Placeholder Image

Subtitles section Play video

  • Step 1 - Prepare for the Drawing with Studies

  • I'm approaching this drawing as a portfolio piece, or something that might hang in a gallery.

  • I think this is a good mentality to have going into a longer drawing because we take it more

  • seriously. With that, comes prep work...

  • I like to do some small sketches before I jump into the actual drawing. Proportion studies,

  • gesture studies, value studies, and anatomy studies. These give me a running start when

  • I begin the drawing. In the premium version of this demo, I walk you through each one

  • of these studies.

  • Step 2 - The Layin

  • Since I'm drawing from reference, not from imagination, the first step should be heavy

  • on measuring. Checking to make sure my proportions are correct. In fact I'm going to start this

  • drawing like I start all my figure drawings from life. Identify the largest shapes and

  • rhythms, then add the anatomical details on top.

  • After establishing the proportions I'm going to hone in on the anatomical details.

  • We know that the pec has 3 distinct portions based on where they originate on the chest.

  • The clavicular portion, sternal portion and abdominal portion. All 3 start at the chest

  • and swing over and around the biceps to attach to the humerus.

  • Now, this part of the lat is interesting. It comes down the side of the torso, but instead

  • of softly blending into the obliques, it curves out again to wrap around the volume of the

  • serratus.

  • Most people assume this whole area here is the lat muscle. The upper portion of this

  • volume is the teres major muscle, which we'll learn about in our next lesson, as we move

  • to the back of the torso.

  • So, look at this contour. It's subtle, but we should look for 3 curves when the arm is

  • up like this. Teres major, latissimus, serratus. And then we reach the obliques.

  • In the serratus I'm clearly seeing 4 digits and a portion of a 5th hiding under the pec.

  • Now let's find all the stuff on the other side. It's gonna look different because we're

  • looking at it from a different angle. That's why it's important to study the 3 dimensional

  • muscle forms rather than 2 dimensional muscle maps or diagrams that we commonly see.

  • Let's get the tendinous intersections of the abs and then we can move on to shadow mapping.

  • This step is kind of in-between the linear layin and the shading stage. We're going to

  • create a map of the separation between the lights and the shadows. As we do that we're

  • going to design interesting edges and shapes to the core and cast shadows. I know that

  • might sound confusing. If it does, you probably need to go back and rewatch the shading lessons

  • from the figure drawing course.

  • The core shadows on the abs follow a zigzag pattern. Some muscles like abs, serratus and

  • obliques naturally have repeating forms. Try to design them to have some kind of variation

  • and rhythm. Look for variations in edges, shapes, values, and sizes.

  • Step 3 - Shading the Forms

  • We have the layin finished, now it's time for the shading. I like to start by separating

  • the lights from the shadows. A quick way of doing this is with some charcoal powder.

  • I dip a soft sable brush into a little jar of charcoal powder. Lightly tap the brush

  • on the jar to knock off some of the charcoal and slowly start spreading it onto the shadow

  • areas.

  • Don't do this too fast. Take your time and keep it clean.

  • Now let's do the details.

  • This part of the drawing gets very meticulous. It takes a long time to shade properly. We

  • have to analyze every plane change, every edge, every shape, every value of every core

  • shadow, halftone, highlight... There's a lot that has to be processed and we shouldn't

  • rush it. If we're going to study the human form, then we should actually put in the time

  • to study the forms. This is how we do it. This is where a lot of our time will be spent.

  • If you're like me, this process is absolute joy. It's like meditation. Play some good

  • music and spend your day shading!

  • At this point I'm cleaning up the shadows and filling in the shadow areas that are too

  • small to get with the brush. The brush is great for covering large areas, but not for

  • small shapes that need a bit more precision.

  • The charcoal powder also has a limit to how dark it can get. As I'm filling in and cleaning

  • the shadows, I'm also darkening the overall value of the shadows. If the shadow value

  • is too light, then I don't have much to work with in the lights.

  • So, if I make the lightest shadow this value, that means I have these values to work with

  • to shade all the halftones within the lights. That's not many values. So, I want to darken

  • the lightest shadow to open up that range in the lights. Make sense?

  • I'll start the details on the head. Since I gave most of the drawing a light glaze of

  • charcoal, I can use the kneaded eraser to pick out the highlights.

  • Think of the torso as a simple rounded egg. Think about the light direction and how the

  • halftones transition from light to dark, to coreshadow, to reflected light. This overall

  • egg effect should be present in your drawing even when the small detailed forms are added.

  • The best way to make that happen is to add the large halftone gradations early. Like

  • the dark halftones on the abs.

  • When shading it helps to think about planes. Not the flying planes. I'm talking about geometric

  • shapes. Instead of blending in a bunch of soft arbitrary tones. I'm observing the value

  • of the side planes, bottom plane, top plane and front plane. I'm looking for clues in

  • the photo that will help me show these forms.

  • Let's add that nipple. Don't outline it. You don't want it to look like a pepperoni fell

  • on his chest. Add some variety to the edge.

  • As I design the tones on the serratus, I'm intentionally looking for ways I can make

  • each digit different. Nature is organic and rarely repeats the same shape twice. So if

  • we make each digit the same, it looks weird.

  • Ok. I'll start the lat with a base layer of halftone. Then I'll add some plane changes

  • and pick out highlights.

  • Approach the highlights like any halftone shapes. Don't just erase them. Draw them.

  • Design them. Think about the shape, edge, and value. You can even use line direction

  • on a highlight to show the form, just like you would with a halftone.

  • In the light areas I use the tip of the pencil to get a thin line. I also make sure my pencil

  • is nicely sharpened when shading an important light area. Using the tip in the lights adds

  • finer detail, texture, allows you to cross hatch with the forms for a better 3d effect,

  • and forces you to shade slower and make better decisions.

  • again seeing the digitation of the obliques mostly at this edge.

  • I'll start the halftones here and fade them diagonally across the oblique as long thin shapes

  • Thinking about the pattern I'm making. I don't want to repeat zebra stripes across his torso.

  • I've basically covered the whole torso, so now it's about continuously going through

  • the forms and seeing if there's anything that can be improved. It's a slow process that

  • requires patience and a constant search for improvements.

  • All that's left is the arm, legs, and finishing touches.

  • I hope you enjoyed this demonstration! In the premium anatomy course this demo is over

  • 1 hour long and I go into much more detail explaining each step of the process, guiding

  • you through the anatomy of the torso. Portions of the video are in real time and the parts

  • that are sped up are sped up much less than this video was. If you liked this demo, you'll

  • definitely like the premium version that's included in the anatomy course at proko.com/anatomy.

  • If you liked this video, don't be all selfish, share it with your friends.

  • And if you want to be updated on new videos, click this button or go to proko.com/subscribe

Step 1 - Prepare for the Drawing with Studies

Subtitles and vocabulary

Click the word to look it up Click the word to find further inforamtion about it