Figure Drawing Practice 007

      For years,  I've always struggled on how to get my drawings to look like those in how-to-draw art books. At the time, I thought that learning to just construct the figure well was all it takes to make a good figure drawing.  Now I realized it's just one of the many elements that makes a good drawing.  Aside from basic anatomy and proportion, gesture and shape design are also important. Plus years of drawing and developing a good observational skills. 

      The learning and practice had been an on-going journey. And before I knew it, I just got better. My drawings is starting to look like those in how-to-draw art books. There's no secret to it. Just learning the fundamentals and then put those into practice every time.
  
     And so,  here's the breakdown of my figure drawing process I've been learning lately - the gesture lay-in,  form construction of the torso, modification of the figure using half-tones, adding facial details and dark patterns, and the final render.  Having a step-by-step drawing process is always a good practice while learning. It's an efficient and logical way of  making sure the foundation is laid out well before proceeding to the next step.
     
     Over time, with frequent practice, I can surely do away with many steps  and go straight to finishing and render, just like the artists I admire.    Till then, I still need to do these steps .


Photo reference used  from Art Models.