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Figure Drawing

I don't know how many are in my situation, but I hope some might find this helpful. I'm working on improving my character skills and to that end, my drawing. I live in an extremely rural area without access to studio classes.

But I still want to practice figure drawing and I found this site: http://www.pixelovely.com/gesture/figuredrawing.php

Do any of you practice figure drawing? Do you use any online aids or sources?

Replies

  • Sukotto
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    Sukotto polycounter lvl 8
    In school I had a few figure drawing classes and I still practice it because its an important part of any artist's skillset so its perfectly fine to discuss it here.

    I do use pixelovely quite often along with some other gesture drawing tools
  • Sean VanGorder
    Tigerfeet - Check out http://www.posemaniacs.com/. They have a ton of poses to choose from, all from different angles. They also have a 30 second drawing tool for practicing quick gesture sketching.
  • Two Listen
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    Two Listen polycount sponsor
    I work on figure drawing off and on, but I've never really gotten into the quick pages of studies that people seem so fond of. I tried it a bit, but I always found that spending more time on one drawing resulted in more improvement. Though I suppose the most improvement would probably come from doing both, haha.

    That being said, thanks for posting your find. I was aware of posemaniacs, but not of the place you posted. So cheers! :)
  • Tigerfeet
    I'm sorry if I had the wrong forum. While I'm trying to concentrate on my character art I simply thought it would be prudent to work on anatomy and drawing in addition to the 3D programs. Am I wrong in assuming that traditional skills will help make me a better 3D artist?

    Thanks for the posemaniacs link, I can see where they'd be quite valuable for drawing and modeling, especially modeling!
  • Emil Mujanovic
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    Emil Mujanovic polycounter lvl 18
    Disregard those posts, Tigerfeet (they have now been removed). You certainly do not have the wrong forum. There are many practising 2D artists at Polycount as well as artists interested in figure drawing as well.

    I love figure drawing and I go to life drawing classes every once in a while. Other times I'll just get reference images from the web and try to paint those up in Photoshop or do anatomy studies from the range of books I've collected from over the years.

    Thanks for that link and post some of your figure drawing stuff in the Pimping & Previews section when you get the chance :)
  • JacqueChoi
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    JacqueChoi polycounter
    Yeah I have my degree in Drawing (focus om Life Drawing) and its helped immensely for character art.


    In fact I used to go weekly, while bumping into a lot of animators/artists from other game studios at these sessions.
  • dii
    Tigerfeet - Check out http://www.posemaniacs.com/. They have a ton of poses to choose from, all from different angles. They also have a 30 second drawing tool for practicing quick gesture sketching.
    If you're going to use pose maniacs I would suggest not using it for anything but gesture. The anatomy is really messed up...

    http://www.artsyposes.com/models

    And honestly, it's the internet... there are soft erotica sites all over the place with suitable photos for figure study/reference. Not all the nude photos on the internet are straight up porn.

    Edit: Also... deviantart is a surprisingly good place to find tasteful photography nudes. Flickr can be as well. You'll have to register to both sites in order to view the nude content though.
  • switz
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    switz polycounter lvl 10
    Whoa this is fantastic! I haven't done any figure drawings since I graduated but this'll definitely get me get back in the groove.
  • Tigerfeet
    dii wrote: »
    If you're going to use pose maniacs I would suggest not using it for anything but gesture. The anatomy is really messed up...

    http://www.artsyposes.com/models

    And honestly, it's the internet... there are soft erotica sites all over the place with suitable photos for figure study/reference. Not all the nude photos on the internet are straight up porn.

    Edit: Also... deviantart is a surprisingly good place to find tasteful photography nudes. Flickr can be as well. You'll have to register to both sites in order to view the nude content though.

    Oh thanks for that, and for the warning! I've got a copy of Anatomy for Artists that I've been making heavy use of.

    I just got done with a quick 30 minute session. It was.... much harder than I anticipated or remembered.
  • Jessica Dinh
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    Jessica Dinh polycounter lvl 10
    Ahh, I LOVE figure drawing! Wish I had more time to go to live sessions - pixelovely and artsyposes are fantastic, but there is nothing like drawing from real life, in my opinion :]
  • Naugat
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    Naugat polycounter lvl 12
    Ignoring the professional aspect of it, live figure drawing is just an enjoyable activity in itself.

    It's a bit of a lonely persuit and at the end of the day getting good at figure drawing won't set the world on fire, there is very little original in it, but personally, I just feel better doing it.

    As for anatomy books; Bridgman is the most common one, Burne Hogarth is a favourite among comic artists, and a personal favourite is [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Strength-Training-Anatomy-3rd-Frederic-Delavier/dp/0736092269"]Strength Training Anatomy[/ame] - it couples well with Bridgman and your gym routine to boot :)
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