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Practice and Challenge

Posted: Dec 20th, '17, 23:24
by February
Story time! I don't have deviantArt any longer, but back when I did I was forever taking part in Character Challenges that required you to draw certain expressions or situations. They were awesome for character design, because you could really nail their personal reactions as well as their physical traits!
It was also good practice in expressions/expressive gesture art.
Now I use a random stock photo generator that pulls up a photograph, and tasks you to draw it within a set time (1-5 min).

I want to practice and challenge myself - right now I feel like I draw the same thing each time and am making no progress at all.

Do you guys have any go-to challenges, or tasks that you complete? Or even any habits, like a daily study?

Re: Practice and Challenge

Posted: Dec 25th, '17, 23:00
by WishingMoon
I tend to do more classic studies, probably because I teach them. That makes a huge impact on my habits.

At the same time, I've fallen out of the habit of practicing as I'm much more focused on embroidery than other types of art.

Right now I'm having fun with fan art while still trying to maintain the basics. So I'll draw anime characters in realist proportions using lots of references and self-modeling. I'm also studying faces of people I like such as youtubers and setting a 10-minute time limit.

I had a moment this summer of painting landscapes using public domain images. I neglect color a lot so this was good for me.

Re: Practice and Challenge

Posted: Jan 3rd, '18, 01:34
by February
@WishingMoon: Classic studies are great, I want to try them this year! My composition and my use of values could do with some serious work, so I think it would help a lot.

All of my reference studies are from photos, stock artists like @kxhara for anatomy and pinterest photography for more painting-based work (since those photos are all edited and pretty already >_>).
I definitely use some self modelling, but mainly for hands. I am too self-conscious for taking photos of myself in the poses I need, though I wish I wasn't.

Landscapes are something that I only focus on when watching Bob Ross, so I have a serious lack of understanding >__> I think some pre-ren and renaissance classics studies might be good for this, I've always enjoyed studying their portrait backgrounds back in college.