1st entry for Apr 1, 2011

(People looking for life drawing instruction - or basic perspective instruction - should take note that I have an intermediate/advanced life drawing class on Wednesday evenings starting in a few days at the TSA, and a perspective basics class on Tuesday mornings. Both run for 10 weeks, and you can get more info through the TSA website. There is still space for any interested students, and all ages of adults are welcome.)

I came back the next night, to continue exploring the woodless charcoal sticks I picked up.  K-  was working that evening. Above from top are a 5-minute study, two 10-minute studies, and a 15-minute one. These are all on 18 x 24" sheets of cartridge paper.
I was having better luck handling the charcoal, but still working more slowly and having a harder time keeping the scale of the figures within the 18 x 24" paper, which really does feel like a tiny playing field to work on.
Based on what I had noticed in reworking the previous night's drawings a bit.I also tried adding some passes with the side of an 8B graphite stick to the lower two drawings. It did give them a broader value range, and more sculptural volume, but a little bit at the expense of a freshness and `airiness' within the images. Which makes me wonder if there is a point where a smaller amount of graphite would be just the right amount for these studies.