"Window-shading" the sketched figure

Lately my figure drawing process has become window-shading. its a fast way, after a general lay in, to capture and render from head to toe. This time I didn't quite make it to the end and left the foot unfinished revealing my process. Essentially "window-shading" is an area by area method of working on the piece after the overall composition has been drawn in. Below is the one I did from the last figure drawing session at Atelier Artista.

If you'd like to join in the fun we draw from life every Wednesday night 7 - 10 pm at Atelier Artista located n the fourth floor of cSPACE!

Go figure!!!

I teach figure drawing at ACAD. This week my lectures and demos centered around  proportion, proper measuring methods as well looking at idealized references like Hale and Loomis. These are some of the drawings at the end of class.

If you are interested in learning how to figure draw better, I will be opening up figure drawing sessions and long poses at my Atelier. It is instructed and It's a great opportunity to put in the necessary time and practice to get good it'll be cheap!

Go to my new website and join the emailing list on the contact form at the bottom to keep updated!

Atelierartista.com

PS: new episode is up on my you tube below:

Draw Droppers

I was eager for session 2 Sunday morning of "Draw 'til you drop". I had a big exciting day ahead and was looking forward to the coffee and the session. I brought a much more compact set up and got a good seat by being early.

 Did a bunch of quick warm up drawings with the tools I brought, a bin of coloured materials, pencil crayons and watercolours.

I also did some quick ones with good old HB graphite pencil too.

It was this burlesque models first time, she was so fun to draw.

I pulled out some golden High fluid Acrylics and empty Molotow marker containers and filled them up. Spilled some tone on the paper to work with.

I found this indigo to be really opaque and dark but used the background snow flake light motif as a pattern in this sketch then I thinned down the acrylic int he marker with the subtraction of the blue an the addition of iridescent pearl.

This is my favourite sketch of the session, and it was done before lunch = morning person for sure! I had fun with the loose use of the colours and the addition of brushed in black watercolour to my toolkit.

There was an overlap with the burlesque models allowing for a more interactive narrative int he pose. The devils minion.

She had a really interesting layered and textured devilish outfit complete with horns. It felt like time moved quickly as I raced to get the colours down for the feathers, metal chain, thick leather strapping, draping silks, soft pillow, delicate lace etc. in the right place before the pose ended.

I skipped drawing and went straight  into the skin tone, followed by the the red and finishing with the black and blue, to get this quick watercolour sketch done quickly.

I reached back for my graphite for the last two drawings before packing up for more adventures awaiting. After the session I had some errands to run before jetting off to fulfill my teenage bucket list to see Alice Cooper and Motley Crue perform for their final tour and last show in Canada at the Scotiabank Saddledome.

A great cap to an amazing week-end!

This time I'm a student

I'm taking a figure drawing course at ACAD instructed by Carl White. I figured it is a good idea to devote more time to the practice and being enrolled for a certain time frame really helps, plus there is a live model in each session.

 Working on large format newsprint experimenting with the mark making I can do with my tools.

 Starting up can be a little awkward. The poses are fast so you need to look as long as you can and then work quick.

The idea Carl presses is in the minimum marks being made and to let go. Harder for me since I am used to draw with line.

Here I use a bit more tonality in the form as a starting point, a core I work out from and attempt to capture the feeling of the gesture.

Here I tried to use even less line work and to experiment with the use of the side of the charcoal to create differing values. The figure in the middle is an attempt to express upward the reach the model presented.

 Here things were once again falling into my outlining and getting out of this pattern is desirable to really discover new ways to make a drawing.

 Working quickly really helps this. In one drawing there is only the shading and no line describing what I perceive as the edge of the form, yet there is no line in life and no real edge, that is just an illusion.

By loosening up and forgetting about proportion or drafting techniques I am changing the way i create the gesture.

 Now I'm starting to use less to communicate more. In the top one there is no line where the light is brightest. I use a dark pulled away from the body to give it more form.

 This looks very soft and works for me as a quick descriptive gestural representation of our model.

 Here I get to focus a bit more on the nuances of the muscles tone in her back.

I feel that this one was the most successful in "letting go" and really has some nice mark making within it. So I figure now I'm finally warmed up and getting it.

I had more time to develop my final drawing of the session, I am very happy with hour it developed. It is just past the point of not being simple enough and could use a bit more work, that or I went to far. I  attempt to express my intention to celebrate of the beauty of the female form.

Figure drawing sketch book warm ups

In preparation for tomorrow evenings Wild and Free figure drawing session, I spent the last week drawing in my new sketch book for 30 minutes each day. Each session begins with a number of 1 minute gesture warm ups, then a few 2 minute poses followed by some 5 minute poses. I admit I am rusty but I am finding the practice exhilarating. I look forward to it every evening instead of Netflix or chores or whatever else distracts me from spending time drawing. You can probably relate?!

I took pics with my iPad so they are not great but they serve this purpose. The first one on the left was actually done in about 7 min with the model we had during my drawing class at ACAD. When I got home I added a paint touch up with fluid acrylic made by Golden in my favourite colour fluorescent pink.

I tried to stay away from my comfort zone which is mechanical pencil and instead, use a variety of ink medias so that I would have to work fast and I couldn't erase my mistakes. Its the quickest way to see where you go wrong. Later, I added some highlighter and drew a bird from a recent issue of National Geographic. I also filled in the background with a free sample from Golden in a Manganese blue hue, I didn't like the consistency and it was too transparent to get an even tone with one light coat.

In these sessions, I used thinned india ink and a brush as well as some graphite. Some interesting alignments happen when shapes of the body overlap during quick sketching.

I tried some pens I found in random places while tidying up the studio. Many did not work so they wound up in the trash. I have so many random art supplies, it is ridiculous. Sometimes it sucks when you start drawing with a pen only to find out it bleeds through the paper. That's the reason I haven't used my Copic markers in this new sketchbook, they go right thru to the next sheet.

I tried to use the whole page for two sessions and leave a fresh one for tomorrow which turned a bit chaotic. I like where these are going and I will try more materials and mark making techniques to get out of my comfort zone.