After completing my Fox Tales contest post earlier this evening, I decided that it was time to practice sketching the male figure. It’s not my favorite but I know that the only way I can get better is with practice. I’m hoping that around this time next year, I’ll be sketching full bodies. Maybe I’ll be even be drawing action poses! Wouldn’t that be something?
It’s not often that I draw men and I don’t sketch them for several reason. The first being that it’s extremely difficult! If the female form were a soft current in a stream then the male form would be roots and vines along a rough path. I applaud anyone who has been able to master the male figure because I don’t always have the patience to sketch in all the details. Plus, the men I draw are often mistaken as female. In the end, I’ve settled on the idea that most of my characters have an androgynous look and in real life- it’s the look I’m most fascinated with.
Thanks @mada!The first half of my sketching was completed at @caffetto and then I finished the rest of it at home. While I was hanging out at the coffee shop, I did get some tips from @mada. I had explained to him that the male and female form look extremely similar when I sketch them. In response he pointed out that men typically have thicker necks, wider jawlines and larger facial features that grow even larger as they age. I laughed at that last one and made sure to take mental notes for the night’s studies.
My sketches are drawn on the Procreate App for iPad Pro. I’m also using the Apple Pencil....which is awesome and I’d cry if I ever lost it. The lines were drawn with the Hemp tool located under Organic. I also raised the size of the brush so I could loosely sketch without working about my lines faltering.
Next I went in with the Round Brush, located in Painting and began to color in the sketch. I did go in with the liquify tool to adjust the size and shape of the neck/arms.
I was more confident with my next sketch and I felt like I was learning more with each new line.
I did struggle to get the right shapes when I began this sketch. I might have to take a day to sketch fingers again before I get too rusty.
I also noticed that with this sketch and the first one, shading had to be done carefully to bring out the right shapes in the muscles.
This final sketch was a little intimidating but I managed to get the right shapes and perspective down.
There were a lot of muscles shown on the reference that I used for this study so I did what I could to map out the areas where they stood out.
It is a little difficult to identify all the smaller details in the shaded skin because of those markers but I found them helpful so I left them as is. I still have a long way to go and these studies will be great to look back on.
Awesome anatomy. The shading is great. I rarely see men drawn in portrait, it feels like.
I’m glad you think so! I feel like I need to purchase an anatomy book just to be sure! I’ll have to do more sketches of men since I’m getting such great feedback! Thank so much!
Dear Artzonian, thanks for using the #ArtzOne hashtag. Your work is valuable to the @ArtzOne community. Quote of the week: Art, freedom and creativity will change society faster than politics. -Victor Pinchuk
Yay!
This is really wonderful. I love male anatomy, I mean I appreciate the beauty of it, for certain, but I don't often draw males either, funny that. I suppose the female form and animals just seem more my 'go to'.
Maybe that is because there is a bit of setting a bit of myself in the storyline of my work, so my default is female. Who can say.
I'm excited to see more of your male form drawings though!
That makes a lot of sense- why your go to is female.
I’m trying to keep up with this momentum and stay excited myself! The chest and torso are going to be hard for me to draw since I image myself drawing really ugly squares. 😆 I might move onto that next. I’m almost positive that I’ll try to find references of men contorting their bodies to keep me interested in the sketch.
Really lovely anatomy exercises, foxi, you captured that aliveness in human limbs that are sometimes are lost when pictures are overdone. I love each iteration, but the back is my favourite * __ *
Also love the gif that comes with each <3 It's magical to see them come into being as animated files <3
Thanks Spidey! The back one is my favorite too and I’m surprised that I got it looking right!
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