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Message
Posted
Hi,
I'd just like to say hello to everyone. I'm a software engineer by trade, but I've decided to take up drawing as a hobby to keep myself sane during lockdown. I'm learning off a video course on The Great Courses, which is starting me off with a few projects to help learn drawing in perspective. I think texture, etc. are topics for later. I'd be grateful if anyone has any comments to make about my latest pic (below) - it's a picture of the bottom of my staircase. For obvious reasons, most of my pictures have been of items around my house. Also - does anyone know of a nice distance learning course, or video series it would be worth my while investigating? I'm an almost absolute beginner, and have only been drawing for a month or two.
Thanks,
Simon
Posted
Hello Simon,
That's a good representation of your staircase. How about putting something in front of you, on the table, and having a go at that. Could be anything ...a few spoons, a plant, a piece of fruit. Squint your eyes and see where the light and dark is. Before you start, see just what your pencil can do - it can do lots more than straight lines. You tube will have lots of ideas. The main thing is " have fun!"
Posted
Hi Simon, I think your staircase is very good. There is a sketching post on here and I didn't do any drawing until I came across this post and now I sketch all the time. You should put your staircase on it. It encourages you to keep up your drawing and people are happy to help. You can get some good ideas there also. As Marjorie has said, the main thing is, have fun. By the way, I was teaching myself and have learned a lot from the site. there are community video's that are very useful for beginners, I use them all the time.
Edited
by Denise Cat
Posted
A good line drawing.
What do you want to draw most is, I suppose, the question to ask about courses: there is the Charles Bargue (spelling?) course on figure drawing; there are several instructional videos on YouTube, plus books and dvd's - just Google drawing tuition. And there are some videos on this site, if you click on 'Community' in the bar at the top of the page. I have taught, but not for a Hell of a long time or I'd offer myself; what you want though is a good, structured course, to take you in stages to your ultimate goal (there's always a step beyond that); the Open University/their arts department? Were you thinking of a paid-for course, with continuing tuition support? There's quite a lot of options out there - it does depend on your specific requirements, though.
Posted
Just sampled another online course by Raw Umber Studios on Facebook. It was quite good and got us to draw a 5 min pose, then a 20 min one and the 30 mins. All portraits of the same model. It used the method of finding the main shapes of shadows and the refine it. Quite good. They do 2 free classes a week. It was good to get some portrait practice as I’ve missed it in lockdown.
Posted
Hello Simon, That's a good representation of your staircase. How about putting something in front of you, on the table, and having a go at that. Could be anything ...a few spoons, a plant, a piece of fruit. Squint your eyes and see where the light and dark is. Before you start, see just what your pencil can do - it can do lots more than straight lines. You tube will have lots of ideas. The main thing is " have fun!"Thanks, I will do. I think the course I'm doing is going to move onto more than straight lines soon. The next task is to draw a model/family member in a scene. I think shading & more advanced techniques are a few lessons away. I really should try and do more random sketching, though, you're right!
Posted
Hi Simon, I think your staircase is very good. There is a sketching post on here and I didn't do any drawing until I came across this post and now I sketch all the time. You should put your staircase on it. It encourages you to keep up your drawing and people are happy to help. You can get some good ideas there also. As Marjorie has said, the main thing is, have fun. By the way, I was teaching myself and have learned a lot from the site. there are community video's that are very useful for beginners, I use them all the time.
Posted
There ie is one trick, which would make your drawings more interesting. If you make lines closer to you darker, then then the drawing will seem 3D.Believe it or not, I did. Maybe not very effectively though & I think the camera has hidden what little I did do. I'll try and do more of that in the next drawing.
Posted
A good line drawing. What do you want to draw most is, I suppose, the question to ask about courses: there is the Charles Bargue (spelling?) course on figure drawing; there are several instructional videos on YouTube, plus books and dvd's - just Google drawing tuition. And there are some videos on this site, if you click on 'Community' in the bar at the top of the page. I have taught, but not for a Hell of a long time or I'd offer myself; what you want though is a good, structured course, to take you in stages to your ultimate goal (there's always a step beyond that); the Open University/their arts department? Were you thinking of a paid-for course, with continuing tuition support? There's quite a lot of options out there - it does depend on your specific requirements, though.Thanks, I'll look up those videos you mentioned. And yes, a nice step-by-step course is what I'd really like. I'm an engineer (of a sort) by trade, so I like to learn methodically. I think it's just the way my brain is wired! I'd actually ultimately like to be able to draw from my imagination. I love reading, and I'd love to be able to draw illustrations of whatever book I'm working on. I'm a very visual thinker, and it'd be nice to have the skill to commit those images to paper. My thinking is that you can't draw from imagination before you've learned to draw from life first, though.
Posted
Just sampled another online course by Raw Umber Studios on Facebook. It was quite good and got us to draw a 5 min pose, then a 20 min one and the 30 mins. All portraits of the same model. It used the method of finding the main shapes of shadows and the refine it. Quite good. They do 2 free classes a week. It was good to get some portrait practice as I’ve missed it in lockdown.Thanks! I'll make sure to check it out