100 Days of Drawing (week 12)

 

This week

• Day 80: nekojin
• Day 81: the figure's proportions
• Day 82: continuous line drawing
• Day 83: the figure in perspective
• Day 84: the cartoon process
• Day 85: warm and cool colors
• Day 86: line control

Materials:

• pencil
• pen
• eraser
• paper (printer paper, notebook, etc)
• colors (colored pencils, crayons, watercolor, etc)
• alternatives to the above: smart phone or tablet drawing app.

Day 80: nekojin

I saw this book, Manga Art for Everyone by Danica Davidson and Rena Saiya, at the library and though it would be a good jumping off point for a drawing.  I choose the four characters in the book that appealed to me:

• shojo manga (shojo girl in Japanese; manga targeting teenage girls)
• shonen manga (boys’ comics; manga targeting adolescent boys)
• nekojin (cat person)
• yokai (beings from old Japanese folklore)

I then looked for youtube demonstrations of these four.

This is our third manga of the series: nekojin (cat person)

• Art Shogun begins by showing us the pencils that will be used and proceeds to do a step by step demonstration in How to draw Anime "Neko" Girl (12 minutes 2.4M views).
• Shinigami Arts draws and uses colored pencils to color Neko in Drawing a "Neko" Anime Girl (6 minutes 280K views)

Day 81: the figure's proportions

Draw a straight line. Divide it in half (2 parts). Divide each half in half (4 parts). Divide those parts in half (8 parts). Congratulations! you have the beginning of a figure which will be 8 heads tall. In the video by My Drawing Tutorials, you'll go step by step to locate important landmarks on the figure:

1. Enclose the top part in an oval. You have located the chin and have an important measure: the head.
2. Go to the second point down. This point will be mid-chest. Mark a point on either side of it, a head length apart. These are the nipples.
3. Find the midpoint between the chin and the mid-chest. Make a 'v'. This is the clavicle or collarbone.
4. Find the midpoint between the chin and the clavicle. This is the top of the chest cavity.
5. Draw the chest cavity as an oval down to the third point down (the navel) and wide enough to include the nipples with some space on the outside.
6. Draw vertical lines from the nipples and mark where they intersect the chest cavity. Draw a curved line between these two points that touches the mid-chest point. You've completed the chest.
7. Draw a horizontal line about an eighth of a head below the navel. Locate the points where this line intersects the vertical lines from the nipples. Draw a curve line between these two points that includes the navel. This is the top of the pelvic bowl.
8. Draw curved lines from the two points made in step 7 down to the next point below the naval (the crotch). 
9. Complete the pelvic bowl by drawing drawing lines that are the top of the pelvic bone and making curved lines from the crotch point to the pelvic bones.
10. To locate the top of the leg bone, divide the line between the navel point and the crotch point into 3 equal parts. Slightly below the second part, make a horizontal line. Mark the two points where this line meets the vertical lines from the nipples. This is the top of the leg bones.
11. Starting at the points located in step 10,  draw short, slanted lines away from the pelvic bowl. Curve your lines sharply so that they become vertical and end at the point two head lengths from the bottom (the knee).
12. Add 2 lines for the lower legs with triangles for the feet.
13. To locate where to attach the arms, draw straight lines from the navel through each nipple. At the clavicle, draw lines almost horizontal, but slightly slanting upward.  Where these lines intersect will be the shoulders. Draw vertical lines from these 2 points to a length even with the crotch point. These are the wrists.
14. Draw a hand attached to each wrist. 

You've completed a proportional stick figure!

My Drawing Tutorials Drawing Human Proportions Using Stick Figures (17 minutes, 970K views)

Fine Art Tips How to Draw the Figure from the Imagination (11 minutes, 5.2M views)

Day 82: continuous line drawing

A continuous line drawing is simply drawing without lifting your pen/pencil from the paper. You can vary your line weight, but the idea is to draw what you see while keeping the pen in contact the paper

In her video, Continuous Line Contour Drawing Lesson (8 minutes, 780K views), Anna Stump demonstrates doing a continuous line portrait.

Day 83: the figure in perspective

David Finch How To Draw Figures in Perspective (31 minutes, 880K views)

My Drawing Tutorials How To Draw The Human Figure In Perspective (18 minutes, 348K views)

Day 84: the cartoon process

A version of the cartoon process is:

• brainstorm an idea for a cartoon
• sketch the idea
• refine the sketch and idea until you are satisfied (an eraser is your main refinement tool)
• ink the drawing
• color your cartoon

Here are a couple of cartoonist talking through parts of their cartooning process:

• J A Allen Chris Browne Cartooning Tips（6 minutes, 31K views)
• Bob Englehart How To Create Editorial Cartoons (4 minutes, 2.6K views)

I’ve included the video from the Day 80 nekojin to illustrate a cartoon process

Day 85: warm and cool colors

NPT Art Connection Comparing Warm and Cool Colors (1 minute, 358K views)

Sarah Renae Clark Use the Color Wheel & Color Harmonies to Choose Colors that Work Well Together (7 minutes, 1.4M views)

Day 86: line control

I suggest that you watch the first 6 minutes of Salgood Sam's Line Control Exercise (8 minutes, 20K views) since it gives you an insight on drawing from the wrist, the elbow, and shoulder.

Sam guides you through a process for drawing straight lines freehand. You might ask, "Why?". The answer is that making straight lines challenges your drawing "equipment" - if you draw from your wrist, you naturally make curved lines; to make a straight line your hand will need to compensate for the natural curve created by your wrist motion.  Sam also does an exercise for drawing a straight line from your elbow. Bottom line: making straight lines helps you realize that drawing requires eye-body coordination, not just eye hand coordination.

Do the following exercise:

• make a straight line with a ruler and a colored pencil
• make 5 freehand straight line using the ruled line as a guide drawing from the wrist
• make 5 freehand straight line using the ruled line as a guide drawing from the elbow
• make 5 freehand straight line using the ruled line as a guide drawing from the shoulder

Watch the first 9 minutes of Further notes on Grip! (10 minutes, 5.8K views). Sam demonstrates the flexibility that the tripod grip allows.  He also encourages you to relax your grip. In fact, a tight grip on your pencil might your body telling you to take a break.