Life Drawing
Week 1
This week started my first ever life drawing classes. I was initially interested in the idea, as I had never been in an environment like this before. I thoroughly enjoyed the quick timed aspects of the session, as it allowed me to practice with laying down gestural markings and trying to capture an image as quickly as possible. I am normally a very slow worker, so this timed element was a fun challenge for me.
Next week, I hope to experiment more with more extreme proportions, looser lines and a larger variation of tone to create more depth in my work.
Next week, I hope to experiment more with more extreme proportions, looser lines and a larger variation of tone to create more depth in my work.
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Drawing 1 - Initial attempt On my initial attempt, I began by roughly sketching out the subjects basic form and features. I was still slightly unsure and not fully in the 'groove' of the lesson yet, so my work is slightly stiff and unrefined. |
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Drawing 2 - 2nd Attempt Here, we were shown how to measure our subject using a pencil and I found that it helped me focus on the work and perspective of my subject even better than before. I was able to accurately sketch out the subjects features and limbs, and this technique helped me create an more relistic looking piece of work. |
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Drawing 3 - Remembering perspective
On this piece, we were given 2 minutes to move from our original spot and memorise the subjects pose and proportions, before retuning to our easels and attempting to draw from memory alone. I struggled with this piece slightly as I focused on trying to measure out the sizes and proportions, and wasn't fully concentrating on the pose, the folds of fabric, or the angles of his head. I managed to capture a very basic copy of the pose, but nothing to my standard of work. |
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Drawing 4 - Headshots
Here, the subject held three different potions for us while we drew his head using sticks of charcoal. I felt more confident when drawing solely the head, rather than the whole body, as it is something I draw and observe far more often. I attempted to work more with tone in these sketches, but it wasn't fully achieved as I need to push it more and commit to darker tones. I am very proud of the side profile I drew, as it is something I do sometimes struggle with. I feel like I captured his facial structure very well in the time given, though i could have pushed the tonal qualities more. |
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Drawing 5 - 45 minute piece In the final piece, we had a much longer time to draw our subject. I found this piece the hardest to do - I'm not sure weather it was the time limit giving me more time to fret and rethink the marks I put down, or the fact that I focused too much on the pencil measuring technique and became frustrated at myself when the drawing became disproportional to itself because I was so focused on other aspects rather than the whole piece. I also could have used tone in this work to push the shadows and highlights, but I didn't get around to incorporating it, as I redrew the sketch multiple times due to being unsatisfied with the results. I need to stop trying to be so precise and perfect with my work, as it often leads to me heavily self criticize myself when I can't capture the level of skill I expect to be produced at the time. |
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In my free time I did more quick life pose sketches. To to this, I utilised two free websites, SketchDaily, and Line Of Action. They both have a huge range of life drawing photography to work from, and include time limits on their 'sessions' as well.
Here, I drew a series of 5 minutes sketches.
Week 2
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Drawing 1 - Initial drawing In my initial drawing, we had to sketch the model before our drawings were passed over to two others for them to improve and make changes on. I was unhappy with my first sketch so I erased it and began to start again, but we then had to switch over shortly after, meaning I had only completed a very rough sketch. Once again, I need to learn to stop being precious with my drawings, and if I'm unsure of the proper proportions, to sketch them out very lightly before going in with my final lines. |
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Drawing 2 - Mechanical sketches In the second series of sketches, the model posed very stiffly so we were allowed to sketch out the basic forms and geometry of the human form. I was slightly unsure of what the task was initially, and my sketch reflects this by not including ellipses lines on the cylinders that form the arms and legs. |
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Drawing 3 - Tonal sketch Here, we were instructed to work in charcoal and to focus on the tones rather than the lines of this piece. I feel like this is my most successful drawing of the day, as I pushed my comfort zone in this task and accurately positioned the limbs of the model and the proportions were correct. |
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Week 3
This week we worked in paint instead of charcoal, which was an experience I enjoyed far more. The paint is more forgiving, so I could go back and change aspects of the life painting as I saw fit, which was something that you couldn't achieve as successfully when using pencil. There was also a strong directional light shining on the model throughout the session, so I could play with shadows and highlights more in this session than any others.
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Painting 1 - We were first instructed to do a full scale painting of our subject using paints, as a way to see how confident we were with the medium already. I feel like I got an accurate base tone and colours down, though the painting did feel a bit flat. To fix this, I could push the shadows and highlights even further to create that sense of depth that was lacking from my own. |
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Painting 2 - Then, we were instructed to paint out model sitting down. In this painting, I focused more on the shadows and highlights, but wasn't able to completes the bottom half off the painting as I ran out of time. In an attempt to bring the painting forward and make it stand out, I gave it a dark background, but some parts of the subject seem to bleed together almost, as the shadow on the chest is too similar to the tone in the background. I should try and focus on getting all the basic forms in first, then pushing in on the shadows. |
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Painting 3, 4, and 5 - These were a quick series of 5 minute poses where we were instructed to try and portray the "energy" of the subject rather than anatomical accuracy. In the first one, I tried to focus on the tension in the subjects arms and shoulders as he held onto the rope, to try and give him the feeling of pulling against it. His legs are bit too thin to give him the feeling of a powerful stance that i was aiming for, and the head has turned into a blob of shading, but I feel like I got a good tense energy from the left arm of the piece. In the second one, I tried to sketch in his whole body, and focus more on the shadows of the piece to give him suitable depth. His stance is a bit more solid, but there isn't as much energy in the piece as I would have hoped for. In the third one, I tried to capture the energy of his throw through his arms. The angle of the left arm and head give him a strong directionality, but it sort of falls apart the further down you go. The body isn't correctly proportioned, and there isn't as much of a strong and curved stance as I would have liked. There's no sense of energy or movement in the piece, which is something I do struggle with, but I am attempting to improve on. |
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Painting 6 - In this final painting, we were instructed to tape two pieces of paper together to create a very large painting of the subject. I feel like I successfully blocked in the shadows and the highlights - especially around the back area - but I feel like the front shadow gets lost into the background tones. I need to try and keep my measuring and anatomy consistent throughout the piece, as the legs are slightly too long for the torso. I am looking forward to continuing with using paint for life drawing, as it helps me become more confident using paint. |
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Week 4
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Painting 1 - First, we were told to paint out subject sitting down in a dressing gown with paint. I didn't proportion the head correctly, so it seems small compared to the rest of the body. next time, I need to take my time when measuring and scaling to make sure my proportions are accurate. I struggled with getting the shapes down first instead of drawing the lines, and that is something I need to work on in the future as I am too "neat" with my paintings. |
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Painting 2 - In the second painting, we were first instructed to begin painting with out non dominant hand. This was difficult as it forced us to change the way we looked at the subject and painting, as well as how I held my brush too. Tony demonstrated how to block in more of the basic shapes instead of being so precious about my work to me, and I continued after his initial strokes. There isn't as much of a tonal difference throughout the piece as my others, which is something I do need to work on in the future - as well as trying to focus on details of the subject as well. |
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Painting 3 - In the final painting, were were given black paper and told to try and use only white paint to paint the final pose. I feel like I got in the basic tones of the piece, but I really could have refined it more and pushed the shadows more as well. The head position also gave me some troubles too, as I positioned the subject looking to far upwards, instead of downwards like he was. I attempted to fix this by adding mass to the top of the head, and painting out some of his chin. His head is also slightly too small for his body as well, so I need to take care in measuring out my subject before I make any marks to paper. |
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