I run a life drawing session in my studio every week. This is a chance to get with a bunch of other artists, share a model's expenses, and try to learn something new about working from life. It's a lot of fun. It's also a challenge. I try to push myself every week so that I'm not in a rut. I'll work in oil for a couple of weeks, then switch to charcoal and pastel. Sometimes I'll focus on a portrait, other times I'll see if I can get the whole figure in. I don't post all that many of the works anywhere since about half of them wind up being destroyed or painted over. But sometimes, things click pretty well and I'm happy with what's finally on the paper or canvas.
Last week, we had a lovely young lady working with us. She is into yoga big-time and has very well-defined muscles. No, she's not a bodybuilder by any means - just somebody who's muscle and bone structure are very much in harmony. We started the session with our usual 1-minute poses. We do this to warm up both the model and the artists and to find a pose that works for both. One of the poses highlighted the curve and muscles of her back in a striking way. So that was the pose I chose for the rest of the evening, and here's how it came out:
If this looks like it was an uncomfortable pose to hold, it was. The poor girl's knees and legs took a beating and we had to take several extra breaks so she could get her circulation back!
I started this with soft vine charcoal on Canson Mi-Teintes light yellow paper. The charcoal is easily manipulated and lets me block things in, smudge things to get an area of gray, and even erase it easily. My focus was on her shoulders, upper back, and along the spine. Once I had a good drawing in place, I hit some areas with compressed charcoal. This stuff is very black and doesn't lift, so when you put it down, it stays. The last stage was the pastel. I kept the colors soft and subtle. There were lots of interesting colors all over due to the lighting. My overhead lights are daylight-balanced, so they're a bit blue, while the spotlight is a tungsten bulb and so it's a warm yellow. Normally, our eyes automatically adjust for color and we usually don't see the effects of different colored lighting, but in the studio, it's very noticeable. With this figure, the warm light was mostly on her shoulders and upper back, while her hips and legs were picking up a lot of the blue lighting.
So I think it turned out pretty well, particularly for a drawing from life. I love it when that happens!
Last week, we had a lovely young lady working with us. She is into yoga big-time and has very well-defined muscles. No, she's not a bodybuilder by any means - just somebody who's muscle and bone structure are very much in harmony. We started the session with our usual 1-minute poses. We do this to warm up both the model and the artists and to find a pose that works for both. One of the poses highlighted the curve and muscles of her back in a striking way. So that was the pose I chose for the rest of the evening, and here's how it came out:
If this looks like it was an uncomfortable pose to hold, it was. The poor girl's knees and legs took a beating and we had to take several extra breaks so she could get her circulation back!
I started this with soft vine charcoal on Canson Mi-Teintes light yellow paper. The charcoal is easily manipulated and lets me block things in, smudge things to get an area of gray, and even erase it easily. My focus was on her shoulders, upper back, and along the spine. Once I had a good drawing in place, I hit some areas with compressed charcoal. This stuff is very black and doesn't lift, so when you put it down, it stays. The last stage was the pastel. I kept the colors soft and subtle. There were lots of interesting colors all over due to the lighting. My overhead lights are daylight-balanced, so they're a bit blue, while the spotlight is a tungsten bulb and so it's a warm yellow. Normally, our eyes automatically adjust for color and we usually don't see the effects of different colored lighting, but in the studio, it's very noticeable. With this figure, the warm light was mostly on her shoulders and upper back, while her hips and legs were picking up a lot of the blue lighting.
So I think it turned out pretty well, particularly for a drawing from life. I love it when that happens!
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