Life DrawingFigure Drawing

In short poses – twenty minutes or less, you will have to use judgement on what details you want to draw. Getting the gesture is of utmost importance. For poses ten minutes and longer, it’s unrealistic to expect dramatic ‘movement’ in gesture of the model.  I chose lighting on the model’s back in this particular ten minute pose.  Head drawing takes the longest followed by hands and feet. I avoided hands.  A profile head drawing takes less time – one only has half the face to draw.  The drawing shows quick strokes for some of the shadow areas.  Core shadows, the dark strokes that define surface (skin) turning away from light, are fairly predominant.  Drawing muscular bodies or overweight bodies is relatively easy compared to drawing skinny people.  Probably lack of surface details on thinner torso.  One will have to focus mostly on bone structure on such people.

This drawing was done at Art Student League.  The poses were dynamic and fun. The muscles and bones on the model’s body were very clearly delineated in the studio lighting.  The room was, as usual, crowded but they were very appreciative of the model’s poses. When drawing complicated poses, one has to account for slight changes in models posture.  Specially the head tilt.  For short poses – this was a five minutes pose, when the head happens to be in shadow, I tend to make the gesture more dramatic. Not having to draw the head in full detail frees me up, I guess.  It gives me more time for rest of the drawing.

A drawing without a model

A drawing done without a model

Another example of head in a shadow.  This drawing was done while waiting for the models to arrive.  I just made up the pose and kept drawing. A lot of lines were done randomly, without any advanced planning. It looks dynamic but I believe it lacks clarity. I enjoy seeing clarity in drawings – actually in anything.  We tend to hide lack of clarity with too many details.