(Hey -- would anyone want to start a new DA group on Tutorials with me?)

BLOG #3

WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU RUN OUT OF ROOM AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE

Here's a common problem all of us have experienced, which only seems to happen when we really, really like something we drew: We run out of room on the page to complete our drawing. Even as I type, I can hear the sounds of groans emanating from fellow artists coming through the computer. You know the scenario: you begin to draw a character. The head turns out great. You continue downward. The torso and arms have just the right pose. You keep going. You've drawn the legs well proportioned. Now you get to the feet, and --- Nooooooooooooooo! The page ends at her ankles. Her ankles! Anywhere else, and you could pretend that you meant to do it that way.  But any 4th grader in art class can tell that you messed up this drawing.

Well dab your dewy eyes and put the box of tissues back down. In the next sentence, I am going to give you the can't-fail-always-works solution to the problem. Here's what you do: Before you actually draw a figure, lightly sketch a "Height Line," and you will never, ever have this problem again. A Height Line is not a Line of Action. It doesn't represent movement. It's just a vertical line, the length of the character you want to draw. For example, if you're planning to draw a person in a room, you would begin the Height Line at floor level, where you want your character to stand. Draw a line, from the floor up to the point at which you want the head to appear. The taller the character, the longer the Height Line will be. Keep your character in proportion to the rest of the elements in the picture. For example, you might want to bring your character's Height Line to within 3/4ths of the length of a doorway. Alternatively, you can use the vertical line to "stack heads," in order to make your character 7 heads tall, for example. Or simply use your gut instinct to choose the level for the height.

But what happens if you should forget to do that, and cut a character off at the ankles again (oh, trust me, this will happen). Not a problem. Take another piece of paper, and place it adjacent to the one that has the cut-off drawing. Place the extra piece of paper where the figure was cut off, creating  more drawing space. Make sure that the two pages touch exactly, with no gap, and no overlap. Don't leave a scintilla of space between the two pages. Next, tape the pages together on the reverse side - the side that does not have the drawing. If you were to tape side with the drawing, the tape would add a subtle layer, and this thickness causes a shadow when scanned.

This solution takes the frustration out of making this common mistake, and frees us up to … make different mistakes! Well, such is life. We'll tackle all of it, together.

The takeaway:

When all is lost, all is not lost!

See you next week!

Chris Hart