2

I just finished the second week's schedule. Blind contour is a pain. I really struggled to draw slow enough for making only one drawing in the 1 hour session. The feeling of touching the contour is usually a fleeting moment that occurs here and there. However, I think some of the exercise has rubbed off on me; I have noticed that I am better at following the contour of shapes when I look at them now though instead of letting my gaze darting to random points of interest on the subject.

I paused the exercises for a few days while waiting on the art materials for the 3rd week's schedule. This post great for buying the material ahead of schedule.

http://www.naturalwaytodraw.com/2011/03/essential-art-supplies-for-natural-way.html

I decided to do a sneaky start on the daily composition after watching Chris Beaven's daily progress https://cbeaven.com/ . It's a fantastic blog and really gets me all fired up. I am loving the daily compositions - it really gets me paying more attention to everything around me.

Starting the Natural Way to Draw by Nicolaides

I started to follow the schedules in the book "the Natural way to Draw" by Nicolaides this week. Done the first 5 days.

 

I am still not entirely surer that I understood the contour and cross contour exercise. When my eyes stop being as focused, I can sort of "drag" my view with my pencil. But I only very occasionally feel like my pencil is touching the contour. I have found that I am getting better at concentrating on following the contour though, so hopefully it will improve. I tend to do contour drawing of my face with a mirror, and the drawings from contour drawing are so awful it makes me giggle each time.

 

Gesture drawing is just fun. I am struggling a little with finding enough things in the house to draw it from life, so mixed in half photos, half Warhammer models.