Hampton p.22-23: Hard vs Soft Lines

Some notes and studies from Hampton's figure drawing book. The four large figures on the right are from internet photo refs; the rest are studies from the book.

Whoa, not sure how successfully this came out. Without frequent fiddling with the brush size, it was difficult to vary line quality to the degree demonstrated in the book when one's using a tablet; the best way I managed is to lay down a light gesture first, then to go over the fleshy parts with a tilted pen. It was easy to go overboard on the second pass, making the lines too dark and messy, or to focus too much on the contour.

Suffice it to say I'd sell my neighbor's kidneys for a tablet pen which can be used with an overhand grip. If anyone knows how to bind size to pen pressure for the default pencil brush in CS6, please let me know. Size is disabled in the brush dynamics panel for some reason.

Achieving correct line placement/proportions at the same time as appropriate line quality was a tough challenge. I think the proportions have again suffered somewhat , but some of the photo refs were also a tad skewed.

Photoshop CS6, Intuos 5 with art pen.