/ic/ - Artwork/Critique

I don't do much timed figure drawing, I just kinda sketch. I never felt like I got much out of extremely tiny time slots like 30 seconds or 60 seconds. I did do tons of 2 minute sketches in the past though.

My process is just blocking in shapes and then draw on top of that. Quick figure drawing, imo, is not really where you learn form and anatomy, it's more like a way to learn posing and also review what you know about the figure. It's a form of active recall, because you're forced to fill in the blanks when drawing so quickly. Quick sketching almost serves as a bridge from studying Bridgman / Morpho / Master copies, into drawing from imagination.

I used to be a very strict Vilppu adherent and I'd draw in only spheres and boxes, but my figures came out looking very artificial and weird. I think, as long as you get in massive amounts of studies from life and masters, it doesn't really matter how you approach the figure. Many great artists don't do boxes and cylinders anymore, and they just sketch in outlines because they've already internalized the anatomy from every angle. It sounds like everything Vilppu says you shouldn't do, but even Vilppu works this way often. He's plopping in contour lines and shadow shapes and anatomy all at once, because that's just the natural way to draw after you've had so much experience.

tl;dr idk anymore. just draw a lot