Life Drawing (sort of) 12.12.17

Continuous line drawing

I've had a bit of a rough week so when Life Drawing came around it was somewhere near the bottom of the list of things I wanted to do (curl up and go to sleep being near the top!) However, as the organiser and person with access to the building I thought I probably ought to show up and I knew from experience that once I got there and got going I'd enjoy it.

Blind drawing

Blind drawing

Continuous line drawing

I was expecting it to be a quieter session than normal as several people had contacted me to let me know they couldn't make it, which I always expect at this time of year. Once I got to the venue and had got set up and a few people had arrived I realised we had a bit of a problem, due to unforeseen circumstances the model couldn't make it so I had a Life Drawing session but no model. After a quick debate with those who'd arrived we agreed that we might as well stay and draw. We took it in turns to sit (fully clothed) and be drawn by each other. 

Continuous line drawing

Continuous line drawing

Continuous line drawing

It ended up being quite an entertaining session and as it was different to the usual set up it was interesting and threw up some different challenges. One thing I found really interesting was that I was particularly drawn to people's faces. Usually when I'm Life Drawing I focus on the body, especially the hands and feet but it was interesting that when drawing a clothed model I was more interested in the faces. 

Continuous line drawing

Blind drawing

Continuous line drawing

I'm not good at sitting still at the best of times so for me it was really hard to hold still when it was my turn to pose. I also found it very weird everyone looking at me, I'm used to being in front of people and talking and demonstrating but just sitting and people watching me I found quite uncomfortable. I'm glad I had my sketchbook and could do a bit of sketching too as I modelled! I've always been impressed with my models ability to hold poses and their professionalism but I think this session gave all of us an extra level of appreciation for them. I'm looking forward to January's session when things will be back to more or less normal!

Layers of sketches

Life Drawing: 14.11.17

Sketchy Faces

After a few months off it was really good to get back to Life Drawing. I haven't been running the sessions since June for various reasons too boring to explain and I didn't realise how much I'd missed them. For the first couple of months it was nice to not have to rush around getting everything organised and ready and after that I mostly forgot about it. However, being back I realised how much I missed the challenge and also how nice it was to see all my regular artists.

Continuous line

Continuous line

Blind drawing

Continuous line

I've been keeping up with my daily drawing pretty well recently, I've only missed a couple of days in the past few weeks but even so I felt really out of practice at this session. I'm always telling people how good for their drawing Life Drawing is and it really is different to other types of drawing. I think it's a lot to do with the fact that your drawing a real live human rather than an object, which is obviously a very different relationship.

Left handed drawing

Continuous line

Blind drawings

I wanted to try something a little bit different this evening so I took a roll of paper to work on. My idea was that it would last me the whole session and I could just unroll a fresh section as I needed it. That plan didn't work out quite as I'd anticipated, I'd filled the roll within about twenty minutes but I did really enjoy working, quite literally, on a roll and I like the way the drawings from different poses flow into one another. I think my problem is that however much paper is in front of me I feel the need to fill it, bigger paper doesn't mean I can fit more drawings on it just means I draw bigger! However, I think I will try this again as it's quite satisfying rolling the paper along as you draw and the resulting narrative of the drawings I found very interesting.

I also did lots of blind drawings (drawing without looking at the paper) in this session, particularly for the poses I was struggling to capture. I find this a very fun and liberating way to work, the results can be quite comical but I have found that it helps me improve my proportion in my drawings as it really forces you to properly look at what you're drawing and observe how different sections relate to one another. I often find that if I'm struggling a couple of quick blind drawings will usually help me see where I'm going wrong.

Continuous line

Continuous line

Continuous line

I'm now looking forward to the next session in December!

Life Drawing 16th May 2017

Blind Drawing

For this session we had a model who used to pose quite regularly for us when I started running the sessions but since we swapped days (2 or 3 years ago) hasn't been able to model as frequently. I was really pleased she could make this session as she is one of my favourites to draw with lots of interesting curves. As a former rugby player she can also hold some unusual poses which is always interesting and a challenge.

Pen, continuous line

Pen, continuous line. Layered drawings

Pen, continuous line

I've not been doing much drawing at all recently, I've been focusing on other things (mostly dyeing) and I've also been a bit 'at sea' creatively, lacking focus and direction. Life drawing is really helpful when I'm creatively stuck as it gets me drawing and thinking. I've written a lot about the benefits of drawing and one of the key benefits for me is that helps stimulate my creative thought process.

Graphite

Pencil

This evening I had another go at a shaded pencil drawing but even as I was working on the drawing I was thinking about why I don't normally draw like this! I'd sketched the basic pose out before I started shading and I found that what I actually really liked about my drawing was the delicacy and insubstantial nature of the sketch rather than the form of the shaded sections. Once I start adding form the drawing becomes heavier and more real with less room for the imagination, which is (in my opinion) the appeal of the sketchy line drawing.

Blind Drawing

Pen, continuous line

Pen, continuous line

One of the other benefits of life drawing when I'm a bit stuck is that it's good to work with other artists and see how they approach things. I love seeing everyone's work at the end of a session and how we all have totally different styles and approaches. I'm often inspired by this part of the session to try something different and it's also interesting (and reassuring) to hear about what other artists struggle with and what excites them about drawing.

Blind Drawing

Blind Drawing

Blind Drawing

One aspect of my drawing that I'm really happy with at the moment is how my 'blind' drawings are developing (drawing without looking at the page at all.) I find it a great way to help me understand and map out a pose, especially if it is a pose I'm struggling with. I'm finding now that my blind drawings are starting to become quite accurate, sometimes more so than my other drawings. It can also produce some quite comical results!

Life Drawing 25.4.17

Continuous line

The weeks whizz buy with alarming alacrity and here we are again at Life Drawing time! It was a much smaller group than last month and as always I found it interesting how the number of people and the character of people affects the atmosphere. This session had quite a calm, relaxed feel about it, with everyone quietly absorbed in their drawings.

Continuous line

Continuous line

Continuous line

Before we began the session one of the topics of conversation was about drawing with your left hand (if you're right handed) and whether doing this allows you to connect on a spiritual level; we know that drawing with your non dominant hand requires different neural pathways to be accessed but is there a deeper (or higher) connection too? There was much scepticism but it was an interesting point and lead me down other avenues of thought. I often think that one of the advantages a drawing always has over a photograph is the very obvious physical human input, now of course that doesn't have to mean there is 'soul' in it but often that word comes up when describing drawings, particularly of people.

Continuous line

Continuous line, left hand

Continuous line, left hand

As I was drawing I was pondering this spiritual link and whether I believed it or not and I was reminded of an online article I read fairly recently (I can't remember where) in which the author was explaining how a particular portrait embodied the fears and worries of the time it was produced in. In the comments section below there was quite a vitriolic discussion between those who agreed with the author and those who, to put it mildly, thought that a picture is a picture and to ascribe these other meanings was pretentious art speak. I should add that it was, certainly at first glance, a fairly standard portrait.

Continuous line

Continuous line

Continuous line

I was reminded of this article particularly as I'd just done a rather shaky, uncertain drawing which was a bit unusual as normally my drawings of this sessions model tend to be quite bold and strong. The way I feel definitely impacts how I draw and I wondered whether the drawing was a reflection of something bigger than just my personal feelings as I din't feel particularly stressed or unhappy during the session. There is no doubt that we live in uncertain times and I began thinking about whether that was coming through in my drawing. Of course, it could just be that I was tired and so less sure in my drawing but I really do think that when you draw you put a bit of your inner self onto the page. You may not choose to call it soul but I do believe that a drawing, or any other piece of art, tells you not only about its subject but about its maker and consequently their life and times.

Hand studies

Blind drawing

Life Drawing 21.3.17

Continuous line drawing

Life Drawing always seems to come around very quickly but this time it really did as it was only three weeks since the last session. It was a busy evening, I had 12 artists so a bit of a squeeze but enough room for everyone and a good atmosphere. I asked our model to pose in the centre of the room so we had more space to draw and this also meant a variety of different angles for each pose.

Blind Drawing

Blind Drawing

Blind Drawing

Our model for the evening is a professional life model, he modelled for us quite a bit when I first started running the sessions but this was the first time he's been to our new(ish) venue. We had a range of excellent poses with lots of interest in them, such as twists and crossed limbs. Particularly with experienced models I rarely give much direction for poses as the model generally has much better ideas and certainly has a better idea of what they can hold for the allotted time.

Blind Drawing

Blind Drawing

Blind Drawing

I've had a really busy couple of weeks and haven't been doing as much drawing as I'd like so my focus for this evening was getting back into the 'drawing zone.' Almost all my drawing this evening were blind drawings, meaning that I didn't look at the page at all whilst drawing. I love this way of drawing as it forces you to really focus on what you're looking at and notice things that you may otherwise miss.

Multiple drawings on a page

Blind Drawing

Shading and notes

As regular readers know I like to try and change something or try something new each session I do so this time I was slowing down my line drawing. I generally draw very quickly, especially when doing blind drawings, but for this session I made a real effort to take more time and try and consider my lines more. I'm quite pleased with some of my slower drawings, especially my heads. This has been something I've been working to improve for a long time and although I still have a way to go I've definitely got better!

Continuous line drawings

Drawing over drawings

Continuous line drawings

Last time I did a more traditional pencil drawing with actual shading. I tried that again this evening but fairly quickly abandoned it as I realised that actually I don't really like shading, I like drawing with line and the challenge of creating form without using tone. It did, however, give me some ideas for teaching life drawing so next time I'm asked to teach a life drawing session I've got a few ideas up my sleeve...

Continuous line drawing