travismanley.blogspot.com: April 2012

Braaaaaaains!!!

My quest to become a master-artist-extraordinaire hit a rough spot last week. I was in that rut again; drawing the same thing over and over and not making any progress. After crying myself to sleep one night (kidding) it dawned on me that I had unreasonable expectations. Specifically I expected that I should be able to sit down and whip out a great looking drawing in 20-30 minutes from memory with no references. I don't know where I got this idea but man, I was setting myself up for disappointment.

I feel a little better now. Hey, the quickest way to meet your expectations is to lower them, right?

I had been fighting going back to the drawing board and starting over hoping to pick up where I left off after art school but I think the problem with this structure is in the foundation. I keep hoping, like I did in school, that with a little anatomy study and drawing from references that I could jump into drawing from memory and my imagination if I practiced that long enough. Problem is, even now, I still find myself second guessing and misremembering little thing: How to draw and accurate knee or an elbow; The length of an arm or leg. No matter how many times I draw them from memory if I'm drawing them incorrectly I will never learn.

So here we go. Back to the basics. If you need me I will be up to my ears in anatomy books and gesture drawings for the next few weeks, or even longer.

Oh, I got a Wacom tablet. I love drawing digitally. I had the habit of drawing my guidelines too dark or heavy on paper then ending up with a mess of lines and not being able to decipher what was what. The ability to have different stages of whatever I'm drawing on separate layers is priceless.

Here is what I have been up to.