An accountability post

LauraA

Hi! I comment here sometimes, but rarely post artwork because I'm working on "finding my style" as it were. Lately I've been doing a series of blog posts for my own accountability, and this was my post for today:

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Hoping this link works, but if not, here's the whole post until I can get back and trouble shoot: https://llasblog.wordpress.com/?p=5430&preview=true

I've already posted the piece on my blog, and as it's a practice piece (and clearly not super-finished), I'm open to critiques. As stated in the post, I'm wanted to develop backgrounds next, to have full portfolio pieces. Just want to participate like everyone else, because it's good for artistic growth! Thanks!

Heather Boyd

Hey @LauraA I really like how you have done those green boots!

As for her arms compared to her hands, I think her arms are really short in comparison with her larger hands. Now of course I have longer arms so it might just be me.

Your drawing style rekindles my memory of children books my grandmother had when I visited her over 15+ years ago.

Keep going.

Nice, Very reminiscent of the "Little Golden" children's books of yesteryear . Keep it up.

Larry Whitler

Love it. I think that the ability for an illustration to communicate an emotion is just as important as the skillful craftsmanship needed to create a solid piece of artwork. This illustration demonstrates that you are skillful in both areas. Keep it up.

LauraA

@heather-boyd Haha! And I have short arms! But that was what I meant by anatomy in my blog post. I did elongate the arms, but the hands grew with them :-). Maybe I should keep working on them.

LauraA

@heather-boyd I figured out that one problem was that I needed to extend the far hand, because the torso is turned slightly towards the viewer. I was being lazy in my push to publish. The hands still look a little strange, but I'll figure it out. I admit I probably also looked a little strange opening my mouth wide and holding my hands up to it to see if the proportions were similar, but I don't think anyone saw me! Thanks for the critique because it helped me to know where to look. alt text

demotlj

I really like this piece and think the style is great. I know you said you already posted it, but one thing I noticed is that the print pattern on the right arm seems to overlap the left arm making the two arms continuous. Other than that, I think it looks really nice.

You mentioned looking strange posing -- I have a tripod for my phone and am always posing in my living room to take pictures of myself. Sometimes I even dress in just my underwear to make sure I can see what my legs and arms are doing and I'm constantly worried someone is going to come to the door during one of these sessions!

LauraA

@demotlj A tripod is a great idea! I may just have to try it. I've recently found out how very hard it can be to try to take a photo of one's self with both hands clasped behind one's back

As for the pattern, I was aware of the overlap and also that it may be inconsistent, but for now I've left it that way. There is a part of me that wants to do collage and more abstract patterning, and it's fighting with the part that wants to be observationally consistent. This is one reason I'm having a problem with environments and why I really look forward to the new SVS environments course when it comes out. It's all part of the "finding your style" problem!

@lauraa I think this is one of those moments when thinking of the pose in silhouette would help to see how you could get it to read better. Chris

LauraA

@c-davies Good point!

Heather Boyd

I was just standing and trying out your pose. Have you thought of bending your girl's arms a bit. It would give it a more "brace yourself" feel, because her right knee is bent. Also what is the context she is in? Why is she putting up her arms?

@LauraA

LauraA

@demotlj I'm really thinking about this tripod idea! (Just spend a long time twisting around to see how the dress would wrinkle from the back.)

Also, my daughter, who does SLR photography, said to get a decent remote (bluetooth maybe?) because half the time hers doesn't work and then you wasted all that time getting in position! But she doesn't know what's available for phones. Maybe all I need is basically a fancy selfie stick, but I want it to sit on the floor and be able to take the photo remotely with as little in my hands as possible.

Right now I would be attaching an iPhone 5, but the phone is probably nearing the end of its life so I would like the tripod to work on a subsequent model as well. Any idea what the thing I'm looking for is called so I can search for it online? I'm so behind in technology!

Thank you!

LauraA

@heather-boyd Honestly all I know is that I originally got this from one of the SVS course handouts and I can't even find it anymore! But I like the way that having her arms out stiff looks so emphatic. I rather imagine that either someone is holding out something disgusting and so she's saying, "Not one step further!" Or else she sees her friends in a fight and she's yelling, "Stop!"

demotlj

@lauraa My setup is really low tech. I use a simple iphone holder that I got for my bike (mine is a universal phone mount made by Vibrelli) that I attached to a tripod. I use the selfie setting on a 10 second timer. I don't know if there is a bluetooth shutter gizmo for the iphone but the timer works fine and the problem I have more often is that I have to do it many times to get the angle and pose just the way I want it. I have some very funny pictures of myself posing on the back of couches to simulate horseback riding, posing with my dogs for animal scenes, dressed in weird outfits to figure out how clothing would drape, etc.! I make sure I delete them as soon as I've used them so no one ever sees them!

LauraA

@demotlj That sounds like it would work!

LauraA

@c-davies So I moved the hands. It's rough, and now I'm convinced that no one has ever held their hands at the angle I'm trying to draw them, but I do agree that the silhouette looks better. Thanks!

Meanwhile I have been drawing this pose from every angle, really trying to understand it in three dimensions. It can't hurt. I may feel up for a complete redraw later, or I may just move on to a different pose. It could in fact be that the entire exercise is just one more way to avoid environments

Meanwhile my Cintiq, or perhaps Photoshop, has been possessed by a poltergeist and I've spent the better part of the day trying to troubleshoot why things keep flying around everywhere onscreen!

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P.S. Only just now noticed the chunk missing from her hand. Will go fix that...

@lauraa cool, sorry I can't help with the software issues, I use a Wacom and when things get Wonky , things start flying around, I trash the app and reinstall . Chris