Pencil Points

     To the right is a simple diagram of three pencil points that I know of. I'm sure there are more.



      I've attempted the flat head (1) with a Prismacolor Premier graphite pencil, but it’s too thick (~5mm) and too hard for that sort of drawing. A charcoal pencil (2mm) might be a better choice.

      A sharpened point (2) is what I’ve been using so far. It’s the easiest to get and work with, though it makes shading difficult (a tortillon helps with that).

  

     The more common shape I’ve been seeing is a sort of rounded edge (3) used by Vilppu, Proko, and Karl Gnass. The idea is to round the graphite in such a way that the more you tilt it, the thicker the line you draw. If you hold it in the normal, calligraphic, over-the-palm way, you might as well be drawing with (2). So, they recommend artists hold their pencils under-palm in a manner Karl Gnass demonstrates in this video. A thin line can be achieve without tilting the pencil on its head by simply turning the pencil like a paintbrush. Drawing in this way also helps to keep the pencil sharp, which improves workflow.

     The problem is—and I’m sure I’ve said this before—learning to hold the pencil under-palm is like learning how to draw all over again. I guess it would be easier if I’d been working with paintbrushes up until now. I can appreciate the purpose of this exercise. The point is not to think of the pencil as putting ‘ah line on teh page,’ but as a tool for making marks, so you ought to get comfortable with holding it in whatever way makes the mark you want. It’s easy to learn this with brushes, since we were never taught how to hold them in the first place. So you see people holding brushes like pencils and sometimes holding them like a chopstick and tilting them in whatever direction to paint in that direction. A good sketch artist has to learn to do that with a pencil.

      But it’s a pain in the ass, and I might save time in the long run by practicing it now, but that would make learning the rest of this stuff (anatomy, planes, and shading) more difficult. So, I’ve decided to put it off until I’m comfortable with the more encyclopedic details. I’ll reach a point (and I’m almost there) where I’ll look at my figures and think, ‘The construction is accurate, but the texture makes this a sloppy representation.’ That’s when I’ll be done learning construction and be able to focus fully on technique.

Arm Muscle Origins and Insertions

Below is a recap of what I've learned about the construction of the arm.

The biggest bother for me has been the brachioradialis. When the forearm is pronated but the brachioradialis is relaxed, the muscle seems to fold in a bizarre fashion that threw me until I revisited Eliot Goldfinger's book. This muscle will take some getting used to, but I think I have the rest of the arm pretty well memorized. Once I focused my attention to the influence that epicondyles had on the behavior of flexors and extensors, everything clicked. But when I attempted to show this visually by drawing it, I decided it would be clearer to simply describe the origins and insertions with text. So, below is a short list of what I now know about the surface muscles of the arm. I'll be referring back to this list for future figures, but I consider my study of the shoulder and elbow to be more-or-less complete. What remains is to work the knowledge into future figures so that I truly understand how these muscles move.

For the next week, I'll study the hand and try to memorize the names of the mess of flexors and extensors in the forearm.

Scapula

Height = Half the height of head.

Width = Approximately width of head.

Supraspinatus (Deep) originates on medial edge of scapula above spine of scapula and inserts through acromion process onto top of head of humerus.

Infraspinatus originates below spine of scapula on media edge down to Teres Major and inserts onto head of humerus.

Teres Minor originates between Infraspinatus and Teres Major on lateral edge of scapula and inserts onto head of humerus, below Infraspinatus.

Teres Major originates on medial end of bottom of scapula and inserts onto opposite side of humerus (~1/4 way down).

Humerus

Length = Height of head.

Deltoid -- Posterior origins start at edge of Trapezius (~1/8 way down spine of scapula), Acromial origins wrap across acromial process, Anterior origins end 1/3 of way across clavicle. Each inserts onto deltoid tuberosity (opposite radial groove).

Triceps -- Lateral and Medial heads originate ~1/6 of way down humerus, Long head originates from lateral edge of scapula, next to Teres Minor. Each inserts onto olecranon process (elbow). Triceps tendon starts ~1/3 way down humerus, creating noticeable flat indentation down to elbow when strained.

Biceps -- Both originate from coracoid process and insert onto radial tuberosity (just past head of radius). Long head originates through intertubercular groove.

Coracobrachialis originates from coracoid process and inserts into radial groove (opposite deltoid tuberosity, 1/2 way down humerus).

Brachialis originates 1/2 way down anterior humerus, just below deltoid tuberosity), and inserts just past olecranon process onto ulna.

Pronator Teres originates from medial epicondyle of humerus and inserts 1/2 way down radius. Twisting of forearm strains Pronator Teres, which in turn pulls on Bicipital Aponeurosis (stretching biceps).

Ulna

Length = Height of head.

Shape = Slight S-curve

Does not rotate.

Compresses muscles during extreme flexion of forearm.

Radius

Length = Height of head.

Shape = Slight C-curve

Rotates around ulna.

Brachioradialis + Extensor Carpi Radialis Longus both originate from lateral epicondyle of humerus to ~1/4 up humerus, between triceps and brachialis. Bracioradials inserts onto radial styloid process. Radialis Longus inserts onto posterior side of index metacarpal.

Flexor group (fingers) originates from medial epicondyle of humerus and inserts onto styloid process of ulna across onto posterior center of wrist.

Extensor group (fingers) originates from lateral epicondyle of humerus and inserts onto styloid process of radius across anterior wrist onto styloid process of ulna.

(Both epicondyles of humerus pull groups upon flexion and push groups upon extension of forearm.)

Abductor Pollicis Longus and Brevis originate 1/2 of way up radius (spanning 1/3 of radius) and insert past head of ulna onto end of thumb.

Arm Constructions

A few arm constructions with guidance from Hampton and Vilppu. Not as many as I'd like, but enough work for two days. I think a few more days on arms are in order.

Self-critique 2

     I haven’t had anyone seriously critique my work since high school. After that introductory course, I’ve had no formal training. The next best critic is myself. Who better to point out my shortcomings? It’s almost impossible for me to hurt my feelings. Later on, when I start making full-color digital compositions, I'll start an account on Conceptart.org. Speaking of which, I'll be needing a better computer tower....

     The pattern is pretty clear. Now that I’ve got a good idea of where muscles are located and what the names of bones are, I have to study joints. The following list is in chronological order, but the order may change. Afterwards, I’ll study hands, feet, and faces.

Wrist

Elbow

Shoulder (Scapula)

Neck

Pelvis (Acetabulum)

Knee (Patella)

Ankle

Figures - Indirect Lighting

     These are figures drawn with a tortillon and Prismacolor graphite pencils. Naturally, the curvature is highly exaggerated. On my next go, I’ll use Vilppu as a guide for understating the midtones. I have a feeling it will be a somewhat less than graceful transition, much like my move from construction to shading. You’ll notice the musculature poking through the figures. That’s because I still haven’t mastered visualization; I automatically put down the construction lines even when I don’t need them. I’ll grow out of it eventually.

     You can tell I’m still having trouble with the pelvis and all the muscles that connect to it. This is good because it’s just the one problem structure, but bad because that structure happens to be the centerpiece of every pose.

     I’ve surprised myself with the look of these figures, but their small size is prohibiting true detail.  I have no choice at this point but to do full-page figures (then again, I can always draw individual body parts in larger scale). Vilppu had giant post-it easel pads. All I have are 9 x 12” sheets, and I’m not about to buy anything bigger until I’m certain to use it properly. That being said, I’ve been ordering all of this from Amazon, and I think I’ll browse the local Michaels store for interesting tools and media.  

     This exercise was simple. Vilppu repeatedly instructs: “Do not copy the model; analyze it.” When drawing a pose, I kept catching myself copying surface shapes rather than constructing the form of the model. So, what you see below are gestures taken from sight (with a few important landmarks), then I put the photos away and the rest of the figure was done from memory or knowledge of anatomy. At this stage, I should probably switch back to analyzing from sight, but for future reference, the idea is to achieve this kind of accuracy from as simple a gesture as possible.

     I tried to understate the midtones in figures 9 and 10. 9 came out fine, but 10 was an awkward pose to begin with.