1st entry for Apr 22

I was back drawing on the Sunday morning, and S-  was working.  I hadn't drawn her before. These are 10-minute studies, done with hard compressed charcoal on 18 x 24" sheets of bond paper.

3rd entry for Apr 16

These are 30-minute studies, done with very soft graphite on a loosely applied layer of bands of tone in compressed charcoal.
Both are on 18 x 24" sheets of Maidstone rag paper.

Having a longer time to experiment with figure drawings is a nice luxury.  Coming up soon, my 5-day "Body in Context" intensive will have five full days working with models in differing tableaus,  one model/setting per day, some dressed, some clothed (plus a few 20-minute studies to get started.
It runs May 14-18, 9 - 4 daily at the Toronto School of Art.  There is still some space left.

2nd entry for April 16

 

These are 5-minute and 10-minute studies of Z-  , done with soft graphite on a mix of 18 x 24" bond paper and Canson Sketch papers.

1st entry for Apr. 16

On the Monday afternoon I had the pleasure of drawing Z-   over at the AGO in the afternoon.  These are 1-minute studies, done with soft graphite on 18 x 24" sheets of bond paper.

2nd entry for Apr. 15

 

 

These are a 5-minute study on 18 x 24" bond paper at top, then two 10-minute and a 15-minute study below, all of which are on Canson Recycled Sketch paper.
The top four are all done with hard compressed charcoal.
The lower two are 20-minute studies, using the same charcoal on 22 x 30" sheets of Maidstone rag paper.

A quick reminder, too, that there is still a chance to get in on my perspective drawing class that starts this Friday at the Toronto School of Art, and I will still take people in my Saturday morning intro life drawing class, which only started last week. Toronto School of Art contact info is here.

1st entry for Apr. 15

There was a drawing hiatus that week for me, owing to the TSA's Spring Open House. Once it was wrapped up, the sessions resumed on the Sunday night, with V-    working that evening.
These are 1-minute studies done with hard compressed charcoal on 18 x 24" sheets of bond paper.

These are two 10-minute studies above, and a 20-minute one below. The top two are done with hard compressed charcoal on 18 x 24" sheets of Canson Recycled Sketch paper, and the lower one is the same material on a 24 x 36" sheet of Durotone paper.

Did I mention - it's not too late to sign up for TSA's spring term classes? My perspective class starts this Friday aft, and there is a very interesting, more experimental life drawing class, Explorations in Figure Drawing starting this Thursday morning. It's co-taught by the very excellent Gillian Iles and Paul Turner.
Plus there's still room in my more straight-ahead life classes, which are only 1 week into the 10-week term.

1st entry for April 9th

On the Monday I was working with S-   and a couple of other artists, exploring some ideas around more unusual lighting, which was, in part an extension of things I'd tried in the TSA "Bodies in Context" intensive.
These are 2-minute and 3-minute studies, using hard charcoal on 18 x 24" sheets of bond paper.

(I might add, this year's installment of "Bodies in Context" will happen mid-May, and there is space.
I also have room for any last-minute people who want to join my Spring classes at the TSA, which started this week. You can get details on all of that here.)

5th entry for April 3, 2012

These are two 10-minute studies that ended that evening, done with hard compressed charcoal on 22 x 30" sheets of Maidstone rag paper with a grey chalk underlay.

It may not seem obvious, but a good understanding of how perspective applies to 3-d forms is a significant underpinning for me of drawing people in space.  I teach a course starting next week at the TSA called `Structural Drawing' which  addresses those perspective principles as they apply to drawing objects, to better understand their 3-d nature. It starts with simple forms, and builds on that, right up to human bodies. It run 10 weeks on Friday afternoons, there is space, and the TSA website is here.

4th entry for April 3, 2012

There was a change-up in mid-session, from trapeze and hoop to silks.

These are 5-minute studies of S-    , done with hard compressed charcoal on 24 x 36" sheets of Durotone paper.

Drawing people doing things like this challenges all the basics of life drawing, and basic life drawing is something I teach on Saturday mornings. The 10-week Spring term is just starting at the Toronto School of Art this week. Their contact info is here.

3rd entry for Apr 3, 2012

These are three-minute studies, also done with hard compressed charcoal on 18 x 24" sheets of Canson Recycled Sketch paper.

I'll mention here again that there's a couple of classes I teach starting this week at the Toronto School of Art -
Structural Drawing, which is a 10-week course in object `rendering'-describing  simple and ever-more complex objects as scuptural volumes,  working with principles of perspective. (or, in lay terms, making your drawing more 3-d. It's on Friday afternoons.
And I have a basic life drawing class on Saturday mornings starting this week.

2nd entry for Apr 3, 2012

These are 2-minute studies, done with hard compressed charcoal on 18 x 24" sheets of Canson Recycled Sketch paper.