/jp/ - Otaku Culture

>>10959920

I recommend doing research and reference from multiple places, do not use just one artist or "method" Look to artists like Hogarth for sense of movement etc. Even look at cartooning stuff they really give a sense of life to an image. Do not discount Loomis though, just use him as one of many to learn/steal from.

To start simply I would use simple shapes to build the human from with. This way you are working in volume and should be able to keep a sense of depth to the work. I think hogarth's dynamic figure drawing touches on this. He does go a bit further than simple spheres, cylinders, and rectangles. In time these shapes will help in structuring your work and should become automatic without drawing it. The importance of this is so you can visualize in 3d, to see how a shape crossing another will affect it in light and shadow. Not to mention the obvious of posing and foreshortening.

Do not let any method become a crutch.

While you grasp the technical side of anatomy or proportions, start learning to work in value. This should help with getting more punch into the painting. This will later work with the learning of volume since you can later on paint directly on canvas with value then flesh out detail without ever placing any guide lines.

Do many, many drawings. Avoid large time consuming projects. Having one or two is fine but in between crank out the doodles. All the large projects to is lock you down and slow advancement.

Do not get lost in the technicalities, dynamic form and flow are just as important as accuracy and detail. Google figure drawing you should find some good examples of FLAT drawings that have all the technical bits right but lack any sense of depth or reality.