Fantasy Head - Skull with Horns

I've not been able to sketch for a few days, evidently I still need to work on my time management skills and keep sketching as a priority. So when I got some time today I did some quick warm-up sketches and then settled down to sketching a combination of some of the anatomy studies from previous posts and sketching from my imagination.

I'm still working on sketching the head from different angles so I decided to start with the skull, tilted back and with the mouth open.

I'm sketching the skull from face-on and I want symmetry to play a role in the design

I'm not sure yet if I'll leave the head completely skeletal or whether I'll add on muscle and tissue. At this stage I'm just enjoying sketching and letting my imagination take the image wherever it can go.

The shape of the skull can be a little tricky from this angle and I'm finding I'm having to sketch and re-sketch the jaw bone to get it right.

I've sketched and sculpted many interpretations of Aries characters in the past so I think that's influencing this sketch. I also love the process of sketching the patterns of grooves and lines that build up the form and texture of horns because I don't have to be accurate with it, I can just make it up freehand!

Time has beaten me again, but at least I got started on another sketch and this is one I'm looking forward to  returning to - I have no idea where this one will take me right now!

Anatomy Exercise 2

Continuing the anatomy sketching from a few days back I'm focusing on the head and neck today. Using the mechanical pencil that I carry with me I wanted to do a few quick sketches of the head from different angles.

Having sketched the skull repeatedly I've noticed I'm not only quicker at drawing the basic head shape but also far more comfortable with the positioning of the facial features from a variety of angles.

With the practice I can quickly render the head but I realise I'm still lacking in my knowledge of the muscles of the head and neck.

This understanding of the muscles is imperative when forming facial expressions and so my ability is still greatly limited by the gaps in my knowledge.

The reference materials I have made studying the spine a challenge, they are not entirely clear and nothing beats being able to draw from direct observation. But I can still glean a lot of information just by trying to re-create what I see, my mind has to analyse how the bones may fit together.

 

 

I'm keeping in mind a concept for a future sculpt so really getting to grips with the form and structure of the spine is going to be important. 

Having a variety of sources of reference can help piece together what you may not automatically be able to see. One source I try to use are picture reference books that contain photos rather than other people's drawings, so as to limit working from someone else's interpretation.

So now I have another go at putting the skull on top of the spine. I'm not sure how anatomically correct my sketch is at this time but my drawing's become more confident!

Next time I shall go back and look at the muscles in this part of the body and try and establish a better understanding of the bones that make up the top part of the spine. But in the meantime I'm noticing I have a far more comfortable approach to sketching than I had when I first started the blog. By trying to instill some discipline in sketching on a regular basis, and committing to putting the results up on the blog, I'm definitely seeing the benefits within the first two weeks.

Quick Character Sketch

Just a couple of quick sketches today. I thought I'd revisit one of the character heads I've sketched in the past for a sculpture. As I've mentioned before I had a habit of merely sketching the heads from only one angle - face on - and filling in the blanks with my imagination as I sculpted the character in 3D. So today I decided to quickly sketch the head from four different angles.

So I start with the outline of the basic head shape, measure out where the facial features sit, remember to put the eyes halfway on the face, although the eyes are disproportionally large; this is intentional.

I sketch the lines across the paper so that the next sketch lines up with the first and the measurements remain consistent. This time I sketch the head at a slightly turned angle.

I had a tendency to misalign the features when the head is slightly turned but the practice is paying off, I only have to re-draw the mouth, everything else gets put in the right place first time!

Again sketching the measuring lines across the page I sketch the head from the side this time. This angle is an easy one. I won't sketch it from the other side because the hair pretty much blocks out the face.

The back is slightly trickier because I'm trying to show more structure and form in the hair, but I don't think I've represented it accurately.

 

So that's the quick character sketch from four angles.

Doh!

Well I said I would post both the good and the bad attempts at sketching that I'm trying to produce on a daily basis. So today's efforts fall into the 'bad' category. And it was going so well!

 

So I picked back up on yesterday's sketch of the 'Skeleton Heads' with the intention of creating more solid forms using shading techniques. Things started off okay, although I'm not sure the reflections on the glasses are right.

Using a black Biro pen and putting down light, cross-hatching lines to build up a smooth, blended surface I went about trying to give the sketch 3D form so that the skull looks solid. Not as brilliant as I would like but not going too badly at this point.

So this is where things start to go wrong. Now I have to admit I was partly focused on the drawing and partly focused on researching something on the laptop whilst I was drawing, and I could make the excuse that that would account for my poor effort. But even though I'm obviously not great at combining two different tasks at once, the mistake in the drawing is really just down to my own stupidity; I should've known better given that I've studied this a million times before! Can you spot the mistake yet?

 

Yup, I've gone and drawn two different light sources in one sketch. Doh!

It took me a while to realise, the light is definitely ambiguous but when you look at the hands the light falling on them just doesn't make sense. And the side of the upper head would be light, not dark. Unless there's a light floating around between the two heads! So because I wasn't concentrating I dropped the ball. As I said before, Doh!

Skeleton Heads

After beginning to work on what will be a series of anatomy studies to improve my figure drawing and hopefully, in turn, my sculpting, I continued today with sketching skulls from different viewpoints.

 

By trying to draw the skull from a different angle I’m trying to build discipline into my sketching, pushing myself to be able to design characters from all angles rather than just sketching them from face on and resting on my imagination to fill in the gaps.

By working up the tonal values on each sketch I reflect more on the form of the skull, the planes that make up the 3D object and how they translate onto the 2D sheet of paper, more so than if I just leave it at a line drawing. 

By sketching and re-sketching the skull over and over again it does become easier to place the skull in space at whatever angle I want, I’m not as adept as I’d like to be, but the practice is paying off.

 

The drawing looks more relaxed and I’m finding that I have fewer tendencies to distort the facial features when I change the angle from face on. It’s not perfect but there’s definitely improvement, which one would hope given I am sketching almost daily now!

Feeling a boost of confidence I decide to go for it! I’m placing two ‘Skeleton Heads’ interacting, a sketch to be worked up into more of a drawing. I’m creating the line drawing using the mechanical pencil that I’ve been getting more comfortable with, but I’m not sure yet what other drawing materials I’ll use to work the drawing up with. The sketchpad I’m using is a Strathmore 300 Series Drawing pad with a medium surface (11” x 14’ and 104 g/m ²).

The second skull is a little trickier than the first and I think it’s because the viewpoint is from slightly below, another Achilles’ Heel I seem to have when it comes to drawing! But by keeping the pencil marks light and sketching, erasing and re-sketching the lines, eventually it looks better.

I’m using the whole sheet of sketchbook paper, a much larger drawing than I’ve done so far so that I’m not trying to draw the detail in cramped spaces. I worked out the composition beforehand, keeping the sketch simple in design.

Hands are not my strongest point but I want more interaction between the two skeleton heads than just their eyeline so I decide to put skeletal hands into the drawing. I’m not sure about their proportions compared with the heads now that I look back at the sketch, but if you knew how long it takes me to draw hands you’ll let that one go! Hands are on my anatomy ‘to do’ list. 

It may be clichéd but anytime I think of scientific study of skulls I see spectacles. I wore spectacles my entire childhood before I discovered contact lenses and everyone always commented on how ‘studious’ I looked, so maybe that’s where the mental connection comes from.

The spectacles were definitely in the wrong place, and as I’ve already asked for some consideration on the over-sized hands I figured I should correct the spectacles!

So that’s the basic composition sketched out, I don’t think it needs anymore detail added so it just remains to work the drawing up in tonal values which will have to wait until tomorrow.

Anatomy Exercise 1

The last few days have shown me that I need to revisit the subject of anatomy so I'm going to try and build some disciplined study into my daily sketching, it can't be all fun! Not being sure where to start I figured that, as I prefer to do portraits, I should start with the head. Thankfully I still have a lot of the study resources given to me as a student but there are also a lot of books on anatomy available both from an art as well as a science perspective that are designed for this kind of study.

My intention is to retrace steps taken ages ago to refresh my memory and understanding and to strengthen the link between my brain and drawing hand so that it will hopefully improve my figure drawing. I'm sticking with a mechanical pencil to sketch with, partly through laziness (I don't have to keep sharpening it). I 'm getting more and more used to sketching with it, which helps as it's usually the only drawing tool I carry regularly, other than a Biro pen. I'm trying to become disciplined at carrying my sketchbook with me at all times as I used to when I was a student although I'm not sure where I'm going to put it on my motorbike!

I know the overall shape of the skull really well in my mind's eye but as I start sketching it I realise my memory has gaps when it comes to the fine details. Without looking again at the study materials I know I would measure some of the features wrong, such as making the overall skull too wide. Or putting too many teeth in! I have a real problem when it comes to drawing sequences of things and have to count out the teeth very carefully.

This side view in particular can catch me out, the placing of the mandible for example, I would probably have put it a little further forward. Going back over things we think we know can often show us that our memories are unreliable when it comes to the details. 

So now that I've become familiar again with the parts of the skull I try and sketch the skull from different angles, as I previously noted in my second post 'Drawing is harder than sculpting!' that I had gotten completely out of practice when it comes to drawing the head from different viewpoints.

 

Sketching from slightly behind the skull  I think on this sketch I've drawn the nasal bone showing a little too much.

The skull is turned away more because the other side of the mandible is showing, so you wouldn't be able to see that much of the nasal bone, I think.

I find this angle particularly challenging, so the only solution I know of is to keep sketching it!

When I'm trying to draw the head from this angle - slightly turned away from face-on - I have a tendency to twist the facial features, and it seems I can do it to the skull too, I'm still not happy with this one. Practice, practice, practice! 

Architectural Sculpture - P,G & E building Part 2

Today I'm sketching the other side of the architectural sculpture on the Pacific Gas and Electric Company's building in San Francisco. Yesterday I struggled with the sketch on several different levels; drawing the human form because my knowledge of anatomy needs work, getting a better likeness on the face and getting the hands to look realistic. I had a disadvantage in that the photo was not of the best quality but still, with practice, I could do better. I also ran out of sketchbook space because I'd drawn the head too big. So today I've started by roughly sketching out the portion of the sculpture that I want to draw. to make sure I can fit it on the page.

Next I've plotted out the main shadows to help me create the form of the figure. Using a mechanical pencil with 0.5mm lead I build light layers of cross-hatching lines, trying to mimic the shapes of the shadows on the body.

The light on the sculpture is coming from many different directions; the sculpture is set back into the building but the stone is light in colour and reflects the light as well as light reflected by the buildings, cars etc in front of the sculpture. This reflected and diffused light makes it a little harder to see the shadows clearly rather than if there was only one light source but that's the challenge of sketching from a photo taken in this kind of light.

 

By roughly shading in the shapes of the shadows on the figure I start to get a better feel for the form and the sketch starts to look a bit more solid. He's by no means perfect but it's a better sketch than yesterday, so hopefully I'm making progress!

 

After adding in some sketchy detail to the surrounding building it becomes apparent that the figure is too even in tonal values and doesn't stand out enough. I'm realising more and more that the quality of the photo combined with the evident weathering on the sculpture is making it harder to distinguish detail on the figure, and with my need for more practice at figure drawing this possibly wasn't the best resource material I could have chosen!

 

After picking out the darker shadows on the figure and laying down more pencil in those areas the sculptured figure starts to look a bit more solid and fitting in with its surroundings. I'm going to leave it at this stage and focus more on anatomy than sculptured figures, I need to refresh and boost my knowledge, but on the whole I'm fairly happy with the sketch.

Architectural Sculpture - P,G & E building

A while back when I was on vacation in San Francisco I photographed a lot of the architectural sculpture that adorns the city's buildings and in particular the Pacific Gas and Electric Company's building. So when I was browsing back through my holiday snaps I came across these figures which caught my eye, although I'm not sure the photo does them justice, and chose the one on the left for today's sketch. I've already noted previously that I need more practice drawing figures and heads from different angles and as the angle is from below I thought this would make a good exercise.

The photo I used was not the best reference material but I thought the subject was worth using a little artistic license to achieve a reasonable sketch. I started with the head which I drew too small and had to re-sketch it a little bigger. Unfortunately I ended up with the head being too big but I'll get to that later.

 

The shadows were the most visible detail on the photo so I decided to plot out the features using the shadow shapes first; basically I focus on the outline of the shapes the shadows make and draw these instead of the outline for, say, the eyes.

I continued that process until I had a rough plan of the features.

I sketched using just a mechanical pencil at this point. The effect this had was to limit the range of tonal values I could achieve from light to dark which can make the drawing appear a little flat with not much depth. But often when I have a sketchbook to hand I don't have a range of drawing materials, usually just the mechanical pencil or a Biro pen, so it's worth practicing with these tools to improve my skills, enabling me to capture what I see realistically or however I intend to represent it..

There's a fair bit of weathering and discolouration on the sculpture which makes it hard to see the detail, but my skills are lacking when it comes to sketching stone-carved hair.

Rather than just sketching the figure on its own I decided to work outwards and fill in the surrounding detail. Using reference points around the head I was able to outline the arm, which was foreshortened so I had to take care to get the length, thickness and angle right. Often, to help myself see if it is right, I'll draw a line around the limb as if I'm cutting a cross-section out and that enables me to see more easily the direction the limb is following.

I built up the darker shades by using hatching and cross-hatching lines and then blending more lines into the darkest parts to create the form. The neck is not quite right and I think it's because of the twist of the neck, I just couldn't adequately represent the muscle as it twisted. I need more practice with anatomy!

The arm is bunched up as the right hand rests on top of the left, and the view from underneath the sculpture makes the elbow look bigger in surface than it would normally look. I have a tendency to let my brain rule my eyesight and reduce what I see to match what I think I expect to see and so I have to look and look again to remind myself that the arm at that point is thicker than normal. I also struggle to draw hands with any great skill, it's always been my weak point and even though these took a long time and I'm still not happy with them.

Next I concentrated on the stonework around the sculpture and, laying a sheet of clean paper over the sketch so as not to smudge it, I turned the sketchbook almost upside down to draw the curves of the stone blocks. I did this because, for me, it is easier to draw a curve rising upwards away from me than trying to get my hand to curve downwards and turn in on itself. I'll often turn the sketchbook to make it easier to draw a curve; there's no point making things harder than they have to be!

 

I used the pencil in light sweeping motions to sketch the lines that create the shading of the stonework. Although the stonework is light in comparison to parts of the sculpture I needed to eradicate the white from the paper and find the right tone to make the stonework look as it it's behind the sculpture.

I added a little pen to darken around the eyes and face as it looked a little flat, but I'm not sure that I've improved it at all. Because I initially sketched the head a little larger it resulted in my not being able to fit much if the sculpture on the sketchpad, so I've only sketched a tiny portion of the overall image. Doh! The likeness of the face to the sculpture isn't as good as I would have liked and I need more practice with anatomy, and in particular hands. Having said all that I'm happy with the form and detail I've achieved with the mechanical pencil in what was a fairly quick sketch.