Term 3, Anatomy II — Arms and Hands, Week 4
For a description of this unit see my Anatomy II unit plan. For full context, see the description of my Art Home School Curriculum.
Retrospective
This week I started focusing more on a comic style with graphite and moved away from charcoal. I think tonal drawing is important because it teaches me a lot about form, light, and value, but since I ultimately want to illustrate graphic novels I need to practice more with a linear style. My drafting table worked out well for charcoal, but when I hold a graphite pencil in a writing grip for small details, I need my face to be a lot closer to the paper. I bought 4 cinder blocks at Home Depot for $6. That makes my drafting table the perfect height to be able to stand while drawing small details without bending over. The only annoying thing is that I have to remove the cinder blocks when I want to sit down, but it’s healthier to stand, so I try to do that most of the time.
Log
Drawings and Critiques
Monday, Jun. 14
Forearm muscles.
Forearm anatomy studies.
Thumbnail for my next comic page.
Anatomy studies in a comic style.
Tuesday, Jun. 15
Forearm anatomy study.
Quick gestures.
Rough of the next comic page.
This is expanding on a thumbnail, but still on a 9 x 12 page with faked perspective. The next step is to transfer this idea onto an 11 x 17 bristol board and tighten the perspective.
Wednesday, Jun. 16
Anatomy studies in a comic style.
Original comic page.
Thursday, Jun. 17
Quick forearm sketches.
Working out different ways to do castle spires.
Forearm anatomy study.
Original comic page.
Friday, Jun. 18
Anatomy study (instructor copy)
Forearm sketches.
Original comic page.
Saturday, Jun. 19
Forearm anatomy studies.
The second drawing is my favorite of the week. The crosshatching in these is really hit or miss. It’s very hard to get right and very easy to mess up.
Forearm sketches.
When drawing from imagination, I still draw like a 10 year old.
Original comic page.
I really struggled with the perspective of the cylinders, since I don’t have ellipse templates. This video helped me the most.
Sunday, Jun. 20
Testing out some castle details before I commit to them.
I’ll need to practice the texture of bricks more before adding them to my final page.
forearm anatomy studies.
I’m done with the arm anatomy. There’s still a lesson on hands I haven’t done, but I think I’ll come back to that after I finish the leg muscles.
