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A bit about me - model drawing
🕑 Added 2024-10-14 14:28:38 +0000 UTCHey everyone!
Today I wanted to share something more about myself as an artist. Now this is something I haven’t really done so far, because this Patreon is of course about Space Rescue- and not really about me ;)
But the thing is- always towards the end of my 3-month development cycle, I run out of things to show. That’s because in these last weeks I’m just cleaning up files, exporting images, and do a lot of coding. Which is all pretty boring stuff to share.
So then I thought, maybe I should tell a bit more about myself- and about the path that lead me to making Space Rescue. Now I won’t bore you with every detail, but I’ll try to focus on some revelant parts of my past, that are more deirectly related to Space Rescue.
So, let’s give this a try!
How I learned drawing girls
Ever since I was a kid, I wanted to get better at drawing. And as I liked comics, I thought the best way to learn, was by copying characters from these comics. And so from then on I drew everything ranging from the the Hulk to Dragonball z characters – and eventually got quite good at that :)
But somehow tracing comic characters didn’t made me better at drawing my own characters. And this really frustrated me for the longest time.
You see, I was trying to find a commenality in all these different artstyles- some logic. But each comic artist had a different way of drawing eyes, muscles, hands etc. So which way of of drawing is correct- and how do I blend that into my own style? Well... I couldn’t figure it out.
(Something I drew from imagination at age 14 )
But each artsyle is of course an artist own interpertation of reality. And this made me realize that instead of copying others- I should really start drawing things from life- and from there find my own artstyle.
Playboy examples
So….I bought a bunch of playboys and started drawing naked girls :) Now his was around the time I started my study- and I kept drawing from playboys till after I gratuated. I must have draw hundreds of girls this way, and certainly improved my drawing skills.
But after a while I discovered that copying photo’s also had it’s limits. For example, it was especially difficult to understand how certain muscles or bodyfat would change when someone would take a different pose.
(I took this pose from a Playboy girl, and afterwards made an illustration out of it- ink on paper)
The model drawing club
So to get a better insight in how the body changes through different poses, I decided to join a local model drawing club. And from there on once a month, I would do two hours of live model drawing.
Now this was great! I’d be standing about two meters away from a naked girl, which I could now draw from any side I wanted. And by taking a walk around the model, or just by moving my head -I could now really see how things connected along the body. This his was great! And again my drawing got much better.
(These are a few of the poses I drew back then -Pencil on A3 paper)
You can see above that when I did my model drawing -I didn't add much 'artstyle' to my drawings. That was because it's important to draw wht you see first- and not draw how you want to make things look. Because this will hinder your learning process I think.
Now this was all good practice ... but the downside was that this model drawing class was intended for amateurs. And a model would often remain in the same pose for about an hour because that was the time needed for the average artist there to draw someone. But I was a bit more experienced, and I would be done after 10 minutes. Now for a while this was fine. But eventually I just wanted more practice.
My own model drawing club
And so I started my own model drawing club! And while doing so, I wanted create a modern model drawing club aimed at comic artist & game artist. I imagined having drawing sessions where models would swing swords, or shoot rayguns. And the poses should be short and interesting, so we could draw a dozen poses each session.
And that’s what I did!
I hired a studio, hired some models, and then I invited fellow artist to come and join the drawing sessions. My model drawing club was called ‘Schetssessie 2.0’ and I hosted 50 sessions over the time of 5 years. And this brought my drawing skills to the level where it’s now. And I didn't only learn by just drawing, but also from my fellow artist who joined. It was pretty great!
(Some poses I drew of 5 and 10 minutes. I colored the art afterwards with aquarelle)
(All drawing sessions had a theme, which would become visible through the decor & props for that session- which I mostly made myself. This is for example my own bike - to which I added a fake motorblock to make it fit to the steampunk session of that month. For more fun photo's checkout the social-pages of the sessions.)
Well, those were fun times! But in the end I handed over the drawing club to a friend of mine (who is still hosting monthly sessions) – and I decided use my aquired drawing skills to start making Space Rescue.
And the rest you know! Well, I hope you found this interesting - If so, then I'll tell you a bit more about myself in a few months again.
And meanwhile I'll just keep working on the next game-update!
All the best!
-Robin
Comments
Robin
My pleasure!
Robin
Oh! Zwolle? I grew up in the nearby city of Kampen, and know it well :) We also had a lot of people from Artez visiting our sessions (https://www.artez.nl/dit-is-artez/academies/art-design-zwolle) and at some point they tried to recreate it in Zwolle as well. But I'm not sure if it is still there. But perhaps you can check with people from Artez? Groet! Robin
ErikBloodaxe
Thanks Robin, always fun to read about the path people take to get where they are now. I checked out the Schetssessies2.0 , but found Breda just it a bit too far away, otherwise I would have loved to join sometime. If you have any tips about similar sessions near Zwolle, I'd be happy to hear them!
Dacer
Always interesting to get a peek behind the curtain! Thank you!
Robin
I see :) Well, I hope you find a course in that city then - it's certainly a good way to spend your time ;) Take care & all the best! -Robin
punchbandit
I need to, because I’m very out of practice! But sadly, no. The last time I did was during figure study courses back in college. As far as I know, there’s nothing like that in my town these days. Maybe the closest big city has better options! 🙂
Robin
Owww, thank you punchbandit! Live drawing sessions are indeed great! And I guess I just wanted to have more of that in my local city :D But it also brought together a lot of artist, which I loved too! Are you also drawing somewhere in your city? :) All the best!-Robin
punchbandit
It’s really cool you started your own drawing club. I envy your industriousness! Live drawing sessions are great experience.
Robin
Thanks Alfie, I'm glad you like it :)
Alfie
Very interesting to get a slight visual impression of your progress through your early years. Thanks vor Sharing!
Robin
And the drawings here don't show it here. But We also had models of all sorts of bodytypes and regions of the world. Also some male models too.
Robin
Yeah, I did pose myself too- as a costumed model that is. It so happens that models sometimes cancled very last minute, so then as being the host of the sessions I would step in myself. This happened 2 times I think. It's fun, but also very tiring! :)
Michael LaRowe
I really enjoyed this post. Did you ever pose for drawings at all? People draw all sorts of body types, after all
