Life Drawing 20.10.15

Continuous line drawing

I was thinking that it seems a long time since I last wrote a blog post, then I realised that's because it is a long time! I just don't seem to have been in a writing mood. It's been a funny time recently with lots of projects ending but in stretched out sort of ways and lots of proposal writing. I've got lots of bits of work coming in for next year but not many new things at the moment so it's an odd but exciting time.

Pen, continuous line

Marker Pen, continuous line

Pen, continuous line

Having spent the weekend being ill (very unpleasant and very boring) I was not necessarily in the best frame of mind for this life drawing session, to say nothing of totally shattered. However, as always it ended up being good once I got there. It was lovely to welcome another couple of new faces to the group and to welcome back a model who we'd last seen about 18 months ago. I book a different model for each session because it's good to get a range of body shapes and modelling styles to keep the sessions interesting and to keep testing our skills.

Marker Pen, continuous line

Pen, continuous line

Pen, continuous line

I did quite a bit of drawing with a permanent marker this session, I wanted to create quite solid drawings and I like that you have to work quite quickly with the marker or it just goes straight through the page. I also had a go at drawing in white on black, I really liked this effect but I need bigger bits of black paper!

Pen, continuous line

Pen, continuous line

Two Pens at once, continuous line

Our model gave us some good details to work with, such as sticking up feet, which helped me as I was really struggling with proportion this session so I just did some drawings of parts of the body rather that trying to capture the full pose. I wasn't really happy with my drawings from this session but I don't mind because it's all part of the process. Sometimes drawings work and sometimes they don't but there's always something to be learnt from doing them.

Pen, continuous line

Marker Pen, continuous line

Marker Pen, continuous line

At the end one of the new artists said it was really tiring because you have to concentrate so much. I could relate to this but I also find it is a very relaxing thing to do, particularly if you can stop worrying about getting it 'right' and just enjoy the drawing. As one of the other artists pointed out; your drawing will be right from somewhere in the room!

Pen, continuous line

Pen, continuous line

Pen, continuous line

Poster

Life Drawing 24.4.14

Pen, continuous line

A slightly odd session last night because it was probably the last one at our current venue. Since the line dancers began using the main hall our peaceful group has become slightly less so, making it more difficult to relax and concentrate. I have been thinking about changing things with the sessions for a while anyway because although the group is lovely there are not enough people to make it financially viable and so I've been considering ways to keep it going without me losing money!

Permanent markers, continuous line

In terms of drawing it was a good session. Our model Jude gave us some really good poses; they were quite challenging and I found it really hard to capture them but I enjoyed it because they were interesting and it's good to be pushed out of our comfort zones. Jude gave us a lovely pose wearing the shawl and holding the parasol but however hard I tried I really struggled to get the proportions right so I tried drawing each element (body, shawl, parasol) in a different coloured marker. This seemed to help and I'm pleased with this drawing. Using the different but toning colours is potentially another way to develop my drawings. 

Pencil

Overlapping sketches. Pencil, continuous line

Pencil, continuous line

As well as my pens and permanent markers I worked quite a lot with pencil this evening. I still worked with continuous line but tried to focus on getting different qualities of line for a different effect. I'm pleased with how some of these drawings are starting to develop, they have a different quality to my pen drawings and are a bit more subtle. 

Pencil, continuous line

I also tried to challenge myself this session by having a go at doing a portrait. I'm not very good at faces, I much prefer hands and feet but as it is an area of weakness for me I thought I should have a go at improving and the only way to do that is practice. It's not a great portrait but there is a likeness and I'm quite pleased with it as a starting point.

Pen, continuous line

Pen, continuous line

Life Drawing 27.2.14

Pen, continuous line

Another session with the line dancers for accompaniment which was distracting but not too bad, we still had a good session and a good turn out. There was a really good, creative atmosphere and some great drawings were produced.

Pen, without looking at the paper

Pen, continuous line

Pen, continuous line

We had one of our most experienced models this evening so I didn't need to give much direction, this gave me less control over the composition side of things compared to last session but allowed me to focus more on my drawing. We had some lovely poses and I was very pleased with some of my drawings.

Pen and water (detail)

Pencil sketch

I was planning to do some work with graphite this evening but I never quite felt like it in the end. I did have a go at adding some water to one of my pen drawings and although I don't like the drawing I really like the effect of the water and ink together. I need to do a bit more experimenting to figure out which pens this works with as my favourite pens have waterproof ink so are not suitable for this.

Permanent marker

Permanent marker

Last time I had a quick go at drawing with a permanent marker and this session I decided to try this again. I'm really pleased with the results and I really enjoyed using the marker. I think because it is much thicker than a normal pen it demands bigger drawings and a slightly fearless approach; you really have to just keep the pen moving or it sinks through and destroys the paper very quickly.

Pen, continuous line

Pen, continuous line