Figure Drawing Week 1- The Proportion of the figure, Forshortening

I haven't really had much experience in drawing people hence the reason I took this module, to learn and develop skills that might help me draw figures or characters in the future.

I had difficulty in working out the different proportions and therefore was very slow and often didn't finish my drawing by the time we had to move onto the next one. However I think these quick exercises were good as they forced us to take down information quickly and I learnt that the drawing doesn't have to be perfect right away, but that you can change it as you go in order to get everything in the right place.

For a lot of these initial drawings I think I was focusing more on getting the outline of the figure down and didn't really pay attention to mapping out the drawing first. A lot of these seem to just be single lines and if I were to do it again I would make sure to put little lines and marks over the page to get the proportions better.

In my opinion the drawing above is a little better than the first drawings. This is probably because the figure was sitting on a chair giving it a context and enabling me to line up the different parts of the body with the areas and angles of the chair. I also think that the geometry of her clothing helped me to get the shoulders and the upper body in the right proportions as I started to look at the figure in terms of shapes, instead of just an outline. Having said this, I probably could have added a bit more context like the walls or windows in the rest of the room to provide myself with more information later on.

I feel like the quicker 10 minute drawing exercises throughout the day which then built up to become progressively longer helped me to get my eye in and by the end of the day when it came to the longer pose (pictured above) I felt I was able to incorporate everything I learnt, contributing to a better outcome. I liked having longer to draw as it made me more relaxed as I felt I didn't have to get everything in the right proportions right away. I was also able to add shading, allowing me to finish the drawing off in my own style. The proportions are not perfect though and perhaps further drawing of the wider context would have helped me to get this right.