Foot (and Shoe) Reference Part 2

When it comes to challenging parts of anatomy, feet rank right up there with hands and faces in terms of difficulty. Look at the paintings of Frank Frazetta; he would often go to great lengths to avoid painting a character's feet, even though they were perfectly acceptable when he did paint them. Drawing feet in shoes is challenging for many as well; I don't know how many odd kidney bean and smooshed bread loaf like appendages I've seen drawn at the bottom of a figure's legs over the years. But fret not, Jack Hamm has given us these wonderful guidelines in his classic figure drawing manual "Drawing the head & figure":

Yes, the footwear is somewhat dated. But with a little imagination one should be able to turn them into anything from strappy sandals to cowboy boots. I highly recommend Hamm's book; particularly for it's section on drawing the head, which is far too extensive to post here!

Hand Reference, Part Four

Another reminder to students who are finishing up this week's assignments; when art directors look at figure studies in portfolios, they always check to make sure that the artist has not avoided drawing Hands, Feet, and Heads/ Faces. If the AD gets a sense that the artist is avoiding structured drawings of those areas, it sends up a red flag. Don't allow your portfolio to end up in the wrong pile; include hands, feet and well structured heads and faces on as many figure studies that you include in your portfolio as possible!

To help you with this, here are some notes on drawing hands from Walt Reed's book "The Figure; An Approach to Drawing & Construction".

 

 

Gesture Drawing: a free online tool from Pixelovely

Can't find a figure drawing class in your area to work on those gestures? No problem! Just go to:http://www.pixelovely.com/tools/gesture.html and choose between all models or nudes only, male or female, or animals for variation. An automatic timer will change images from every 30 seconds up to 10 minutes. Now there's no excuse for not improving your draftsmanship skills through gesture drawing!

Some samples from the site:

Hand Reference, Part Two

This selection of reference hands comes from Andrew Loomis, Milt Kahl, Jeff Smith, and Jim Macauley. The bottom sample, from Jeff Smith's epic graphic novel series "Bone", shows how a hand can add greatly to the body language and expression of a character. Note how Thorn, the young woman, goes from nonchalant to focused, baffled, curious and quizzical and how her hand helps to project those emotions. I've known Smith for many years and can recognize his wife Vijaya's hand gestures in this series. When drawing your character, think of a friend or famous actor that has a similar personality, then observe how they use their hands to express themselves. The more realistic and natural your hand poses are, the more convincing your character's emotions and gestures will be.

Hand Reference, Part One

"They talk with their hands"; it's true, hands say so much! And drawing clear, well formed hands can add an enormous amount of expression and personality to your character, whether it's a beautiful young girl or a brooding lizard man. Here are just a few pages of hand samples (most by legendary Disney Animator Milt Kahl) to download and print out as reference. Keep them close at hand, and banish vague fingers from your drawings forever!