Figure drawing every Wednesday 7 - 10 pm

I love Wednesday nights because I have the opportunity to host a great group of artists doing long pose figurative drawing and painting. This week Miss Alexia day graced the model stand. We did a few quick warm ups and then got into the long pose broken up every 20 min by a short break. Below are a few stages of my drawing followed by some of the fantastic people and their work that evening.

If you are interested in attending sign up on http://ateleirartista.com under the http://www.atelierartista.com/figure-drawing

Draw 'til you Drop V

Mark Vazquez-McKay put together another great drawing from life event for artists. I had to teach my final Drawing 1 class at ACAD on Saturday so, unfortunately, I couldn't do both days of the drawing event. However, It was still so worth spending the entire Sunday with the great group of people improving their skills and honing their craft. I am especially proud 3 of my past students joined in for the event. Their spirits are strong and I hope more can make it out and stand shoulder to shoulder with their peers in the future.

I am posting these Iphotos from the sketches I completed in my sketchbook and on one sheet of the new Mellotex paper I picked up from Swinton's (Thanks Doug and staff for introducing to me an exciting new product to experiment with). I did more drawings but didn't photo them yet but I will add them as soon as I do.

Quick poses as is the custom with an early start in the day to get the arm loosened up of the longer sessions. The one above top right was done in ink to get my hand ready because you can't erase the mistakes. Below that is one done in 6B. Thanks to Daisy Deville and her fantastic Burlesque models for working with us artists. It is great to mix subcultures to great benefit to both groups!

One of the rooms had a burlesque model who posed with attitude in a satyr costume. The other room had a great drawing opportunity but they were happening simultaneously and I unfortunately couldn't be in two places at once. Drat!  I went for horns and hooves since it is a lot more like my work. I am happy with how it turned out. However, by this put in the day I was tired, so I sat with my paper flat rather than standing so the work became contorted and out of proportion a bit which I find happens when you are making large work at an angle. I also experimented with some new blending materials on the new paper and had to rescue the face, though it does resemble the model. She said she really liked the piece to me after the session = :D

This is the final burlesque models pose for the final session of the event. Everybody was still going hard. The fatigue helps make more natural drawings I think and frees up the artist, thought it is a long road to take to get there lol.  If you'd like to join in the fun keep following this blog and I'll keep you posted about upcoming events like this.

Ciao for now  =:B

Draw 'til you drop - figure drawing day 2, final session

It was a long haul but I was determined to finish the day with a stack of sketches under my arm and a sh*t eating grin across my face. I noticed the huge transformation of hand eye coordination and skill after two days. I may have stated out rusty but it's like riding a bike and now I'd like to beat my time, win the race and learn some new tricks.

This one was graphite on watercolour paper. I am much more efficient getting the line work down and with proper proportions. This is a more difficult task when drawing from life. However it is an important skill to develop for any artist.

Working on sculpting mass and dimensionality by pushing my values I also added in the reflection but decided on keeping it looser. To help set off the shape of the figure without relying on line as much I shaded in the dark circle behind her.

With a little bit of time left, I pushed a few more areas and drew some birds and patterns on the blanket below.

There was still a little bit of time left in the session..........
Here is a colour sketch with copic markers. It was drawn from the opposite angle view across the room.

Draw 'til you drop - figure drawing Day 2, afternoonsession

Drawing the nude from life.

Here are two from the morning session done on watercolour  paper.

I like how loose and soft they are and how the charcoal looks dry on this paper when it is not smudged.

 Here is the next model, i a 45min. - hour pose drawn with red pencil on canvas paper.

Here is the better part of this piece up close to reveal the texture of the pad.


This is the next standing pose, drawn first in pencil then the model took a break.

 After the break I felt inspired to use some copic markers, which dragged the charcoal all over the place and wrecked their tips, but it made for an interesting experiment.

 Here is a final piece from this session done on compressed charcoal.

Draw 'til you drop - figure drawing Day 2, morning session

It was tough to get up and out of bed the next morning, but when I did I was super stoked to be undertaking another full day of drawing the figure.  We began with "Diane" and some quick 1 min gestural drawings.

I started by using the side of a 3B graphite pencil.

Then used various Copic markers, because you have to commit when using ink.

Then we did some two minute poses. I like the right one with the arching back.

 Some other quickies to establish the poses in a short period of time.

 Some 5 minute poses in compressed charcoal and red pencil.

Followed by some 5 min. ones that I did in a variety of ink.

What a way to warm up on the first session....back to materials that blend easy.

This lying down pose was done with vine charcoal.

The next were 10 - 15 min poses, done in red pencil. See the reflection in the mirror?

The mirror adds a really nice element and challenge to the task of drawing.

I did this one in Copic multi-liner and brush pen.

Here is the finished page while in the morning session =:D