Shape Language Of Heads - II

Hello amigo,

Once we’ve identified the words of the language - shape of hair, shape of head, the neck and upper torso (specifically shoulders), we should think about what these words can convey. What language is created from these words.

Movement versus Stability

Diagonals signify movement.

  • If the hair is flowing in the wind, or as if the person is moving fast and hair follows, the

  • The head is usually inclined during movement. Especially during fast movement like running. And when describing movement when have to show it going across the scene, otherwise it becomes hard to describe a sense …

Shape Language of Heads - I

Heads and faces are the most recognizable objects for humans. We have developed an acute sense of the silhouette of the head and features of the face to recognize fellow humans.

Today I’m just going to talk about the silhouette of the head. At a distance the head aids the most in recognition, and when developing an illustration or drawing of the head, the silhouette should be kept in mind. If the silhouette is not “right”, the viewer will have the feeling of something being wrong, although they might not be able to articulate.

At a distance the head …

Why Everyone Should Draw Still Life - II

Hi there,

I want to continue of this theme of still life in this post and why one should draw and practice with still life.

Drawing What You See

Over time as we look at the same thing over and over again, we build a simplified version of an object in our head. And since most of the seeing is done in the brain - we start looking at the world as caricatures. For those not used to seeing the face in all its complexities, the mental model of a face is similar to a caricature (like a smiley) than the …

Why Everyone Should Draw Still Life - I

Dear Reader,

In this rather longish discussion, I want to talk about why everyone should draw still life - and what we stand to gain from this practice.

Digital Pen Sketch of An Apple

Train your eyes to look

Our brain uses a lot of shortcuts while looking. We make very quick judgements about what we see based on things we have seen before. And most of the time we spend as little time as possible on a single object. The brain might build a simple caricature of what we see in our head and move on. This might be enough interacting with the world in our …

Three Times A Week

Dear Reader,

As the initial steam of writing this blog runs out I find that I want to reduce the frequency of posts. I’m going to write and review posts everyday, but only send them out three days a week. This will allow me an average of two days to review each post.

So the horse is slowing down to a trot - not running away 😎.

Horse Trot

(picture courtesy - Horse Trot Animal - Free photo on Pixabay)

Talk to you soon,

Abhishek (art noob)

Painting: The Raft of the Medusa

Hello Dear Reader,

Once in a while I would like to write about a piece of great art in this blog. In this age of constant barrage of “content” - we spend too little time on perusing great compositions which changed the art world.

“The Raft of Medusa” by Théodore Géricault (pronounced zeriko in English) is one such painting. Géricault was a classically trained painter, who pioneered the French Romanticism movement movement, but died tragically young.

“The Raft of Medusa” is a huge painting - roughly 16ft by 24ft. It depicts the aftermath of the wrecking of the french naval ship Medusa …

How-to Get Over Creative Block

Hello Reader,

We’ve all had it - the dreaded creative block! Can’t write, can’t draw, can’t act, can’t play music - whatever be our specific craft. So have I found some magic cure for this? No, not really - but I’ve found stuff that works for me. I’m gonna share this with you - you can try it if it works for you too.

Schedules and Commitments

If we have committed to doing something to friends or family or clients then we feel compelled to do it. In fact if we have committed something to ourselves, especially …

Draw A Box

This is a recommendation for noobs like me who would like to improve their line quality. Whether you are a draughtsman/woman or a painter - if you want to improve your drawing skills starting with your lines, perspective, construction etc. then try out Drawabox. I had decent results practicing the exercises - although I haven’t finished the entire course.

And let me know how it goes for you.

Bye,

Abhishek (art noob)