Askewed Likenesses

And another one from last week's session. I wish this pose had lasted longer because I really would have liked to render it further. Sometimes 25 minutes can really race by. This model had a really interesting face so I focused more attention on trying to get her features right, but I don't think I quite got it. It definitely looks like somebody, but who? Suggestions are welcome in the comments section.

Foreshortened

Last week I finally made it back to PNCA for the last Wednesday night figure drawing session. I was about an hour late, so I didn't get to warm up with the short poses, but I eventually got into a groove. Here's one of the ones that I don't mind showing to you.



I realized that I love doing drawings of people in foreshortened angles and contorted poses. It just makes for a much more interesting composition and even hints of a narrative.

Leftover

Here's another nude leftover from the last figure drawing session. I'm really only happy with how the bottom hand turned out. We're in Providence right now where the sun is shining but it's cold cold cold.

Everything is not proportionate

I think this is probably the best one from that session. I call it "How Ilan got his groove back."

Hair bun

This might be my favorite one of that session. I really like how minimal it is, while describing so much. If only more of my stuff could end up like this.

Keeping it Simple

Here's one that's pretty unusual for me. A simple line drawing.

Naked and Loving it

Figure drawing sessions at PNCA have started up again which is good because I was getting pretty rusty on my life drawing skills. Get ready for three more days of this.

Figure Drawing

After a long absence I finally made it back to PNCA for another Wednesday night figure drawing session. And it's just in the nick of time too because next week will be the last one of the summer. I'm posting these in the order I did them so they should get better in the next few days as I got more warmed up and the poses got longer.

I like to go into a figure drawing session with some sort of goal in mind such as focusing on shading, realism, experimenting with different mediums, etc. This time my goal was to not stress out about making a finished piece but to just have fun drawing and see where it took me. It's really easy to feel like you're in competition with the other artists in the room to make the best drawing, but I think it's best to try to suppress those feelings. Does anybody else get that way? Maybe it's just me.

Long Pose #2

I'm definitely happier with this one than yesterday's drawing and as you can see I'm back on the scrapbook paper. Something about that tone really does it for me. I omitted the chair and most of the head in this one, which made it easier to focus on the shadows and tone of the figure, and I'm really happy with the way the left hand turned out. Definitely the best part of the drawing. The white colored pencil did a good job of bringing out the highlights in the figure.

Okay guys, I promise no more nudes for at least a week.

Long Pose #1

Last Sunday I went back to PNCA for a "long pose" session. One pose for three hours. The instructor had the model pose with high heels and black stockings, and couldn't say enough good things about the pose. I felt differently. I don't think this pose was dynamic enough for a three hour session, and I had trouble getting into a groove because of it. I found a pad of colored charcoal paper at the Bins and used that for this drawing, experimenting with pen and colored pencil. Obviously I was having a hard time with the face so just pretend that part isn't there. Tomorrow's drawing is a more traditional approach than this, but I think the color is a nice touch.

I've also noticed that I like the combination of yellow, turquoise blue, and pink/purple. I wonder when that started.

Another one

Normally I shy away from rendering a model's face because, well because faces are difficult. This model had a very intense stare, which made me want to take a stab at it. The trick is to look at the face as just another jumble of shapes in varying degrees of light and dark, rather than see the shapes as recognizable figures (nose, mouth, eyes). I feel like the main struggle with drawing anything is to overcome what you think the subject looks like and draw what you're actually seeing. This is probably one of the hurdles that keep so many people from starting to draw.

If you haven't already, make sure you preorder a copy of Dewclaw Issue 2 over at Lisp Service. It's only $8 and it features all of my animal portraits and stories, as well as the previously unpublished backstory of Arthur Giraffe. You don't want to miss out on this one.

More figure drawing

Here's another drawing from last week's figure drawing session. I like how the shading came out in this one, and how it weighs down the figure.

If you haven't already, make sure you check out the latest post at Chickens Don't Clap! which features the top 25 albums of 2009, as well as a heading drawn by yours truly. Enjoy!

New Nude

Here's another nude from last week's session. This also marks my first post on my new computer which will hopefully make posts tens times more abundant and transplendent. Happy Spring everyone.

Nude Scribble Shade

I attended another figure drawing session last night at PNCA and tried to go in a few different directions. Focusing on specific details and shading instead of drawing with no agenda. This is my first attempt at doing a scribble shade from life. It was only a five minute pose, so I didn't have the time to get in all the detail I would have liked, but I like the texture it brings out. I have a few more drawings from this session that I'll be posting in the next few days.

In other news a good friend is in town visiting from San Diego which is always a good excuse to go out on the town and hopefully do some karaokeing. I hope everyone is having a good time in SXSW this weekend. Wish I was there.

Figure Drawing Session #2

This past Wednesday I made it to PNCA for another figure drawing session. This time I tried doing something different with every drawing. Sometimes it was drawing loosely, or using different mediums, adding color, focusing on shadows, etc. Sorry for the quality of some of these images. I was having trouble getting good photographs.







Detail: