tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38546627281061974452024-03-08T16:16:35.979+10:30Discovering The Structure of Man. Journal of an absolute beginner.Hello and welcome. My name is Simon aka "Ferret" and I have been an avid lover of various types of art for a long time. The thing is I can't draw, and for many years I have put off learning the basics. That brings me to the creation of this blog, it is going to be focused on the video lessons from the-structure-of-man site. I will be posting photos of my sketches and will briefly comment about them. It's simply to show my progress to anyone who's interested and maybe inspire you too.Simon aka "Ferret"http://www.blogger.com/profile/02042190087904457960noreply@blogger.comBlogger33125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3854662728106197445.post-87646031096146468362010-05-27T20:06:00.002+09:302010-05-27T20:16:02.183+09:30Flattery will get you everywhere!I got me a flattr button!Simon aka "Ferret"http://www.blogger.com/profile/02042190087904457960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3854662728106197445.post-29985986355883514772007-11-26T21:48:00.000+10:302007-11-26T21:56:30.625+10:30Life restarts!Yesssssss! Exams are over for another year and my 3 month vacation begins ;). I'm finally getting back into drawing, aikido (going to my first training session in over a year) and tin whistle practice, while also flirting with the idea of getting my bagpipe playing back up to par. Ahh, freedom, I've bulked up a fair bit, (since I spent so much time at uni going to the gym was trivial), gotten Simon aka "Ferret"http://www.blogger.com/profile/02042190087904457960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3854662728106197445.post-65515422623012917552007-08-31T20:23:00.000+09:302007-08-31T20:33:29.155+09:30It seems life has finally caught up with me...Well, not exactly. I'm busy as hell just not doing drawing (regrettably), my time is filled with uni (naturally), tin whistle practice, copious kanji memorisation, (I'm up to 470 WOOT! ;) ), and seriously bulking up again, at the uni gym that I had stopped doing earlier on in the year. With all this I have simply not had much time to squeeze in any dedication to sketching. This is not to say the Simon aka "Ferret"http://www.blogger.com/profile/02042190087904457960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3854662728106197445.post-72786359519593846212007-07-11T23:19:00.000+09:302007-07-11T23:33:21.556+09:30I'm back, FINALLY.Well, so much for my 2-3 weeks. I have hardly drawn since my last post, uni has been driving me around the bend with all the work and exams I've had to do, I swear at one point I was ready to melt down but I got through it without needing therapy afterwards so we're good. Well, after all this time of not drawing I have forgotten things, it was pretty much inevitable and was confirmed a few days Simon aka "Ferret"http://www.blogger.com/profile/02042190087904457960noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3854662728106197445.post-51715643730771243532007-06-03T00:22:00.000+09:302007-06-03T00:26:35.231+09:30Just to let you know I haven't given up.... yet.just so you know, no I'm not dead (although I wish I were at this point in time) I'm just completely overloaded with work. So I have absolutely no time to draw damnit! Will be starting back up with a vengence in about 2-3 weeks time (probably 3). By then exams will have finnished, lecturers will be marking most of my answers wrong, and I will (If I haven't already) be in the process of having my Simon aka "Ferret"http://www.blogger.com/profile/02042190087904457960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3854662728106197445.post-67847372466223187492007-05-19T22:19:00.000+09:302007-05-19T22:59:18.868+09:30Lesson 95 - 103 -ishAnother week has passed and I've done virtually no sketching in that time apart from a few sketches from life. Since I think they're crap and badly done I won't be showing them here, BUT I have done a fair few SOM lessons. This time we're looking at the face front-on and moving from the muscles to a near finnished product. I remembered to take progress shots after each lesson, it looks pretty Simon aka "Ferret"http://www.blogger.com/profile/02042190087904457960noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3854662728106197445.post-12623226689557671892007-05-11T22:27:00.001+09:302007-05-11T22:43:14.446+09:30Lesson 91-94 The ears, lips, and moving the mouth.Well after more than a couple of weeks filled with uni work, I've finally gotten back to the lessons. Practice in the intervening time has been little to nil so I have virtually nothing to show for it (although I DO have numerous assignments and tests finnished that wern't done crappily so I feel no guilt). I have been so frustrated with the eyes I just haven't had the will to pick up the Simon aka "Ferret"http://www.blogger.com/profile/02042190087904457960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3854662728106197445.post-78483119209352548402007-04-27T23:41:00.000+09:302007-05-19T23:26:30.122+09:30Lesson 90: The eyes, 3/4 view, What nightmare is this?!???Well, the eyes...... &^%$^#$!@#!@*$^@%$#$!!! Putting these fuckers on the head was a fucking nightmare. This is probably the first time I have actually been lost since I started these tutorials. Riven didn't explain any method for placing the eyes depending on the angle or any some such just suddenly there were eyes. I just couldn't figure where or how to place the damn eyeballs in the skulls eyeSimon aka "Ferret"http://www.blogger.com/profile/02042190087904457960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3854662728106197445.post-32166851201187791942007-04-22T20:00:00.000+09:302007-04-22T20:05:05.168+09:30Lesson 89: The eye, front and side.The eye, a little complicated but not as bad as I thought, will need some practice though so I don't mess up the top and bottom eyelids, they require some particular curves.Simon aka "Ferret"http://www.blogger.com/profile/02042190087904457960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3854662728106197445.post-57378185448683613002007-04-21T17:01:00.000+09:302007-04-22T15:13:46.400+09:30Lesson 86-88: Some Introspection & The noseSince I've been looking back on all my work recently it has been quite exhilarating to see how far I've come in such a short time. If you hadn't noticed, all the blogs previously were done over a period of 3-4 days to help catch up on the work I had done so far. From here on I will try to write my blogs as I progress through my "Structure of Man" lessons. If you've read this from the beginning , Simon aka "Ferret"http://www.blogger.com/profile/02042190087904457960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3854662728106197445.post-91484869987913376632007-04-21T16:35:00.000+09:302007-04-22T15:07:02.378+09:30Lesson 75-85 The muscles of the faceWell after long last we are moving onto the real in depth parts. I'm afraid there are no progressive shots of my work so what you will see below is just a huge lump of progress. This work took up to about a week, each lesson outlined 1-3 sets of muscles up to a total of 16 (22 if you consider that most were doubled up cos they appeared on each side of the face). Riven conveniently named each Simon aka "Ferret"http://www.blogger.com/profile/02042190087904457960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3854662728106197445.post-39206976533008617552007-04-21T15:32:00.000+09:302007-04-22T15:02:41.016+09:30Leeson 73, 74: Completion; The basic structure of man discoveredThis was more than just a eureka moment for me. I was almost afraid to finish the complete skeleton. Don't ask me why but a tiny part of my mind said to me that this achievement was never meant to happen. After calm reasoning with my inner demons I told the little voice inside me to shut the fuck up, did lessons and drew my skeleton in its entirety. Riven at this point didn't really need to tell Simon aka "Ferret"http://www.blogger.com/profile/02042190087904457960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3854662728106197445.post-74266237729337298032007-04-21T15:01:00.000+09:302007-04-22T14:14:19.417+09:30Lesson 67-72: The handTo say I learned alot from these lessons is an understatement, I enjoyed every second of these lessons. Even though the hand was quite complicated, it just all came together so easily, the formulas were very simple for the kind of complex structure that the hand is. After I drew out a study of my first hand I was quite shocked at how similar it looked to a real skeletal hand, I may be over Simon aka "Ferret"http://www.blogger.com/profile/02042190087904457960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3854662728106197445.post-82164039076319658602007-04-21T14:46:00.000+09:302007-04-22T14:10:53.913+09:30Lesson 65 and 66: FlowI couldn't actually find any sketches to show for this so just take me on faith. There wasn't much to show anyway, it was simply a new way of approaching the eight head formula at views other than front on. I'm pretty sure this is to prime me up for drawing in 3d at any angle but I was sort of too busy champing at the bit to get to the hands. It was valuable stuff though and I still followed Simon aka "Ferret"http://www.blogger.com/profile/02042190087904457960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3854662728106197445.post-20530021173667918062007-04-21T14:24:00.000+09:302007-04-22T14:04:54.398+09:30Lesson 61-64: The radius and UlnaThough these bones may seem innocuous and easy to follow they're on par with understanding the pelvis in my opinion. Drawing these things in the right fashion has been a hard slog. Since each bone is wider and shorter at different ends it has been hard to pin down in my mind where each goes, coupled with the fact that the buggers twist when you move your hand and such. The way it is set out is Simon aka "Ferret"http://www.blogger.com/profile/02042190087904457960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3854662728106197445.post-27001796932992505592007-04-20T20:55:00.000+09:302007-04-22T14:02:54.546+09:30Lesson 58, 59, and 60: the foot 3d, clavicle and humerousI decided to group these three together since I drew most of them on the same piece of paper and its a bit time consuming making a separate post for each. Drawing the foot in 3d was pretty cool, Riven pretty much outlined the approach for drawing anything in 3d once you have a front and side view of an object, its was a very powerful yet simple technique to make any front and side view into a 3d Simon aka "Ferret"http://www.blogger.com/profile/02042190087904457960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3854662728106197445.post-19175154179242833972007-04-20T18:28:00.000+09:302007-04-22T13:54:40.650+09:30Lesson 57: Another milestone, the eureka moment.As the post implies its another milestone and this time for very good reson, we now fave a full body , standing skeleton. This only leaves the arms and hands! Just thinking about the last parts makes me salivate :) It all comes together so well, some of you may be thinking, meh, you're just drawing whats on the monitor in front of you. Untrue. All my lined paper sketches are done without Simon aka "Ferret"http://www.blogger.com/profile/02042190087904457960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3854662728106197445.post-3823282474623318222007-04-20T18:08:00.000+09:302007-04-21T16:09:20.323+09:30Lesson 52-56: The footAfter taking it easy for a week or so and just consolidating what had been learnt so far, I got back into it and started focusing on the foot. The foot in itself took about a week of practice to get used to. Like the pelvis, it was a funny looking thing and you will notice it is almost nothing like the foot bones of a human, it is instead a blocky foot. The squiggles in the middle were probably Simon aka "Ferret"http://www.blogger.com/profile/02042190087904457960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3854662728106197445.post-26788903724923918062007-04-20T17:13:00.000+09:302007-04-21T14:06:28.524+09:30Lesson 48-51: The tibia and fibulaThe tibia and fibula were pretty easy to get under my belt. After lesson 47 I was getting pretty psyched to get the rest of the skeleton finnished. At this point of the process of drawing the skeleton I really wanted to get more of the skeleton done but my mind was always wary of new things, it seemed that as soon as I'd learned to draw something new I'd get pushed out of my comfort zone (which Simon aka "Ferret"http://www.blogger.com/profile/02042190087904457960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3854662728106197445.post-24423028249796548952007-04-20T16:45:00.000+09:302007-04-21T01:48:12.527+09:30Lesson 47: O_O Is my pencil dancing on the page??!!?Lesson 47 deserves a special mention all it's own. Lesson 47 blew me away. Riven introduced a way way of approaching drawing, and that was not drawing while listening to music but more drawing in the moment, taking the stimulus from your ears and drawing like you're singing, using the external stimulus to drive the pencil in your hand. I could not compliment Riven enough for doing this lesson. SoSimon aka "Ferret"http://www.blogger.com/profile/02042190087904457960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3854662728106197445.post-15756949822319329282007-04-20T16:38:00.000+09:302007-04-20T21:08:08.549+09:30Lesson 44-46 The femurThese bones were fairly easy to lock down and remember. No problems with this at all I'm happy to report. Sometimes the natural like curve can be hard to get down right but its not really a big deal, just making sure where the bone joins the pelvis is important. Keeping an eye on that is the most important.I'm doubling up on posting some photos because I've reused the paper for further work but Simon aka "Ferret"http://www.blogger.com/profile/02042190087904457960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3854662728106197445.post-55543446475383442172007-04-20T16:04:00.000+09:302007-04-20T19:02:57.639+09:30Lesson 38-43: The pelvisThe pelvis was a funny bone to work with, especially if you've never familiarised yourself with it beforehand. Considering that I had hardly ever seen a pelvis bone, either in pictures or in real life it was a bit of a struggle trying to get my head around what I was drawing. In retrospect, I'd have loved to get my hands on a pelvis bone so that some of the mystery was removed. That said I still Simon aka "Ferret"http://www.blogger.com/profile/02042190087904457960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3854662728106197445.post-67763525795017442062007-04-19T23:10:00.000+09:302007-04-20T18:40:55.386+09:30Lesson 30-37 The spine, ribcage and sacram.OOOkay. I'm taking a bit of a leap here because I found that a few of these lessons built up on each other, ie. the previous lesson's work was used as a foundation for further work. This was a good thing otherwise I would have been fiddling around with ribs and spine and all sorts would have been getting in the way of the real learning. Just a quick side note, it is at about this point that I Simon aka "Ferret"http://www.blogger.com/profile/02042190087904457960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3854662728106197445.post-17705369231656161202007-04-19T22:23:00.000+09:302007-04-20T17:26:06.861+09:30Lesson 25-29: The scapula, fitting it to the chest cavity.So far my labours have been focused, passionate, but inevitably hard, until this point. The scapula, to put it simply, is a pleasure to draw. This is the first point during all this drawing that I slipped into drawing something purely for the pleasure of it. Its strange, there were many occasios that I just took up a pencil and started drawing the scapula, just for fun :) Riven makes mention Simon aka "Ferret"http://www.blogger.com/profile/02042190087904457960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3854662728106197445.post-10174387367323058212007-04-19T22:15:00.000+09:302007-04-20T16:00:09.202+09:30Lesson 20-24 The chest cavity.Since the chest cavity had already been explored in a general sense, I skimmed through these lessons quite quickly and didn't do a great deal of practice on them. You may have noticed a few more sophisticated chest cavity in previous images, aside from that I have a few pages with some more practice sketches of the chest in 3d. Making the stretch from 2d to 3d was a bit difficult at first but Simon aka "Ferret"http://www.blogger.com/profile/02042190087904457960noreply@blogger.com0