The Past Two Weeks

I decided to post my drawings from the past two weeks as one, mainly because I only got a couple of drawings per session that I want to post up. The shapes and forms are coming along much better these days, along with my edge quality. I am almost starting to think that all these drawing I have been doing are starting to pay off. The last class we were only working on three minute drawings and I kept wishing I had just two more minutes on some of them. Two weeks ago we we doing 8 minute drawings allowing more full body sketches. I did not apply any shading to the drawings, I was mostly concentrating on the line and edge placement of the anatomy. Hopefully when I get more time on the drawings my edges will rock, and the shading will only harmonize with the forms I have edged in. One step at a time.

Al Capone 3D Head Model

Here is another head model that is based on the Reilly planes of the face. This mode of Al Capone was actually completed before the other head I posed up. You will notice that from this head to the last head I have applied more of the Reilly planes, and I will continue to due to and refine the actual mesh layout until it is almost flawless, then I may have to write a book on this topic so that the 3D community can except/reject these modeling methods. So far the feedback I am getting though is quite positive, everyone is always looking for new techniques and I think I think I may have found one.

Drawing and Anatomy: Quarter Start

I started back up last week sitting in on the Drawing and Anatomy class again, but since it was day one we did not get much drawing time and did mostly only warm ups. These drawing were from week 2, yesterday. I am getting better line work and still focusing on the body layout, I was putting extra attention into the workings of the knee and elbow. Hope you enjoy!

Over Break: The Head Model

Since there was no class this week, due to the break in between quarters, I decided to take my knowledge of the Reilly method as it applies to the head and put my full knowledge into a 3d head study. I am happy with the results, the last head modeled I really only focused on the planes in the cheeks and the forehead of the face. This model I took extra care to add in add the planer lines throughout the face, paying close attention to the overlapping surfaces. I took a render and tried to show the flow of the polys, check it out:

Advanced Anatomy: Last Session This Quarter

These are the drawings I completed yesterday. It was the last drawing day of the Advanced Anatomy class. I noticed a lot of improvement this quarter. I like drawing with charcoal, and even my gestures have more form and shape than before. I am excited to sit in on the Drawing and Anatomy class, again, next quarter. But in the mean time here are the drawings, they include my warm ups, a head study (Kevin pointed out that the mouth was low, I have noticed I have an issue with mouth placement so I think that next quarter I will work hard on that.) and a couple of body studies focusing on the Reilly under structure.

Advanced Anatomy: 2 Days Ago

This post will finally catch me up. These drawing are from two days ago. Once again my focus was on further understanding the Reilly Method, focusing on the body layout. My goal will be to be able to draw in both the head and body layouts without any reference in six months. I know that seems like a while, but remember I will also be focusing on 3D at the same time and can not completely focus on this project, so I think six months is a perfect time frame for that goal.

Advanced Anatomy: Head Studies

I am almost finished posting up all the archives that I have completed. These drawings were from last week, so very current to what I am producing today. The focus was on heads, I got some fun results this session. Hope you enjoy!

Advanced Anatomy: Post II

Here are some more drawings building upon the previous weeks. This week I aslo decided to stop by the open workshop on saturday.

Advanced Anatomy: Using the Reilly Method

This will probably go down in history as the moment I re-gave my career focus. I had been pushing myself in 3D for 13 years, now it is time to push myself back into the more traditional methods and marry them with the digital age. Looking into the Reilly method, I decided to try out the Frank Reilly body structure, and to look at how it could be used to poly model. So far there are only a couple of lines that will transfer with ease, but I have only just begun. These are also the first drawings using this method. NOTE: At this time the structures are incomplete, I did not understand all the elements that went in so I used the simplified Reilly under structure.

The Start of Advanced Anatomy

Here are some drawings from the start of the Advanced Anatomy class. Viewing my progress from Drawing and Anatomy to Advanced Anatomy, I am getting more shape and form. Better shading, and most important I am fighting the charcoal pencil less and less. These are also the last set of drawing before I really started to try to understand the Reilly Method. There are three weeks of drawings in this post; two female models and a male model.

Wrapping up Drawing and Anatomy

Here is the result of the last session of Drawing and Anatomy. I found myself really looking forward to these drawing sessions by the end of the quarter, and I decided to keep with it. I cleared my schedule so that I could continue on with the Advanced Anatomy class next quarter. I still fight the pencil, but I have gotten back into the grove and hopefully soon I can take the step to the next level.

FYI - In between the Drawing for Anatomy and the Advanced Anatomy classes I took what I learned and applied it to 3D. I modeled, to date, the best head I have ever completed. I followed the flow of the planes of the face and ended up with amazing results. I used to have a hard time getting those cheek bones to pop, but not anymore! I will share these results in the future, but I think it is pre-mature. I have only successfully transferred over 3 of the planes of the face from paper to poly, so when I get a couple more I will make sure to write up a nice tutorial on the workflow.

Here are the drawings:

My Introduction to the Frank Reilly Method

This was a very important week for me, not only did I get some good results, I was introduced to the Frank Reilly drawing method for the first time. The class was given a handout that broke the face into the planes and angles that make up the face. With my heavy 3D background I saw them as the poly edges and edge flow for a human head model. I was very excited and ran home and tried it out on an old model. The result inspired me to start this long quest to convert Frank Reilly planes of the face and body over to 3D modeling. I even remember hearing a student tell Kevin (the instructor) is is to bad you can not just do this in 3D, I instantly turned and stated that you could, you just needed to learn how. 3D is just another "pencil", just like I was/am fighting the charcoal, most people fight the poly.

These drawings took place over two weeks. Note the female model is the same as my first post, that should give you a peek at how I have progressed over the first couple of months.

Drawing and Anatomy: Leg Studies

Knocking the Rust Off

Here are some of the drawing I was working on in the first couple of weeks of the Drawing and Anatomy class. I started loosening up a bit, and most important I started to understand how to use charcoal. Still was still fighting the pencil though, but my shapes and forms started to appear.

Here are a couple of the gestures I likes from these sessions:

Start of Class

I am going to have to play catch up right now. I have about 5 months of progress that I need to post up. These were the rest of the drawings that I completed in the first couple weeks of the Drawing and Anatomy class. I was still rusty, but these drawing do show were my bodies have come from. The other issue I came across was the medium, charcoal pencils. I never used them before, I did try charcoal when I was younger but hated it. But that is what the class called for. So I stepped out of my comfort zone and forced myself to try it and stay with it. In all reality I am still fighting charcoal out but I am liking it more.

The Starting Point

I re-started life drawing about 5 months ago. One of the requirements for the Master's Degree was a portfolio that included elements from 3D characters and environments to life drawings. The issue is I have not attempted a life drawing since I was in college. So to put it lightly I was very rusty. Luckily, at the Art Institute of Las Vegas, there are life drawing classes and an open workshop. I came to one of the open workshops at AiLV and managed to get a couple of "ok" drawings. Kevin Anderson, one of the life drawing instructors at AiLV, told me that I should sit in on his Drawing and Anatomy class, and that it would change my life (as far as drawing goes). I committed myself to going and soon would be introduced to the Frank Reilly methods for drawing, and I have not looked back since.

Here is a drawing from that first session, we all need a starting point.