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Inspired by the admonition that copying a superior artist’s work is part of a good art education, I’ve been drawing Preston Blair’s hands from my copy of Cartoon Animation. I’m spending about 25 minutes with each one: I try to sketch an overall shape and work detail in, suss out its proportions and how it all fits together. I usually draw my own hand in the same pose after a couple of attempts, and this is useful because I can see how the fingers are actually oriented. It makes the bumps and curves and other things in Preston’s version make a great deal more sense.

Slightly to the right of the middle of that bunch of hands, there’s a vertical fist with the fingers making an E shape and the thumb sitting on the right. That was one of the hands I attempted today, and I’m absolutely buggered if I know what that hand is meant to be doing. I almost stuffed my wrist trying to copy that pose, I can’t make sense of it.

Copying these hands can be frustrating – Preston Blair was really bloody good – but it’s sharpening my observation skills something fierce. One semi-downside is that I can’t let myself get away drawing crappily anymore – I can see all the mistakes and cheats and laziness in my own drawings, and I’m motivated to improve.

Now if only I could fix those mistakes…

By quollism

A creator of quollity stuff.

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