After Anthony Ryder

[Patricia Joyce]

Hi Ngaire,
I agree, your drawing skills are developing nicely. Don't you love Anthony Ryder's book? I attended one of his drawing workshops and learned so much about measuring, and how the light falls on the figure, and about washing of graphite. I also came way convinced of how important the paper is which you draw on . Tony uses Canson MiTientes (sp?). It has the perfect texture for pencil.

Everyone is giving you good advice about measuring. Let me add my two cents worth. It does take allot of drawing to develop your eye. Do not hesitate to use measuring tools. Until my eye developed well enough and I really learned general relationships, I copied drawings from books to identical size. I used rulers to measure all kinds of distances in every direction. To check my accuracy I did not hesitate to lay tracing paper over the original drawing, trace edges and then lay the tracing paper over my drawing to see where I was off. I learned that I made the same judment errors over and over (i.e., I always "saw" the nose longer than it is, for example). When you are just practicing, this is such a good learning tool. Do not worry that you are cheating (see other posts regarding this subject - they are good).

Keep drawing, every day, if possible. You are really improving and will continue to get better and better!! Besides, isn't it fun?!!

Good luck -
Patty

[Anna Wakitsch]

Ngaire,

I'd love to share tips, although my mind is a blank right now in spite of (or perhaps because of) drawing all day.

Expanding on Terri's comment: You want to remember that the head is large unified rounded form, lit from a certain direction. Do you see how in Tony's drawing the lights get progressively darker as the light has to travel farther or hits at a less direct angle? Your little forms on his face are well-rendered, but keep in mind the idea of shading the head as a whole as it turns away from the light. For instance, the front part of his cheek looks a bit dark in your drawing, and parts of the jaw look a bit light. Also, remember that although his ear catches the light in many places, it is an integral part of the head, and joins at a place that is turning away from the light. It's tempting to make the ear too light and too detached.

Regarding the drawing, I don't know if you were following his particular method, but I'm just curious how you approached the drawing initially? In his book he shows this drawing in progress only after he's finalized the contour. Did you begin by blocking in the big shapes or did you start drawing the contour right away?

Keep up the good work!

Anna

P.S.
If you like Tony's book you might also check out the books his teacher, Ted Seth Jacobs wrote: Drawing With an Open Mind, and, if you can find it, Light for the Artist.

[Steven Sweeney]

Ngaire,

This was an ambitious undertaking, in which you went after some pretty sophisticated techniques. As it is, you can probably look at your drawing and think,

[Ngaire Winwood]

Wow, what wonderful support I have received from you all.

Steven, You explain things so well. When are you going to put out a book titled 'Mistakes are an artist's best tool' or something similar. A how to read a painting and learn book, sounds good to me. I will have to reread your comments again to take them in better. I understand the 'snowball' effect as one wrong shape lends itself to more misjudged shapes the longer you let it go without correcting. I am not so sure about how you measured it though with the two lines bit. I got the ear bit. The hair was my artistic licence allowed to roam.

Anna, yes I see it but when I do it, it is two different things, I just figured close enough is good enough for this level of skill. I was a bit naughty. I just saw the drawing and just eyeballed it the best I could with what I have to work with at the moment. I got the book for my birthday so I will have to save up for the others you mentioned.

Patricia, Yes I can't believe I was lucky enough to get it. As soon as I got I wasn't seen for hours later. My head never came out of it until I needed food. Wow the blending in it. Yes the paper would make a difference. I bet you enjoyed his workshop.

Terri, you picked my artistic licence bit, I thought I could get away with it. Oops, I'm sprung. I will repeat 100 times, I am a bad girl for not observing shapes as they are, not as I would like them to be.

Claudemir, I am glad you noticed. I am practicing as much as I can.

[Steven Sweeney]

Originally Posted by Ngaire Winwood

I am not so sure about how you measured it though with the two lines bit.

And I'm not quite sure, either, where I lost you.

If you're referring to the two vertical lines I "drew" in the image, above, showing your drawing of the nose, those are really just to show the relationship between the two points mentioned, at the top of the nose and bottom contour of the fleshy wing of the nose. There are two lines in your drawing, to indicate the misjudged "horizontal distance" between those two points. In Ryder's version, there is no "horizontal distance," as the two points are more or less directly above and below each other, respectively.

Another "angle" -- Two lines on the form might be, for example, the back and front edges of the neck. If you hold up your pencil and sight along the back edge, say, the pencil will have a slope toward your left as it rises. If you carefully move that pencil over to the front edge, you'll find out if the slopes of the two edges "match" (that is, that they're parallel) or if they diverge, and if so, whether they're getting closer to each other toward the upper part of the drawing or the lower part. That same relationship should be preserved in your drawing.

Lastly -- If you're looking at only one "line" in the drawing -- say, the slope of the back contour of the hair, then compare it with a vertical (or if appropriate, a horizontal) line in an imaginary grid placed over both the resource drawing and your own drawing surface. (If you have trouble accurately "imagining" a vertical, just hold the tip of the pencil at arm's length and let gravity impose a vertical orientation. Or tie a small weight to a length of thread and hold that "plumb line" out in front of you, comparing the vertical thread to the angles of whatever edges you're working on in the drawing.)

Perhaps I touched there on whatever it was that was confusing you, or perhaps I've just been "blendy and fiddly." If something's still not clear, let me know. Text is a difficult way to try to teach visual techniques.

[Patricia Joyce]

I did not hesitate to tell Tony Ryder when I attended his workshop that the first thing I did was read through the book, then I proceeded to take it apart literally removing all the pages and placing it in a binder. This way I could remove a drawing lay it next to my drawing paper affixed to my drawing board and begin copying.

Whenever I am at a loss for something to work on (which is seldom these days, thank God) I pull Tony's book back out and often before I begin a portrait (just this past weekend in fact) I take out Tony's book and reread it. Nuggets of wisdom abound on every page. After three years since studying with him, he still is teaching me!

Steven's advice is invaluable, follow every piece of advice he gives you, he knows what he's talking about! When I was just starting out with drawing he taught me more than any other person. Go back and study his other posts over the years - very valuable exercise.

I am excited for you, Ngaire. I love watching to grow. I can see that you've "got it" and that you will be successful in your artistic endeavors

Have Fun!!!

[Mischa Milosevic]

Ngaire hello, Your drawing is quite good and easily adjusted. So, please do not despair for you are almost there that is perfection is the next step.

Have you heard of the Bargue drawings? Well, I hope this will help out on your next project. Whether you wish to do a comparative or sight size method this will work. There is a number of ways to start a drawing this is just one but if you wish to train your eye to see correctly than this will help. This is the method that most The art academies throughout the 19th century teach this method.

[Steven Sweeney]

In telling you to just keep at it, Ngaire, an old Chinese parable came to mind. The details change with the source, but the fundamental teaching remains and is, I think, a core instruction.

The Wikipedia version is thus:

A Chinese Emperor commissioned a famous artist to paint for him a picture of a fish. The artist delayed giving the emperor his painting. He always said that it wasn't ready yet.

After a year, the impatient Emperor went to the artist, demanding his painting. The artist sat on the floor with a paintbrush and paper, and with one motion of his hand, painted a masterpiece fish. The Emperor, angry, demanded to know why the artist delayed giving him his painting.

The artist moved quietly to open a closet door, and thousands of paintings of fish fell to the floor.

[Ngaire Winwood]

Dear Steven, Patricia, Michele thanks heaps for your support and invaluable advice.

Steven, I think I get it now. I feel I need to do a few more life studies to compensate for this weakness. I have painted a foam ball, a cube and a toilet roll white to study at night with one light source to help with the values bit. Looks like I will just have to start measuring more often. I love that parable, I will print it out and put it on my wall. It is obvious my length and angle was out with the nose and I should have used a unit measure to check it against and a vertical measure. Oh well, that what happens when one eyeballs without a seatbelt.

Patricia, it is great to hear from you. What I am finding lately is that the more knowledge I gain, the more clearer things become and advice or books that I have read seem to make much more sense and have to go back and reread things, is this what happens to you. There is so much to know and practice and I suppose it all fits like a jigsaw eventually. I am not sure about the 'got it' bit but I hope it finds me sooner than later and it stays with me.

Mischa, thanks for the Bargue drawing. I am studying from the book and am on Plate 3 at present and haven't done that one yet. I seem to get a bit bored with my slow progress with it, so I decided to do the dreadlock man for a bit of difference as I just received the book recently. I have to spend more time developing my eye as it is failing me at present and no doubt his exercises will definitely help and I have to get into the habit of measure, measure, measure.

No freeeyeballing again, promise. Gee it felt good though.

[Mischa Milosevic]

Ngere Smile a While!

Please do not stop eyeballing but do not forget to check by measuring. The goal is to train your eye.

I too have the book my favorite study tool. While at the academy I learned a lot about what to do with the Bargue drawings. For example plates 1,1 - 1,4 are a challenge for them self. The plates 1,5 - 12, 1,41,42, 49 are the ones to start with for the study of construct, simple tones or values and how they relate to each other. Make the best copy that you can of the original. Paste it on a board and beside it paste the paper you wish to draw on (Light value Canson is good). Draw a plum line on both and then measure and establish the height of the original. To train properly use the sight size method. This is just the proper setup for drawing rather than casts. As you know the instructions are in back of the book. I hope this helps.

One more thing do not neglect thumb nail sketching. Good source for instruction is the Andrew Loomis book Fun With a Pencil and have fun.