Week Ten: Lines, Shapes, Form

The students who joined SLV Sketchers for the first time last week did an AMAZING job of catching up on basic skills. It was back to the basics of lines, shapes, and form for returning students. It was great to see you sit down and confidently get to work. I'll continue working with each of you in developing the fundamentals as well as your own style of drawing.

All of you got a great start on your Picasso still life drawing last Friday. Continue with finishing it this week. And if you have time, you can jump into this week's drawing challenge.

This week's Challenge is Fernand Leger's 'Le Cycleste'. Click here
Shaylah, Elvis, and Gage are to do this challenge without using grid lines. :)

Here's the reference picture for the manga/anime challenge: Click here

I'll bring the camera to take a picture of everyone in front of the SLV Sketchers 'Wall of Fame'. I'll see all of you on Friday! --Rob

p.s. Remember, click on your drawings to see a larger view.

Shaylah

Your line work in both drawings is awesome! I can see that you've taken the time to draw light guidelines for accurate proportions of the tiger and the manga/anime girl. The darker contour lines are very well drawn too.Excellent how you went for the challenge of drawing the girl without the grid lines. Great job on the overall proportions of her head. You did a very good job of using tones to show the different values of gray. The reflections in her hair are a nice touch. Compare your drawing of the tiger to the reference picture. How does the size of the hair around its face compare to the circular shape of the head? Check the contour lines that show the edge of the girl's forehead and nose. Are the curves the same?


I included your pencil warm up and frog studies to show that you've gained a lot of control over the weeks. I also see a lot of confidence in how quickly you laid down guidelines of the large shapes of the frog before finishing with darker outlines.

Elvis

Excellent line work on these drawings, Elvis! You're constantly improving your ability to look at things and then draw them accurately. When I compare your drawing to the reference picture, the overall details and proportions of the tiger are VERY well drawn! You've drawn wonderful contour lines for the overall form of the manga/anime girl, especially the hair. Nice use of tones to show different values of gray for the hair. Check the size of girl's face compared to the hair when you look at the reference picture.

Gage

Great job of drawing the overall proportions of the girl! I like how you softened the contour lines of the hair--different than your usual bold-line style :) The shading of the hair around her face and under her chin does an excellent job of showing the 3D form of the girl. Compare your drawing to the reference picture. Check the size of the face compared to the hair. Is it the same? Your own style of drawing really shows in the tiger picture. I like how you kept accurate proportions in mind while distorting various facial features.


Glad you were able to finish the van Gogh drawing. The perspective of the road is well drawn. Great job of scaling down the size of the trees in the distance, giving lots of depth to the picture. I like how you drew heavy lines for the tree branches and texture of the trunks. Nice use of gray tones. I also included your frog sketches because it's cool that you're doing several looser sketches to study your subject matter. Keep drawing those light guidelines before going dark.

Keeley

You've worked hard to catch up on the 8 weeks of work other students have been doing. Fantastic progress! You're showing a lot of confidence in the contour lines drawn for the form of the manga/anime girl. Overall, the proportions of her face and hair are very well-drawn. Compare your drawing to the reference picture. Is the size of the eye the same? The frog and tiger study sketches show your determination to capture accurate proportions. Keep on doing lots of sketches. Did you do a finished drawing of the tiger? It wasn't in the stack at the end of class.


Your van Gogh drawing is excellent, Keeley! Great job on the angled perspective of the street and scaling down of trees in the distance. The figures are well-drawn and scaled down nicely to add a lot of depth to the composition. The darker tree branches in the foreground and lighter gray tones in the background is also a great way to add depth. I like how you've drawn the textures of the trees and the tones to show different gray values.

Leif

I like how you're diving in and doing lots of sketching and measuring of proportions. Your drawing is showing lots of improvement, Leif! Both versions of the manga/anime girl look great. You did a really fine job of drawing the contour lines for the hair and her facial features. Take a moment to compare both of your drawings of the girl. Now compare them to the reference picture. Which one shows a more accurate measurment of the distance from the back of her hair to the edge of her chin? Great job on the proportions of the tiger's face, escpecially the distance between the ears. Hey! You left out a few important details, like the whiskers and fur around the face :)

Gia

Hey Gia! Great start with the SLV Sketchers! You're catching up fast on learning to sketch guidelines and darker contour lines. Excellent how you sketched lots of shapes until you got the final form of the frog. Nice job of overlapping the front legs over the back legs, giving depth to the picture. Great start with the van Gogh drawing. I know that the van Gogh was a challenge for you coming into the class. But you rebounded and did an EXCELLENT job on drawing the form of the manga/anime girl. The overall proportions of her face and hair well-drawn. Nice start with adding gray tones and reflection in the hair. Keep on sketching!

Doug

Welcome to SLV Sketchers! You're off to a flying start. You have a good eye for detail and accurate proportions. You've done an excellent job drawing contour lines for the form of her hair and face. I really like how you've drawn the fullness and texture of the hair--very natural looking. The different values of gray in the hair look really good.When comparing your drawing to the reference picture, does the size of her face, compared to the hair, look accurate? Excellent job at drawing the shapes for the frog. Lots of very good details. I noticed, in class last week, that you began to loosen up your drawing hand and arm to start drawing guidelines for the big shapes of your composition. Keep working on sketching freer, longer lines when laying down the basic shapes of what you're drawing.

Kayla

Welcome to SLV Sketchers, Kayla! Your pencil warm ups show that you have a lot of control over your pencil lines... a great foundation for building your drawing skills. You're off to a great start in class with your tiger drawing. Nice outlines showing the form of the tiger's face. The stripes show contours of the cheeks. Compare your drawing to the reference picture. Are the ears the same size? Is the distance between the eyes the same? Keep practicing sketching light guidelines for the shapes of things before finishing with darker outlines.

Tiana

Welcome to SLV Sketchers, Tiana! You're off to a VERY good start with your drawing of the tiger. You've drawn excellent overall proportions of the head and facial features. You did a fantastic job of drawing contour lines for details such as the hair around the face, stripes, and nose. Compare your drawing to the reference picture. Are the size of the eyes the same? You've got knack for drawing nice outlines and contour lines. Keep drawing! :)

Our Teachers!

It's been awesome having both of you helping out in class and drawing with the students. Your drawing skills, especially with shading and accurate proportions is making a BIG impact on how SLV sketchers are improving their drawing.


Hilda
Wonderful drawing of the manga/anime girl! Your diligent efforts in sketching accurate proportions are producing excellent results. The contour lines for the hair and face are very well drawn. They show the 3D form of the girl. You did a great job of blending gray tones, especially under the chin and around the neck, creating lots of depth in the picture. Cool tiger!

Your van Gogh drawing is Excellent!!!!! Your shading and line work come together to make a wonderful composition.

Patty

Excellent job in drawing the manga/anime girl!!!! and...

a drum roll please....

your van Gogh drawing...


You REALLY put all of your drawing skills together on this one, Patty! Your subtle gray tones tie all your line work together. The composition shows lots of realistic depth. Way cool!

This Week's Challenge: Fernand Leger

'Le Cycleste' (click for larger view for drawing)

Fernand Leger (1881-1955) was an important modern artist in France who, like Pablo Picasso, experimented with the art style called cubism (like the Picasso still life you just completed).