Create faster thru shapes.
It all begins with an idea. And now the only thing left to do is get to work and create it. Sounds pretty simple but it never is. We could talk about anatomy and why it is important, but that´s hardly a simple subject that would offer tips or tricks. Let´s simplify this and rather talk about structure. Building blocks for the shapes that appear to our vision. Shapes are the appearance of value in the structure, what this means is that every time we see a value change or appear, it is indicating us that something is changing in the structure as well.
Looking at the first image, we can see that there is one flat surface being illuminated.
Second image shows, that as we fold that surface value appears on one side, we can now indentify how it is related with the light source.
If we continue to fold more and more, creating more folded planes in the surface, different values appear and we are able to recognise what type of angle they are facing the light source. Shapes are formed in perspective and structure in 3 dimensions revealed as can be seen on the third image.
Shapes carry all this information and thus are the single most important thing in visual art. That is what the image is composed of.
We often seem to have a habbit of starting a drawing by creating edges with lines, almost like drawing a blueprint of the structure. And after that we begin to slowly shade it. Almost like “color by numbers “. Why are we so afraid to dive in directly to render shapes ?
Instead of thinking about the blueprint of the subject, try to think about the shape of the mass, sort of a silhoutte. Apply it fast and simple, think about the difference between positive and negative shapes. Lighten some shapes in the shaded silhoutte, and darken some shapes into the negative areas. Be careless and bold. Add darker areas in the shaded silhouette, and blend or remove some in the lighter negative area. Your image should start little by little transform into something that resembles a blurred photo.
You could already take your reference photo and create one copy with gaussian blur on it. Use that as model. You won´t belive how quickly blurred image can be formed. Once you reached this point you can start creating little sharp edges or lines to reveal the structure. You might be surprised how little sharp and refined areas you need to do to achieve illusion of highly detailed finished drawing. Things tend to be much softer than we think. Enjoy the process.
Sincerely
Mikko
