these are speed-sketching studies from bobby chiu’s animal class on schoolism. a bunch of dogs, trying to focus on shapes instead of drawing a dog. i always cheat on the time though.

i’ve known of bobby chiu for years. he’s more of a pixar-style artist, which isn’t really my style, but i love taking classes from all kinds of teachers. there’s always something worth stealing from a workflow someone else has spent decades sanding down. the thing i needed around this time was a reminder to hone in on big shapes and little shapes, to basically look for shapes everywhere, and this course was useful for exactly that.

i’d taken a few animal anatomy courses before this, from aaron blaise’s site. those are incredibly informative but so dense it took the information about five years to percolate through my brain, and i would literally fall asleep during the classes. this one was the opposite: less theory, more live practice, just watching how bobby works and drawing alongside him.

i regularly forget that i can draw. it sounds silly but it’s true. i sit down wanting to make a masterpiece, don’t really commit to it, and then instead of finishing i pile on something harder, invent some big drawing project for myself, more theory, harder techniques, and bail about a third of the way in. i’ve been a skill chaser for a long time. i go looking for the next hard thing before i’ve sat with the thing in front of me, but i’m getting a lot better about it.

fundamentals classes like this always make me remember that i do have foundational skills, which makes me really happy.

drawing a dog that looks like a dog is always a nice ego boost.