A quick sketch of life model (and artist) Tom.
Showing posts with label Life Drawing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Life Drawing. Show all posts
Thursday, 2 January 2014
Tuesday, 19 November 2013
Sunday, 20 January 2013
Saturday, 19 January 2013
Life Drawing: shifting weight
For the final 10 mins of the class our model offered up a standing pose, switching her supporting leg half way. I tried to work out where most of the weight was and pay attention to the forms in balance as I sketched. A little less than 5 mins on each drawing. Nice way to end the drawing session.
Sunday, 13 January 2013
Saturday, 12 January 2013
Life Drawing: perception & preconception
Three 20 minute poses from life drawing class, presented in the order in which I drew them:
Worth pointing out I stood a couple of feet away from the model so my field of view changed fairly dramatically as I scanned up and down from the top of his head to the ball of his heel (try this yourself - stand close to something tall and look it up and down - note the change in angles).
This should have translated to distortion in the drawing, almost like a fish-eye lense (but not as extreme) - but it's hard to fight the tendency to "fix" the proportions with preconceived notion of what they "should" be. For example at the time I was probably thinking "his torso isn't shorter than his thigh" failing to recognise there was more truth in the optical distortion informing my vision than my idea of what it should/must be.
As you can see above, the angles have been evened out in an effort to get proportions "right", ironically leading to a disconnected set of proportions that don't represent the physical presence of the figure very well or convey a sense of the view I had. My preconceptions stood in the way of my true perception.
Thinking about it, the only thing I should be doing is drawing what I see, the way I see it from where I am in relation to it. In other words the subject is: the model, me and my view - distortion and all.
The second pose fared a but better, it's just too bad I didn't commit to the larger calf and feet there.
The final pose (below) is not without it's fare share of problems, but compared to the other two suggests I learned something by the end. I won't nitpick, I'll let it be.
Worth pointing out I stood a couple of feet away from the model so my field of view changed fairly dramatically as I scanned up and down from the top of his head to the ball of his heel (try this yourself - stand close to something tall and look it up and down - note the change in angles).
This should have translated to distortion in the drawing, almost like a fish-eye lense (but not as extreme) - but it's hard to fight the tendency to "fix" the proportions with preconceived notion of what they "should" be. For example at the time I was probably thinking "his torso isn't shorter than his thigh" failing to recognise there was more truth in the optical distortion informing my vision than my idea of what it should/must be.
As you can see above, the angles have been evened out in an effort to get proportions "right", ironically leading to a disconnected set of proportions that don't represent the physical presence of the figure very well or convey a sense of the view I had. My preconceptions stood in the way of my true perception.
Thinking about it, the only thing I should be doing is drawing what I see, the way I see it from where I am in relation to it. In other words the subject is: the model, me and my view - distortion and all.
The second pose fared a but better, it's just too bad I didn't commit to the larger calf and feet there.
The final pose (below) is not without it's fare share of problems, but compared to the other two suggests I learned something by the end. I won't nitpick, I'll let it be.
Friday, 11 January 2013
Life Drawing: observing and sketching
A sketch of a seated pose. I think the pose lasted about 15 - 20 mins and I probably spent the first 5 walking around the model just observing. I don't always do this - sometimes I spontaneously respond to the pose as soon as the model settles and then build the drawing up instinctively with relatively little conflict. There are other times, like here, where I've needed to spend time up front trying to understand the main forms, note where the weight was, find the line of action running through the pose and finally decide which angle to draw from - observe for several minutes - before making any marks at all. To be honest, even drawings that start spontaneously are ultimately shaped with these same observations, albeit on a semi-conscious level.
Thursday, 10 January 2013
Wednesday, 9 January 2013
Tuesday, 8 January 2013
Life Drawing: thumbnail sketches
Here are some quick sketches from life drawing class. To give you an idea of size, each drawing would fit comfortably on a regular sized post-it note:
As you can see I drew the same pose several times, starting a new sketch every 30 seconds:
I find this method often helps me understand the basic shapes of the pose I'm looking at. Here's the last sketch from this little drawing session, which altogether lasted around 5 mins:
As you can see I drew the same pose several times, starting a new sketch every 30 seconds:
I find this method often helps me understand the basic shapes of the pose I'm looking at. Here's the last sketch from this little drawing session, which altogether lasted around 5 mins:
Monday, 7 January 2013
Life Drawing: bloke with a pole
Having a physical, straight line - in this case the pole - manipulated by the life model as they move through poses really helps me see weight and line of action. Here are a couple of 3 minute warm up sketches:
Trying to keep things loose, I have a habit of labouring on drawings which sucks the life out of them. Defeats the purpose of "life" drawings.
Here's a drawing of a longer pose, about 15 mins. You can see the lines starting to stiffen up a bit, I think I managed to capture proportions relatively well. Must work on keeping the lines fluid....
Trying to keep things loose, I have a habit of labouring on drawings which sucks the life out of them. Defeats the purpose of "life" drawings.
Here's a drawing of a longer pose, about 15 mins. You can see the lines starting to stiffen up a bit, I think I managed to capture proportions relatively well. Must work on keeping the lines fluid....
Sunday, 6 January 2013
Life Drawing - narrow view
I remember the day I drew this, I was late to class and struggled to find a clear view of the model, amidst the easels and drawing boards other students had set up for themselves. That's why the design of the drawing is a thin column - in hindsight I wish I'd drawn the mess of easels in the foreground rather than leaving it blank.
Tuesday, 21 August 2012
Monday, 20 August 2012
Saturday, 18 August 2012
Thursday, 16 August 2012
Wednesday, 15 August 2012
Tuesday, 3 April 2012
Thursday, 16 February 2012
Life Drawing: drawing small, viewing huge
I drew these on Monday night at Life Drawing class. Working from a life model, I made a series of drawings on 35mm sized rectangles of acetate. So what you see here are actually photos I took of the drawings when projected onto a screen, about 6 ft tall.
Working this small, and then viewing it so much bigger has a profound effect on how you approach a drawing.
Wednesday, 23 November 2011
Life Drawing Autumn 2011 - 05
I struggled with a reclining pose at drawing class the other night. I drew it several times trying to get the shapes right, sadly I didn't quite get it before the session came to a close. A couple of the better drawings:
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