Saturated color palette by Nouconcept

I know this may sound strange, but for me it was a class I took with Matt Faulkner, who had a very refreshing approach to mark making and drawing from life. We did have a live model, and drawing people from life teaches you two important things that books cannot: textbook anatomy is idealized, not everybody will look like that and foreshortening and perspective are things that are easier to see in person (at least, for me they were).

As you draw things like that over and over, you will build a mental library that will help you draw those tougher perspectives from imagination. I still use a reference, because the human body can bend and distort in a lot of ways and I am nowhere near having all of that memorized, and WE DON’T HAVE TO! If it gets committed to memory, great! But artists should never feel shame from using a reference because that is how we learn and that is how we improve. Even professionals use a reference.

The mark making that Matt taught us was a little different than some of the other classes I had been through in the past. I typically would draw a human with basic shapes and a “wire-frame” skeleton for my foundational rough sketch, but Matt would have us start drawing our figures with different lines. Contour lines, is just drawing the outside of what you’re observing, while periodically flashing your eyes at the paper. Blind contour would have us looking only at our subject and drawing what we were seeing without ever picking up the pencil (some of these actually turn out pretty cool).

Volumetric drawing was the one that I had never come across before. Matt uses a lot of crosshatching and volume lines in his work. See the below example:

The way this applies to anatomy is that his way of volumetric drawing is helpful in finding the space that your figure takes up. Sometimes Matt would have us draw our figure with ONLY volumetric lines. It would look like a tornado person, but this practice wasn’t to make something visually appealing, it was to help us train our brain and our eyes to see the volume. In that volumetric study we would be wrapping lines in a width and curvature that followed the subject. Here is a visual example of a volumetric drawing by Monika Zagrobelna that shows what I mean:

The volumetric drawing helps to grasp how much space something takes up, whereas the wire-frame doesn’t really convey that kind of information. A lot of people reference the Andrew Loomis books and Figure Drawing For All It’s Worth [ISBN: 978-0857680983] is a good resource to learn from. But Loomis does idealize the standard figures in his works and books. I am not saying don’t draw like him! There is nothing wrong with his style! Just don’t fall into the assumption that every body type will align exactly with the proportions and measurements that he covers. For example, he usually has a standard height that male and female figures are drawn at and certain points where knees are expected to reach and other body part milestones:

It is a guideline, and it is useful, but I found that the best exercise that you can do is to do a study on separate pages. No one taught me this, I just did it out of curiosity to see how it would go. Set one aside for male and one for female. First, draw your standard Loomis figure, then get five other male/female reference photos (or drawn from life if you can) of people with different body types. Try drawing them from observation and see how much of the Loomis concept applies to them. You’ll find that you can bend a lot of the Loomis ideas to fit, but you have to throw out some things entirely in order to accurately portray your subject (like the number of heads tall something has to be, or posture, for example).

Hopefully, despite that being a little long-winded of me, you found this experience helpful? Everyone learns differently, so I feel your struggle. I am a big visual learner and need to see what is happening with something to understand it. I also learn best by struggling. So what were the “aha” moments for me, may not necessarily work for another, but it is here if you can find any value or use in it.

^ For those who are stuck in that rut and need to hear it ^

Line Art Tutorial by Artsytsaa

“Hey Artlings! 🧋here’s my beginners lineart tutorial in which I teach you how to draw Perfect line art in procreate and any other program with streamline. I show you the secrets to do smooth clean lines and get rid of that chicken scratch and how to actually make your line art look like your sketch! While it can be as simple as using the classic line technique, there are a lot of things that can help you have the best lineart experience ever! These are all the things that I wish I knew when I was making manga style commissions and trying to get clean lines as a not so clean artist. As this is a #beginnersarttutorial I will be going into some depth of some settings that might be, and while my lineart is technically not perfect, this information in the right hands (aka someone dedicated to line art) will definitely be able to make their lines perfect.” - Artsytsaa

Tips for drawing the female pelvis by SOLRAKA

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There are a lot of helpful tidbits here for both seasoned and budding artists that are looking to get themselves out there or go freelance.

Mystical Witchtober by Isabee

I know this has sat in the inbox for a while, but I needed time to think how best to reply. Ultimately, your feelings on this matter are yours and are valid. I can only answer from my personal experience. I have had a friend that did fanart of a character I designed once, but it was in their style, so it wasn't to the extent that is happening to you. Even in the centuries past, budding artists used to copy works of the masters before developing their own styles. These copies were never intended as gallery pieces of the training artist or claimed as their own works. They were done solely to learn from it and were discarded or stored. Sometimes a copy will get discovered and a merchant may try to pass it off as an original of the master it imitates, which is why fine art dealers in museums may sometimes run into challenges trying to authenticate a painting that is old enough and using the proper materials for the period, but could STILL be a fake. So if I were in your shoes, I guess it would be me asking them a lot of questions: Why are they doing this? Are they trying to trace your work and pass it off as their own? Determining if it is art practice or art theft would be the first place to start. I do not know this person. Perhaps they really admire your style and want to emulate it and are trying to figure out what the key elements are. In my experience with things that bother me, I know it sounds tough, but just reach out and communicate to them what you are feeling and why. If they are a person worth having in your circle, the interaction will be fine. If it is met with negative energy, you don't need them in your life. I know that sounds blunt and it is easier said than done when I am a person outside of the conflict giving that advice, but if someone is only in your life to make you struggle in a way that doesn't bring you personal growth, they aren't needed in it. This is less of art advice and more existence advice, but communication is key in all that we do. Even in networking and building our artist communities. Communicate with them. You got this!