Category: Uncategorized

Movement: Day Two

Uncategorized April 11, 2015

The tutor on the course strongly suggested we bring colour and in my case more ink to work with. That and charcoal which I think is a fast medium to work with, did seem to be a good idea.

The model also approached the session differently. He still moved a lot and fairly rapidly but his movements were slightly more considered and whilst not repetitive kind of evolved which helped when trying to capture the shape of what he was doing.

To try and get some control I tried to use my paper and the placement of the figure to show where he was in the room.

Then later I constricted the area I worked in and maintained the size of the figure to try and give a sense of constant movement of one person rather than just random figures on a sheet of paper.

Movement: Day One

Uncategorized April 11, 2015

I’ve been really focussing on drawing recently and a couple of weekends ago I took part in a two day workshop focussing on movement. I have drawn a model on the move before but ages ago and with quite limited, slow and repetitive moments which made it hard but not too hard.

This was totally different. The model was responding to music and was constantly on the move around the room. She also mixed it up with some accessories for example a ballet style skirt in these early images.

Needless to say it was pretty hard. I only really started to get somewhere when I switched to ink.

Life Drawing: Week 8

Uncategorized April 11, 2015

Last week and time to reflect. Whilst I felt a big move on overall and specifically more confidence in depicting the whole 3D shape of the model rather than just an outline. It was also reminder that nothing is ever perfect….

Problems in all of these, some overworking (even though they are mostly short poses) and apparently a problem with faces – I’m probably overthinking that part and not just drawing what I see because it’s a ‘face’. The good news is that now this series of sessions has finished I am switching to classes that focus more on the head. Apparently just in time!

Life Drawing: Week Five

Uncategorized February 22, 2015

A new tutor this week and therefore some new exercises.

A (terrible) 15 minute pose and some short poses to warm up. So far so normal.

Then a few other exercises including one where we drew with the wrong hand. I’ve never tried this before and thought it would be impossible (I can’t write with my left hand for example), but actually it wasn’t so bad and set me off on a different styles for the evening.

A much more sculptural style than usual, trying to use the contours of the body rather than cross-hatching all the time which is my default.

Bit of weird face on the first sketch and a funny arm on the second, but overall I thought it was a step forward.

Something much older

Life Drawing, Uncategorized February 15, 2015

I was sorting though some old work and found this. It’s an anatomical drawing I did as a student when we studied the construction of the figure in order to understand more fully what we were trying to capture.

I liked it and so pulled it out of the the pile and of course it’s timely given my refocus on life drawing at the moment.

Life Drawing: Week Four

Life Drawing, Uncategorized February 15, 2015

Much better. I think I managed to get some tone involved and also thought more about the total drawing, not just seeing the figure as an outline.

We thought more about framing and trying to situate the figure. As usual shorter, 15 minute poses to start.

One minute poses…very sketchy…

And finally the longer pose, around 45 minutes I think.

Life Drawing: Week Three

Life Drawing, Uncategorized February 15, 2015

Week three was a harder week. I didn’t feel that I made as much progress as in the previous sessions but I’m including all the drawings I make to hopefully capture some progression.

Here goes. A shorter pose to start and I was running late hence I didn’t quite complete this chap….

Then quick one to two minute poses to warm up.

I was pleased with some of the shapes in these but the tutor pointed out that there was very little tone present. I agreed.

And the longer final pose. Some tone in this.

There was something weird happening with the shoulder on my version, so I tried again for ten minutes at the end.

So no great break throughs, but OK.

Focus On Drawing: Week Two / Second Session

Life Drawing, Uncategorized January 31, 2015

On Fridays after work the drawing school run a Drink and Draw session. It’s a nice idea to do some more informal drawing before the weekend, maybe with a friend or two. However, I found it a bit too busy and hard to focus as the normal silence of the drawing studio was broken by a little chatter. At least that’s my excuse!

Anyway here’s how I got on.

Quick poses to start, all 2 minutes. A couple of these I was pretty pleased with, they capture the form, but feel free and have some energy to them.

Then a longer pose, I think around 15-20 minutes. The first one I’m not so into as it’s heavy and I can see that I struggled. It’s kind of flat, although I do like the line that runs down the back to the hip.

The second I prefer although it’s far from perfect.

A quick diversion into red chalk..

Then finally the long pose which is my least favourite. I tend to work reasonably fast and so I struggle a bit with overworking these ones.

Focus On Drawing: Week Two

Uncategorized January 31, 2015

And week two. Week one was actually very enjoyable so I was really looking forward to it. Mixed results…

We started with some very quick poses, just a couple of minutes allowed. I quite liked these two as they feel quite fluid.

These ones not so much.

We tried an exercise where we drew without looking at the paper, just at the model. Although I’m pretty sure I must have snatched a few glances given that the two sides kind of meet up.

Then some longer poses, I think these were 10-15 minutes.

And finally a longer pose, around 30-45 minutes I can’t totally remember. I really struggled with the foreshortening on the legs so this feels pretty awkward and overworked although there are some parts of the drawing I like.

Focus on Drawing: Week One

Life Drawing, Uncategorized January 31, 2015

It’s been an age since I have focussed on drawing for drawing rather than as a prep stage for a painting.

And even longer since I have done any life drawing, something I always loved as a student. And so I’ve fixed that and started going to evening drawing at the Royal Drawing School. It’s been so long and I am so rusty that I was pretty worried about just how bad I’d be. Life drawing is popular but it is also really hard and can be a bit depressing at times when things just won’t work out.

So I’ve decided to try and record a hoped for improvement here, session by session. That includes the bad, the medium and the hoped for good….

Week one started with some quicker but not super quick poses, around 10 – 15 minutes each. And also a change for me to use charcoal something I always avoided as an art student, although I can’t remember why exactly. I think I just found that everything got very dark and hard to work.

Then some longer half hour poses.