The Redraw Challenge: Part I

I am super excited about today and next week’s post because it is all about progress and rediscovery! If you’re truly passionate about anything, you’ll notice growth in your endeavors. Experience and patience develops all skills, hence the old axiom, “Practice makes perfect” or more to the point in today’s post, “Practice makes progress.” I can very clearly remember many specific moments all throughout my life where I would draw something that made me feel like I just leveled up. I don’t just mean I drew something a certain way and was proud; I remember where I was, what I was drawing, and very clearly understanding I had just crossed a new threshold. It’s always exciting but more than anything, it’s rewarding.

Now every time I’ve experienced leveling up (can you tell I’m also a gamer?!)—particularly when I was younger—I believed I had just hit the apex of my ability. In my mind, I had reached my full potential and I was elated. As time passed, I began to understand I was comprehending things I hadn’t fully previously and in looking back, those breakthrough drawings I felt were the best of the best I had ever done and would ever do, in reality kind of sucked… like a lot. What’s also become a revelation is how those specific illustrations—however good or bad they actually were or still are—only now mark any level progression to me. Those moments are very important because they push you to do better, even when you believe that’s your best. They don’t end an era of creating a certain way, they mark the start of learning new techniques and styles. And the absolute best part? They don’t stop when you’re young! You keep leveling up well into adulthood! There are few things in this world that can bring that kind of joy as you age, but furthering your talents is totally one of them! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, an old dog really can learn new tricks!

Now reevaluating those pinnacle moments is nothing new; redrawing old artworks can be seen all over social media and other artistic platforms, so I’m not doing anything groundbreaking here. However, today I’d like to look at a few instances where I hit some personal milestones only to go back and figure out what made them so special. This is part one of my Redraw Challenge!

Okay… let’s make this super awkward and embarrassing. As a cisgender male, I have been intrigued with drawing the female form since I was a child. One of my earliest leveling up experiences was drawing ladies as inspired by comics artist Mark Badger, specifically his work on Marvel Comics Excalibur. Even more specifically the mutant Meggan Puceanu. I got really into comics starting with Excalibur Volume 1, #37 and would redraw the panels from it. I stuck tight with Excalibur and gravitated towards Alan Davis’ work on it as well. My versions were much cartoon–ier but they helped me understand some basic structure and lead to an aforementioned level up. Side note: I am actively hoping for an Excalibur movie or Disney + series in the MCU. Come on Mr. Feige! Make it happen!

Excalibur #37: the first comic book I ever bought, Meggan (and other art) by Alan Davis. Meggan & Kurt Wagner (AKA Nightcrawler from the X–Men) had a very flirtatious relationship and I wanted them together more than her main squeeze Brian Braddock (AKA Captain Britain)

One of my biggest moments came when I started taking figure drawing (or life drawing) classes. Even at my first class, I began to understand what I needed to do, and a few months later it all clicked. I had one of the best sessions ever and I noted it was a level up experience and I was thrilled, even though I popped a tire on the drive home from the studio, I was still on cloud nine.

A flat tire right after one of the best classes I ever had. February 19, 2014

Before all that though, in 2006, I was hired to illustrate my first book. Man, what a thrill to be able to say you’re a published illustrator! I had just settled in on a technique to marry my traditional line art drawings with digital coloring and effects that eliminated most residual imperfections/digital debris after scanning. I was ready and I was excited. I worked very close with the author and editors and even the printer to make sure everything I did was exactly how we all envisioned it. I was very proud when it came out, but it didn’t take long at all before I leveled up further, and soon my pride of being associated with an ISBN number felt embarrassing.

Just a couple years later and my techniques had changed again. The figure drawing classes pushed my abilities further along, so my book now felt dated and subpar at best. Eight years and even more classes later, I decided to at least take a second shot at the cover. The cover was something I wasn’t happy with originally anyway, so it felt like a good exercise. Applying what I had learned as well as using new tools like Daz 3D to create a virtual model for reference, I upgraded my original art. Although only a brief yet serendipitous moment, at that time the author had been contemplating a second printing of the book, and my art director excitedly showed him my new and unsolicited art which he liked. The new cover never got the full green light and the book stayed out of print. I would imagine the idea to re–do all the interior illustrations came up as well and possibly added to the decision not to do a separate printing. Regardless, here we are another 8 years later and I’m still not only proud of my redrawn cover, but content with it as well.

A 3D poser model was my reference for the new pose

The original 2006 cover and my 2014 redesign

Not all redrawing is a calculated exercise. Many artists will sketch a rough draft with the intentions of completely redrawing it some other time. The sketch merely acts as a note or reminder to draw it properly later. Anyway, I had seen a picture of an Instagram model posing and taking a mirror selfie and really liked the pose. I did a quick sketch and saved the photo for reference so I could do a better render some other day which I totally did and—as I already mentioned the process—the second illustration came out much better. What I didn’t do however was finalize the drawing immediately after I did the second sketch. I left it alone for awhile and then picked it up again several weeks later. The problem was I used the original sketch! Even as I was inking and coloring, I was wondering why I thought this illustration was worth completing. It wasn’t until I finished it that I found my second attempt. I basically redrew this twice and for no good reason.

The original photo that inspired plus the first quick sketch, and the better second sketch, 2020

Finals up close. Even the phone is done better!

None of these particular creative forays were the inspiration for this post though. The real deal and nightmare that made me want to write and try this exercise will post next week and man was it a journey! Follow me on Instagram and Twitter and please, please, please tune in next week for a real redraw challenge in part 2!

The Inside Scoop On Figure Drawing and Why You Should Do It

There are two moments in my adult life that changed how I draw and made me a better artist. The first was listening to an interview with comic book legend Jim Lee on Kevin Smith’s podcast Fatman on Batman. Mr. Lee talked about finishing school then drawing every single day like he had a job in comics (before he actually did) with tight deadlines. The purpose was to develop muscle memory so that even if he was having an “off day,” it wouldn’t impede his work. I had never thought of drawing in that context before and set out to do the same. 

The Kubert School in Dover, NJ

The next thing was a progressive journey that ultimately lead to figure drawing. Long story short, I wanted to enroll in the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art. At the time, my dad felt a smarter decision was to apply my talents to graphic design—a decision that ultimately proved to be the right one—but one that I continued to question for years after I graduated. Eventually, I stopped internally blaming my parents for not letting me attend a comic book school and just decided to go on my own. The punchline to this quick aside is that the school I went to catastrophically crashed and burned and shut down while the newly renamed Kubert School still stands proudly. 

It was here that I met the accomplished Mike Barreiro, an extraordinary artist and my instructor for Life Drawing 101. Mike is a student from both the Art Institute of Pittsburgh and the aforementioned Kubert School where he would eventually end up teaching for five years. Mike has worked for DC, DC Vertigo, Marvel, Dark Horse, Defiant, and TecknoComix as well as an extensive freelance career in the Pittsburgh area. However, before I get to him in more detail, I want to sing my own personal praises about the lessons he taught me.

Some of Mike’s tremendous work including Sophia Loren, Tom Horn & Geronimo, and Endelyn Moongrave.

At multiple points in an artists life, they will create something that marks a step up in their personal journey into the craft. They may even feel that point hits their apex of ability (and years later they will often marvel at their ignorance towards that moment). Figure drawing (or Life Drawing as it’s also sometimes called) brought my own artistic abilities to a level I didn’t think was possible. It forces a creative person to be practical and a pragmatist to be open to a literal different perspective. To some, the idea of drawing a nude model for hours sounds taboo. I love teasing my mother all the time about this too.

Me and my mom, my biggest cheerleader.

But as I’ve done in the past, I wanted to be a lot more diplomatic about this and get some other artists perspectives on this as well. The main voice of course being an actual instructor, and my former teacher, Mike. I asked Mike what most modern day people might wonder, “Why take a figure drawing class when I can just Google ‘models posing’?” Mike responded;

Photos have a tendency to flatten an image. When you're drawing people it's important to emphasize the curvature of a figure. The second thing is you’re at the mercy of the photographer. If it's lighted poorly or out of focus you have to compensate for that in the drawing. Having a live model that you can pose and light the way you want to makes a huge difference in the quality of the finished drawing.

My own personal taste for a model over a photo is also the ability to move my easel and draw from a completely different angle. Few artists like having to do foreshortening, but it’s a great skill to learn. With figure drawing, you also want to draw different models and different poses. Sure, a beach–bodied super model seems ideal, but beauty doesn’t make a perfect model. So what does? Mike explains;

A good professional model will be able to hold a difficult pose for a short amount of time, can be very helpful by suggesting poses, and will let you know when they need to take a break. Dynamic posing is a very difficult job. Being in good condition is important.

Holding still is a super power in my opinion when it comes to having a good model. Again though, a “good” model doesn’t necessarily mean a chiselled god or goddess. As I continued to take classes, I began to crave variety. Not every model is going to appear in a high–end advertisement, but is there a benefit to drawing those different body types? Mike goes on to say;

Sure, it really depends on what you're using the drawing for. I'm usually looking for the unusual, something that's difficult to do out of your head, but all drawing is beneficial. Many illustrations have attractive people in them. If you're doing a slice of life illo (illustration) then different body shapes are important.

Pink Floyd, Marie Devereaux, and Yaphet Kotto by Mike Barreiro

Now here’s where art verses artist can really get combative. In a very condensed nutshell, my first artistic influence was Garfield by Jim Davis, and so all of my portraits resembled the bastard offspring of Jon Arbuckle and then in 2013, I was confronted with drawing actual human beings as they appeared directly in front of me. Drawing what you see as opposed to how your personal style interprets the subject. I initially found that daunting. That got me thinking about artists with very unique styles and their approach to figure drawing. That’s when I turned to C.W. Roederer—an exceptionally talented illustrator and designer—who also found figure drawing to bring a whole new level of ability to his craft. I asked him if it’s a struggle to move beyond his stylistic ways to draw more realistically? He replies,

I still struggle a lot with “this just looks like Muppets” or “this is just what every illustrator does” (specifically the whole “normally-drawn human but they have Peanuts eyes” thing). One of the best pieces of advice I got from my figure drawing instructor was NOT to just copy exactly what I see, but rather, take what I learned in that class, and mesh it with the more caricature/cartoon background I come from. I’d say good illustrative style comes from just looking at life and reshaping it with your own mental geometry.

Mike and C.W. both provide great insights into their respective approaches, but what about someone who’s never taken a traditional figure drawing class? That’s when I turned to my friend Maria Chamra. Maria is an incredible self–trained artist who teaches “Paint & Sip” classes, has had her work featured in several galleries including the Pollak Theater at Monmouth University, and has done tons of unique freelance around Jersey. I had done an alternative drawing event with Maria in the form of Dr. Sketchy’s in Asbury Park back in 2019. It was an unconventional approach to gesture drawing, but it was a total blast. I had been bugging Maria to take a figure drawing class with me ever since and finally convinced her just last week to come along to the duCret School of Art. She talks about her experience;

I loved how different it was from my previous figure drawing classes. Professional and almost relaxing. Everyone was in their own little world. It was wonderful to put some time aside to refine my skills, focus on shapes, and becoming quicker and sharper at laying down the subject. I struggle with getting caught up in details. I made a point to use the quick one minute poses as an exercise to throw all the shapes down first and then go back in and refine the details. I felt more comfortable as the session went on.

So there you have it, high praise and an all around consensus that figure drawing is a game changer when it comes to “upping your game.” Nothing more needs to be said about… oh, right; the elephant in the room.

Some of my own charcoal drawings from various figure drawing classes over the years.

Figure Drawing studio at duCret

Okay, so let’s talk about being in a room with other artists all keenly studying a naked person. I admit, while the first time had a brief moment of surprise, that all goes out the window practically instantly. You take on the perspective of how I assume doctors examine their patients. You become aware of structure, lighting, weight displacement, and—from a religious standpoint—the beauty of the human body. I don’t mean in a fit or attractive way, but just the extraordinary appearance of all humans, how we’re put together and how those bodies interact with the space around them. Of course, if you’ve never taken a figure drawing course, it’s the most asked question you get. Maria puts it this way;

I have done Dr. Sketchy and figure drawing in the past but never with a nude model. I felt I was going to be a bit shy and apprehensive when it came to it, but it was more of a focus on how muscles work and the anatomy of the human body. I found it challenging in a positive way!

Maria and I at Dr. Sketchy’s in Asbury Park, 2019

C.W. speaks to the warm–up exercises of quick poses that forces an artist to push past any unfamiliarity.

The first model I ever drew was a girl, and that was the first time I ever saw a topless girl in the same space as me, so I definitely felt a little flush at the start of it. But figure drawing, if you’re serious about it, really doesn’t leave a lot of room for that outside of first impressions like that. With the mix of artistic math zooming through your head and the adrenaline of just two minutes for a presentable drawing, you don’t really pay attention to the person anymore.

Mike, who’s done and seen it all when it comes to nude models, puts it succinctly;

To each their own. It's not for everyone. Artists throughout time appreciate the human form. It's a stroke of creative genius. What better way to appreciate the divine on Earth?

If you are an artist/illustrator of any kind; regardless of ability, style, or experience and you haven’t taken a figure drawing class, do it! When I was a kid, someone in my family who was eager to encourage my artistic inclinations bought me a copy of Jack Hamm’s Drawing The Head & Figure of which I still have today. This book was very helpful when it came to learning how to draw anatomy even if it was in the crude form of a Garfield comic strip. Looking through it though, I never believed even for a second that I could draw like Mr. Hamm (and most might argue I still can’t). It took an actual figure drawing class to break that stigma and push me in ways I never even thought possible! In the words of Mike Barreiro himself,

Get up and move around. A new perspective can be helpful.

A huge thank you to my former teacher Mike Barreiro for taking the time to answer all my questions. This post not only gave me a chance to talk about something I love, but gave me an excuse to chat him up again outside of constantly fawning over his work in the comments. Speaking of which, you should totally do the same and follow him on Instagram and Facebook and check out his website: mikebarreiroart.com

“To the best student, Dave.” my signed copy of Kamandi Mike inked that he signed for me!

Special thanks to C.W. Roederer for his time and thoughts, you have not heard from him for the last time on this blog, I can assure you! Follow him on Instagram and check out more of his work on his website: cwroederer.com

Thank you SO much to Maria Chamra for not only contributing to this post but for letting me drag her all the way up to Plainfield, New Jersey to be my accountable art buddy yet again. Absolutely go follow her on Instagram and Facebook and check out her work at her website: mariachamra.com

And as always, I’d appreciate it if you follow me on Instagram and Twitter and follow this blog which posts every Friday all about art, illustration, graphic design, creative thinking, and occasionally even the Muppets!

Junk Drawer Comics by Jay Fosgitt who will be talking about writing comics here next week!