Question about unfinished life drawings.

[bleupencil]

I have a bad habit of not being very finished with most of my drawings, find the sessions are too short most of the time because I'm either being too nitpicky and not working the whole drawing, or I didn't judge the size of my drawing properly when I started.

So a lot of them are left unfinished, and I was just wondering about the etiquette of this kind of thing when it comes to putting them in a folio.

Do you just leave them as they are?
Would it be too "sinful" to take the drawing home and work on it without the model, trying to render from memory?

I got a couple I did last night that I'd like to work on some more, so I'm just curious. Never actually thought to ask a teacher about this! *facepalm*

[Mike Mattesi]

Hi,

My advice would be

1. "Unfinished " is fine for the animation industry with a few that are finished. Even the unfinished drawings though should have a head, hands and feet. With the right drawing theory, you should be able to accomplish this in one minute drawings.
2. taking them home and working on them never seems to really work. The added areas feel added.

[Peachpitt]

Mr. Mattesi,
I love your books. I've learned a ton from them. I just wanted to say thanks for making them available.

[Squash-n-Stretch]

Would it be too "sinful" to take the drawing home and work on it without the model, trying to render from memory?



YES YES YES. May the hand fall off you if you do that. Life Drawing is not about having a beautiful piece at the end of the pose (if you want to be an animator) People who are hiring animators will look at your life drawing for

The GESTURE of the pose

Weight

Dynamism (if applicable)

They want to see what you have seen and managed to capture in the pose...they are not looking for pretty drawings. I will post some links later of some horribly unfinished drawings of mine...things like 10 second gesture poses to show you what I mean.

[bleupencil]

Ha ha! I'd rather leave them unfinished than lose my hands thankyouverymuch.

Thanks for answering, peeps. Makes me feel a bit less anxious about this issue.

[vicjperry]

A tough one! When I was in high school, (grade 12) my first two classes were art. (Grade 11 and 12 courses) When a model would sit, I'd have them rendered in about twenty minutes. My teacher didn't know what to do with me so she let me have the rest of that period, and the next off as the second class was with the same model.

I had her National Film board card which allowed me to borrow animated films, bring them to school, and I'd sit in the projection room and study the techniques on the screen.

To this day I kick my ass! Half the time I'd never make it back to the projection room! I'd jig as much as I could thinking my talent gave me a free pass to slack off! I was young and stupid, and was the art teacher's pet! Yes, I craved to animate but I watched techniques and never studied the fundamental basics; body mass, anatomy, easing, stretch and squash, etc.

Now, when I look back, I have so many regrets it's not funny. I have a hard time to draw things like hands and folds in clothing to this day, and the opportunity to learn to draw them was always right there in front of me.

I could always draw what I saw but never took the time to actually see what I was drawing.

I guess that's why I love doing cartoons so much. I can bull****. Nothing has to be perfect, it's only a cartoon. I was always good at drawing but never great! I needed to SEE more and realized that if I didn't quite know how to draw something, I gave up on it instead of kicking my ass, putting my nose to the grindstone, and figuring it out.

My free rides in high school got me absolutely nowhere and boy do I regret it. I had a seat in Art College waiting for me by my art teacher and I pissed it away. Never a day I don't regret it!

That was back when I was 19. (I quit for a year) Now I'm 46 and would love to get those years back. Oh how I wish!

Never give up on learning every possible thing you can when it comes to art. Too late for me but I hope this rant might inspire you. Do it and do it great!!!