Hello. I have been a teacher and an artist, sometimes both, for most of my life. Talented artists often make poor teachers of art. You seem to be good at both. Great work. Keep it up.
Blocking in, or what I sometimes just call "basic shapes", is, to me, THE big "secret" to drawing. Once you can do that, everything else is literally just details.
@@o82774 that’s not really true and even then, that’s what the details and proportions are for. Blocking isn’t always to do with realistic proportions. You can do it for literally everything, but how they end up is up to you
Recently tried this for the first time when doing a sketch of my wife holding a camera. Drawing the camera was very intimidating because it looked like a sillouette and I couldn't get the contours right. Blocking-in made that experience such a breeze and actually made it an enjoyable process. One of those "Why an am I only learning this now?" moments.
Kindly turn on the ‘closed captioning’ option for those of us who are hearing impaired. 🙏🏻 We don’t want to miss any of your valuable information! Great tutorial; looking forward to seeing you more often. 😊
Hi Alphonso! I like the enthusiastic way you explain things. This makes me listening (and looking) and in the case “of blocking in” it shows me what art is all about. It’s nothing mechanical. It’s reasoning and feeling and looking and experiencing ....
You say 'learning to see' I too have been a teacher and an artist for most of my life ,I am well into my seventies now, spot on! Strange expression that, but you know what I mean. Respect.
This video is gold. Thank you so much for encouraging me. I always get a bit discouraged when it takes me awhile to establish my figure the way I like it. I have to keep reminding myself that art is a process and not every step is going to look like a masterpiece.
It's so much easier to draw straight lines than to start with curves. Curves are changing direction in two ways at once, but with a straight line you're just dealing with one angle. It's magical the way the organic shape emerges bit by bit from the straight lines as they build up - really fun and makes me feel like I can do this. Thank you for the excellent lesson.
Thanks for the reminder. I've wasted plenty of time going into detail early and trying to adapt a pose to a face. My approach is something I really need to focus on.
A THIRD BOOK !!!???!!! I CANT WAIT TO BUY IT !!! I have the first two and they have helped me tremendously. I excited about a new book !!! Thank you for all your help. My art is so much better due to you.
This was something I originally did when I learned to improve my skills. Never knew it had a name. Knowing is half the battle and now I know. Thank you!
Just bought your books and they are already putting me back on track to getting back into drawing, rediscovering my own talent and the joy of drawing. Thank you.
Thank you for this wonderful artist and teacher. It is the first time I have someone who gives his all in his teaching. Too many you tube lessons do not explain properly. I am trying to master portraits. After watching Alphonsus lessons, I can now understand the facial proportions for the first time. You are a gifted artist and a wonderful passionate teacher. I hope you continue on you tube.
Hey!! Just wanted to say i like the shorter vids!! I usually put most videos in my "watch later" playlist and end up never actually watching them. The fact this one is shorter helped me not procrastine and watch it now. So i hope you'll keep making shorter vids in the future as well!
Thanks for the vids! Love the block in process. Something that has helped me is to work in 15 minute segments on the block in, taking a break and coming back with fresh eyes.
Yes, please do some more videos on blocking in, top, bottom, side, , mid points, the triangle. I really have difficulty with the blocking in. I started gridding to get more accurate but that is very time consuming. I just wasn't getting the blocking in concept, and was using complicated negative space and other measuring methods.
Mr Alphonso I must say I admire your teaching it's quite easy to follow. I was wondering if you could do the insert and origins of anatomy and discussing the important ones to focus because I other RUclipsrs don't seem to do it as often nor easy as you.
Wow! Thanks for this. I knew that drawings were sort of “built” but, I didn’t understand the process. This makes everything so much clearer now. Thank you!
that's the best advice I've ever heard! I always was stumbling around at the beginning with the need to have something on paper to refine but usually I just had to refine crap and as you've said you can't correct those structual mistakes! Thank Alphonso! o/
Hi, Alphonso, I've been a fan of your videos for a few years now. I actually like the short videos, I can watch them when I only have a little bit of time (like now).
Absolutely wonderful tutoring by a great tutor! Joyous, crystal clear and an invitation to 'see' better in order to draw more sympathetically. I teach music and I often say 'I am going to help you learn to listen!' - here is a video which is encouraging us to grasp the need 'to see'. in order to draw. Terrific! Thank you very much.
I’m glad you took the time you needed to, for you. Your content is so helpful and I’m really glad you popped up on my feed today, because I’d been thinking about your tutorials about drawing rock formations and how they’ve helped me, for the first time in my life, to draw rocks that look like rocks, rather than like grey jellybeans. I just ordered both of your books. Thanks for being such a treasure in the art world!
I love watching and learning from you although as a beginner it can take me a while to 'get it' so I have to keep going over the lessons - if it is worth learning, it is worth learning right!! I have been missing the basics and it shows with my sketching. I have both of your books and will keep practicing. I can't wait to see your next book. Please keep doing your great work!
Thank you very much!😃 I've been struggling with getting out from the standard proportions and so on these days and that is holding me down in an endless cycle of 3/4, front, profile, etc. I'm learning a lot from you 😄
I understand what you are conveying from this video as I was begginer too, I'm still not a pro but I do understood the concept of complex to simple shape drawing, it really essential as it helps to look at figures and pose reference simply, specially to break them up and simplify them
I know this video is from a bit ago, but I absolutely love this technique and just realised I have been using it for my (realistic) drawings and some character art for years. A little something I used to do in the beginning, when I had too little practise to recognise the shape right away (prompted by an animal-drawing course in the zoo) is to map out the outer points/edges of your subjects to get the dimensions and then do the same thing going inwards. So basically, creating the block in shape by connecting corners and distinct details sticking out. Maybe this helps as a way for beginners (as I was) to train both their perception and ease them in slowlier? (and even now to keep the dimensions in mind!)
Thank you Alphonso! As I'm getting more and more into drawing, I slowly began to understand the importance of blocking in a drawing. Since I'm still in the beginning stages of learning to draw, my current mindset of focusing on details is holding me back. After seeing this video it all became so clear to me, I found myself enjoying this part of the drawing process since It is so simple, it's fun to build up the image, and I feel more satisfied with my drawings than ever before. I look forward to seeing the next video further showing how important blocking in a drawing. Keep up the good work! 😊
Very much along the lines of the Bargue Method. Very true that people push for detail far too soon most of the time and that is like building a house on sand.
Great video man, been drawing most of my life. I'm completely self taught & this is a cool technique. I wished I would have known about this yrs ago, I don't draw very much anymore for various reasons. If I do I will def play around with this idea, ty!!
Alphonso, thank you for this video. Hearing about you wanting to do this full time excites me. You really are a teacher who provides unique information and instruction at their highest quality.
Just purchased your books Bro! Often times it's easier to break learning down into short bursts vice 45 minute videos. Thanks for the short videos. Keep it up!! :D
Thank you for this video. I have been drawing for decades and I watch drawing videos almost everyday. This just might be the most helpful video I've ever seen you earned a sub today thank you so much! 🔥✏
Great tutorial. Just wish I could have the same ability to see perspective and proportion. I could never draw the hand of that subject you are drawing at the right proportional size to match the rest of the arm and the head. Also am glad that you are back to doing what you do best, teaching and creating great art, despite evert thing else that is happening. Hope you find peace soon.
Always called it "roughing in" myself, because I so rarely actually used many blocks... haha... BUT that kinda depends on what one is exactly drawing at the time, and some iconic shapes don't always do as good a job for their subjects as one might expect... SO it's helpful (sometimes) to make terms a bit more generic... Take a tree, for example. As a wood-worker with LOTS of hand-tools, I have to know which way to push a plane... go against the grain, and instead of a silky smooth finish, you get something more like a wooden "Brill-O Pad" all frizzy and full of splinters. I KNOW that trees grow in cones from the ground up, and the oldest wood of the tree, in the "heart" is just the thinnest of the cones... AND even for conifers, children frequently use cones as the shape they suppose works for what they see, drawing Christmas Trees... BUT sketching out a cone isn't as useful as it would seem... It can help, and it's certainly rougher than the finished product, but branches grow in accordance to the amount of sunlight they can catch, so no trees are quite going to conform to an ordinary cone in shape... For a "Christmas Tree" with character, it's more lively to start with a series of spheres instead, shrinking in size and at some point around the mid-height, stacking a cone on top is a little more reliably the actual shape of the conifer... Then you still have to look at the branches and make assessments of the smaller structures (needles and tufts) to develop the character of the branches... If the needles are stiff, the branches will seem more erect and spikey... If the needles are loose and dangle, then the branches will seem loose and more "hairy" or softer. A deciduous (broadleaf) tree, on the other hand, may best be a cylinder with several spheres and eggs gathered randomly at the top, or it might be better established like a mushroom or toad-stool, with an inverted cone atop the cylinder... and others may not need the cylinder at all, with trunks that diverge from nearly ground level... AND so far, not even one tree that I've drawn would work out well from blocks... haha... Still, not to bust balls on anyone's account. It's just kinda funny how terms get evolved into "the business" as opposed to how any individual might dubiously and arbitrarily make nomenclature from the individual experience and journey... In any case, it's kinda fun, while we in the "self taught" bunch are looking to "shore up" our basics and structure, to find out there isn't some earth shaking new whole category of techniques we've been missing... but rather a nomenclature we just hadn't thought of using for whatever reason. ;o)
Alphonso, i know how hard it can be to manage the main elements in one's life, balancing them like plates on sticks sometimes - just stay focused and press on. Thanks for all the wealth of information you pass on so generously. God bless you man. (ps: Have your book - love it, looking forward to another).
Love your videos sir. Have both your books and bought one for a friend. Delighted there will be a third, you have so much knowledge and are a good teacher. Thank you
Thank you kindly for sharing your experience and wonderful work and art with us I'm looking forward to your next book just recently bought the workbook and love both of the books very valuable learning tools and so much more would love to have the option of a spiral bound edition. Thank you again for sharing your time
Thank you Alphonso, your videos have helped me learn to see things in a different perspective and then I'm able to draw the object (usually nature scenes) more realistically. You break things down so everyone can understand and then demonstrate. Can't wait for the new book to add to my collection.
The first chapter of Samantha Youssef's figure drawing book Movement & Form is all about blocking in! It talks about the importance of seeing those simple shapes and then sculpting from them as an exercise to train you on how to see and observe your subjects. Sorry to plug someone else's book Alphonso but I did order one of yours last night😊(because Samantha recommended sketch booking in ink)
Will you do a video showing us how to block in? I’m trying especially to understand what you mean about not having to worry about proportions when there’s foreshortening while you’re blocking in? But could really use some help with how to block in more effectively. Thanks so much for considering.
I look for what are called plumb lines. Look at relationships and what shapes might meet along horizontals and verticals. But a lot of blocking in is simply trusting that the ‘flat’ shape you see is actually what’s there; foreshortening in particular creates weird flat shapes that really challenge what you think things should look like. In terms of proportions it’s much easier to measure the relative sizes of the smaller forms that unify to make the whole than say, tracing contours. Hope that helps.
I have both of your books ! And let me just say that it’s REALLY helpful , new and fun thing to do ! 100% guarantee . That being said can’t wait until your next book (hoping you working on a new one)
As always, thank you for sharing your immense knowledge and talent with others. Truly appreciate it! And the blocking in process is most difficult for me. Thank you for reinforcing that technique. All the best to you! 🤗
Thank you very much mr. Alphonso for this great video. I realy hope to be able to buy your books some day. All your videos are very helpful and very inspiring too. Another video about blocking-in would be realy great.
![Twenty One Pilots - The Line (from Arcane Season 2) [Official Audio]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/XCz7WUotXs8/mqdefault.jpg)
Hello. I have been a teacher and an artist, sometimes both, for most of my life. Talented artists often make poor teachers of art. You seem to be good at both. Great work. Keep it up.
Blocking in, or what I sometimes just call "basic shapes", is, to me, THE big "secret" to drawing. Once you can do that, everything else is literally just details.
I am new to this. But I agree. Learned the hard way.
Thank you
It can also be a way to get trapped into prefab looking, generic, creatively stagnant, soulless rendering.
@@o82774 ehhh basic shapes are a part of almost all art it won’t get generic if you don’t allow it to
@@o82774 that’s not really true and even then, that’s what the details and proportions are for. Blocking isn’t always to do with realistic proportions. You can do it for literally everything, but how they end up is up to you
Recently tried this for the first time when doing a sketch of my wife holding a camera. Drawing the camera was very intimidating because it looked like a sillouette and I couldn't get the contours right. Blocking-in made that experience such a breeze and actually made it an enjoyable process.
One of those "Why an am I only learning this now?" moments.
Better late than never. Glad you discovered how useful it is 🙂
What gifts you have and am I grateful!! I’m a few steps above a beginner but at 85, am in a hurry. Thank you.
Kindly turn on the ‘closed captioning’ option for those of us who are hearing impaired. 🙏🏻 We don’t want to miss any of your valuable information! Great tutorial; looking forward to seeing you more often. 😊
🙏🙂
@@alphonsodunn - Wondering if you were able to have the ‘copycat’ cease & desist? 🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻
Hard to believe, but it is still on going. Will talk about it when I can 🤐
@@alphonsodunn whoa its been months. Good luck Alphonso! :)
@@hissyfitz7890 can i ask you a question?
Hi Alphonso! I like the enthusiastic way you explain things. This makes me listening (and looking) and in the case “of blocking in” it shows me what art is all about. It’s nothing mechanical. It’s reasoning and feeling and looking and experiencing ....
Watched this again. I am now blocking in most of my drawings. Thanks Alphonso.
You say 'learning to see' I too have been a teacher and an artist for most of my life ,I am well into my seventies now, spot on! Strange expression that, but you know what I mean. Respect.
This video is gold. Thank you so much for encouraging me. I always get a bit discouraged when it takes me awhile to establish my figure the way I like it. I have to keep reminding myself that art is a process and not every step is going to look like a masterpiece.
I'll start practicing this technique in my drawings. I hope you'll continue doing more tutorials like this one. Thanks, Alphonso.
Most definitely
Good job.
I'm guilty of skipping to details. Mainly because that's what I assumed what professional artists do. Thank you for sharing this.
Block form construction brings order out of chaos. That's what I tell my students. Good video. Thanks.
It's so much easier to draw straight lines than to start with curves. Curves are changing direction in two ways at once, but with a straight line you're just dealing with one angle. It's magical the way the organic shape emerges bit by bit from the straight lines as they build up - really fun and makes me feel like I can do this. Thank you for the excellent lesson.
Thanks for the reminder. I've wasted plenty of time going into detail early and trying to adapt a pose to a face. My approach is something I really need to focus on.
Just watched again. Now I’m using horizon lines and attempting blocking in. Thanks Alphonso.
A THIRD BOOK !!!???!!! I CANT WAIT TO BUY IT !!! I have the first two and they have helped me tremendously. I excited about a new book !!! Thank you for all your help. My art is so much better due to you.
This was something I originally did when I learned to improve my skills. Never knew it had a name. Knowing is half the battle and now I know. Thank you!
You are the coolest dude thx for having you on RUclips. I also learned a lot from your Book👍🏾
🙏🙏🙏🙂
Just bought your books and they are already putting me back on track to getting back into drawing, rediscovering my own talent and the joy of drawing. Thank you.
Thank you for this wonderful artist and teacher. It is the first time I have someone who gives his all in his teaching. Too many you tube lessons do not explain properly. I am trying to master portraits. After watching Alphonsus lessons, I can now understand the facial proportions for the first time. You are a gifted artist and a wonderful passionate teacher. I hope you continue on you tube.
Hey!! Just wanted to say i like the shorter vids!! I usually put most videos in my "watch later" playlist and end up never actually watching them. The fact this one is shorter helped me not procrastine and watch it now.
So i hope you'll keep making shorter vids in the future as well!
Lol I realized that because I do the same thing
Thanks for the vids! Love the block in process. Something that has helped me is to work in 15 minute segments on the block in, taking a break and coming back with fresh eyes.
Yup, I have a similar process
Glad to have you back, teacher! And blocking is important so my drawing does no run out of space in the page :)
🤣🤣 me too
Yes, please do some more videos on blocking in, top, bottom, side, , mid points, the triangle. I really have difficulty with the blocking in. I started gridding to get more accurate but that is very time consuming. I just wasn't getting the blocking in concept, and was using complicated negative space and other measuring methods.
Short, succinct, and practical, unlike so many other YT artists/instructors. That's why a love your videos. 👍
I actually appreciate your short videos! Straight to the point, and bot overwhelming. Thank you! Will go look for your books.
Hello from the UK. I’m so glad to see you back. Hope all is well.
Mr Alphonso I must say I admire your teaching it's quite easy to follow. I was wondering if you could do the insert and origins of anatomy and discussing the important ones to focus because I other RUclipsrs don't seem to do it as often nor easy as you.
Thanks so much. Most definitely, I can work on doing a video to the different areas
Wow! Thanks for this. I knew that drawings were sort of “built” but, I didn’t understand the process. This makes everything so much clearer now. Thank you!
The world's best pencil. Good choice, young one
I recently bought your first book which is amazing and I'm also watching your videos to practice and have better understanding, Thank you Mr. Dunn
🙏
I just found your channel. I love your art. And your teaching technique is clear and helpful. Thank you.
I can give a like to your videos before I have hardly watched them, because they’re always great.
Just bought the book, been following you for a few years now and I can't wait to get into this more.
that's the best advice I've ever heard! I always was stumbling around at the beginning with the need to have something on paper to refine but usually I just had to refine crap and as you've said you can't correct those structual mistakes! Thank Alphonso! o/
Hi, Alphonso, I've been a fan of your videos for a few years now. I actually like the short videos, I can watch them when I only have a little bit of time (like now).
Thank you for explaining this to me. Now I understand how to proportion my drawing to the right size
Please increase these essential skill tutorials... you are the best one in this case on RUclips 💜
This is very helpful i see my art lacking something i just never knew what it was or how i could fix it
Absolutely wonderful tutoring by a great tutor! Joyous, crystal clear and an invitation to 'see' better in order to draw more sympathetically. I teach music and I often say 'I am going to help you learn to listen!' - here is a video which is encouraging us to grasp the need 'to see'. in order to draw. Terrific! Thank you very much.
Thank you so much for this. I just tried this technique on a few things, and it helped so much. It’s like a light bulb just when on.
It is super useful
I’m glad you took the time you needed to, for you. Your content is so helpful and I’m really glad you popped up on my feed today, because I’d been thinking about your tutorials about drawing rock formations and how they’ve helped me, for the first time in my life, to draw rocks that look like rocks, rather than like grey jellybeans. I just ordered both of your books. Thanks for being such a treasure in the art world!
I've always blocked in my drawing because that's what I was taught but the insights as to why its important never really came up. Thank you for this!
🙂
Wonderful video. Thank you for being so clear about this basic approach and skill.
Thank you , Alphonso, for your videos. I have both of your books, and am looking forward to the third.
Excellent material. You explain and demonstrate this very effectively.
I love watching and learning from you although as a beginner it can take me a while to 'get it' so I have to keep going over the lessons - if it is worth learning, it is worth learning right!! I have been missing the basics and it shows with my sketching. I have both of your books and will keep practicing. I can't wait to see your next book. Please keep doing your great work!
Just wanted to say thank you for your videos, I will definitely pick up your books. Keep up the great videos!
Thank you very much!😃 I've been struggling with getting out from the standard proportions and so on these days and that is holding me down in an endless cycle of 3/4, front, profile, etc.
I'm learning a lot from you 😄
Your videos and books are awesome! Thank you!!!
Thanks much
I watch these videos before I start a drawing, it motivates me...
I understand what you are conveying from this video as I was begginer too, I'm still not a pro but I do understood the concept of complex to simple shape drawing, it really essential as it helps to look at figures and pose reference simply, specially to break them up and simplify them
I am working on a couple of portraits now and they are from photos that are not straight on the faces are in angles so you are so correct
Always learn something valuable from your tutorials ❤❤❤
I know this video is from a bit ago, but I absolutely love this technique and just realised I have been using it for my (realistic) drawings and some character art for years. A little something I used to do in the beginning, when I had too little practise to recognise the shape right away (prompted by an animal-drawing course in the zoo) is to map out the outer points/edges of your subjects to get the dimensions and then do the same thing going inwards. So basically, creating the block in shape by connecting corners and distinct details sticking out. Maybe this helps as a way for beginners (as I was) to train both their perception and ease them in slowlier? (and even now to keep the dimensions in mind!)
Thank you Alphonso! As I'm getting more and more into drawing, I slowly began to understand the importance of blocking in a drawing. Since I'm still in the beginning stages of learning to draw, my current mindset of focusing on details is holding me back. After seeing this video it all became so clear to me, I found myself enjoying this part of the drawing process since It is so simple, it's fun to build up the image, and I feel more satisfied with my drawings than ever before. I look forward to seeing the next video further showing how important blocking in a drawing. Keep up the good work! 😊
Thanks Alphonso. Bought your workbook. It is fun to work through. Getting my pen and ink skills back, slowly. Can't wait to see the next book.
Very much along the lines of the Bargue Method.
Very true that people push for detail far too soon most of the time and that is like building a house on sand.
Indeed, a solid foundation is important
Great video man, been drawing most of my life. I'm completely self taught & this is a cool technique. I wished I would have known about this yrs ago, I don't draw very much anymore for various reasons. If I do I will def play around with this idea, ty!!
You are an amazing artist and content creator. I have learned TONS from your books and videos. I wish you all the best!
I'm definitely guilty of skipping this technique ^^' The awesomeness of the face and the hand you drew here, really convinced me to use it more!
Never bought a book so fast. IS IT HERE YET!
Thank you for your excellent ability to put things in simple terms!! Priceless!!
Lovely to see you a new video from you. Thank you for all the knowledge you share, you have greatly nourished my art journey.
Short videos are perfect! Just purchase your book. Thanks for sharing your expertise.
🙂🙏🙏🙏
Alphonso, thank you for this video. Hearing about you wanting to do this full time excites me. You really are a teacher who provides unique information and instruction at their highest quality.
Just purchased your books Bro! Often times it's easier to break learning down into short bursts vice 45 minute videos. Thanks for the short videos. Keep it up!! :D
Thank you for this video. I have been drawing for decades and I watch drawing videos almost everyday. This just might be the most helpful video I've ever seen you earned a sub today thank you so much! 🔥✏
Thanks much🙂🙏
I always learn from you 👍👍you deserve respect
🙏🙏🙏
Alphonso's videos are excellent as are his 2 books. I will definitely buy his 3rd book when it comes out.
Great tutorial. Just wish I could have the same ability to see perspective and proportion. I could never draw the hand of that subject you are drawing at the right proportional size to match the rest of the arm and the head.
Also am glad that you are back to doing what you do best, teaching and creating great art, despite evert thing else that is happening. Hope you find peace soon.
That is one practice I love to do. I'm always doing this.
Thank you for the video!
Thanks so much for the video! I've had many an out of proportion portrait in my time.
We all have lol
You're tutorials are so wonderful! They are easy to follow and make so much sense. Thank you!
Always called it "roughing in" myself, because I so rarely actually used many blocks... haha... BUT that kinda depends on what one is exactly drawing at the time, and some iconic shapes don't always do as good a job for their subjects as one might expect... SO it's helpful (sometimes) to make terms a bit more generic...
Take a tree, for example. As a wood-worker with LOTS of hand-tools, I have to know which way to push a plane... go against the grain, and instead of a silky smooth finish, you get something more like a wooden "Brill-O Pad" all frizzy and full of splinters. I KNOW that trees grow in cones from the ground up, and the oldest wood of the tree, in the "heart" is just the thinnest of the cones... AND even for conifers, children frequently use cones as the shape they suppose works for what they see, drawing Christmas Trees... BUT sketching out a cone isn't as useful as it would seem... It can help, and it's certainly rougher than the finished product, but branches grow in accordance to the amount of sunlight they can catch, so no trees are quite going to conform to an ordinary cone in shape... For a "Christmas Tree" with character, it's more lively to start with a series of spheres instead, shrinking in size and at some point around the mid-height, stacking a cone on top is a little more reliably the actual shape of the conifer... Then you still have to look at the branches and make assessments of the smaller structures (needles and tufts) to develop the character of the branches... If the needles are stiff, the branches will seem more erect and spikey... If the needles are loose and dangle, then the branches will seem loose and more "hairy" or softer.
A deciduous (broadleaf) tree, on the other hand, may best be a cylinder with several spheres and eggs gathered randomly at the top, or it might be better established like a mushroom or toad-stool, with an inverted cone atop the cylinder... and others may not need the cylinder at all, with trunks that diverge from nearly ground level...
AND so far, not even one tree that I've drawn would work out well from blocks... haha... Still, not to bust balls on anyone's account. It's just kinda funny how terms get evolved into "the business" as opposed to how any individual might dubiously and arbitrarily make nomenclature from the individual experience and journey...
In any case, it's kinda fun, while we in the "self taught" bunch are looking to "shore up" our basics and structure, to find out there isn't some earth shaking new whole category of techniques we've been missing... but rather a nomenclature we just hadn't thought of using for whatever reason. ;o)
Thanks Alphonso! Your tutorials mean a lot to me!
Just shapes. My art tutor told me that, and I forgot. Thank you for this.
Alphonso, i know how hard it can be to manage the main elements in one's life, balancing them like plates on sticks sometimes - just stay focused and press on. Thanks for all the wealth of information you pass on so generously. God bless you man. (ps: Have your book - love it, looking forward to another).
I’m glad you’re back.
🙂
Love your videos sir. Have both your books and bought one for a friend. Delighted there will be a third, you have so much knowledge and are a good teacher. Thank you
Thanks so much
Thank you kindly for sharing your experience and wonderful work and art with us I'm looking forward to your next book just recently bought the workbook and love both of the books very valuable learning tools and so much more would love to have the option of a spiral bound edition. Thank you again for sharing your time
Thank you Alphonso, your videos have helped me learn to see things in a different perspective and then I'm able to draw the object (usually nature scenes) more realistically. You break things down so everyone can understand and then demonstrate. Can't wait for the new book to add to my collection.
Thank you thank you I have your book… really appreciate the work and the explanations in it !!
The first chapter of Samantha Youssef's figure drawing book Movement & Form is all about blocking in! It talks about the importance of seeing those simple shapes and then sculpting from them as an exercise to train you on how to see and observe your subjects. Sorry to plug someone else's book Alphonso but I did order one of yours last night😊(because Samantha recommended sketch booking in ink)
Will you do a video showing us how to block in? I’m trying especially to understand what you mean about not having to worry about proportions when there’s foreshortening while you’re blocking in? But could really use some help with how to block in more effectively. Thanks so much for considering.
I look for what are called plumb lines. Look at relationships and what shapes might meet along horizontals and verticals. But a lot of blocking in is simply trusting that the ‘flat’ shape you see is actually what’s there; foreshortening in particular creates weird flat shapes that really challenge what you think things should look like. In terms of proportions it’s much easier to measure the relative sizes of the smaller forms that unify to make the whole than say, tracing contours. Hope that helps.
Wonderful videos...you are very generous. I just ordered your book! Thank you.
I have both of your books ! And let me just say that it’s REALLY helpful , new and fun thing to do ! 100% guarantee . That being said can’t wait until your next book (hoping you working on a new one)
Impressive drawing and beautiful hands! Will be back.
Looking forward to your next book.
As always, thank you for sharing your immense knowledge and talent with others. Truly appreciate it!
And the blocking in process is most difficult for me. Thank you for reinforcing that technique.
All the best to you! 🤗
Very important technique! I'm definitely going to start my drawings this way from now on.
🙂🙂🙂
You draw and teach beautifully.
THAT WAS SO WELL SAID. EVERYTHING.
This is great technique! I have difficulty with composition of the scene and proportions. This will help alot!
💪🙂
Excellent. … you are such a good artist.
Great content on this video. You packed in the vital information that I will out into practice.
I have both books and LOVE THEM!! I can’t wait for a third 😍
Thanks so much
@@alphonsodunn No, thank you Alphonso, for publishing such awesome books!!
Thank you Alphonso!
Thank you very much mr. Alphonso for this great video. I realy hope to be able to buy your books some day. All your videos are very helpful and very inspiring too. Another video about blocking-in would be realy great.
Thanks much! 🙏
You’re the man, Alphonso!