Back To Basics - Tedious Drawing Drills

     Two weeks ago, I started taking a short class in digital head drawing. First week's assignment was about proportion, using a modified Reilly head construction method. It's all about measuring, grids, and careful constructions. A very tedious type of drawing, but an important drill if one desires mastery of  drawing the human head from memory.

   

     But before I even began drawing these heads, I found that I was unable to do a good circle freehand.  The circle was important as it would serve as the basis of measurement for the whole head. Not a loosely-drawn circle but a well-proportioned ones drawn in a more controlled way. As an animator, it was taught and drilled into our heads to draw loosely from the shoulders and not the wrist to get that nice sweeping strokes you'll see in most of our drawings. This drawing habit made most of my drawings rough and loose. But in this instance, drawing a basic circle, unsurprisingly, became an endless struggle.   So for the first week, I did nothing else but draw circles until I managed to do it well enough before starting the assignment..

First few attempts in drawing circles.

Kept at it, but still loose and inaccurate

      

     I modified the way I draw the circle, that instead of one sweeping stroke, I drew point marks that served as guides to help keep the circles in correct proportion, then drew four shorter arcs to complete the shape.

Carefully-drawn circles

Surprisingly good results after a week

       After a week of this tediousness, I was quite pleased with my improvement. Tackling the first crucial step of the assignment wasn't  much of a struggle anymore after that.   One lesson learned that week, don't underestimate the effectiveness of those boring, tedious drawing drills. They're like eating veggies and working out.  I'm most always than not, surprised with how much improvement I managed to achieve in just a short time for doing such.