3rd entry for Aug 13, 2012

These are some 3-minute studies, done with hard Nobel charcoal on 18 x 24" sheets of Canson Recycled Sketch paper.

I really enjoy these aerial/circus drawing sessions.  They exercise all the skill set of life drawing, and at speed.
This fall I'm teaching a 12-week course in introductory life drawing on Saturday mornings at the Toronto School of Art beginning Sept. 22.  I also teach a 12-week intermediate/advanced life drawing class at the TSA on Wednesday evenings. Class sizes are capped small, but there's still room room for students in each.
You can also learn more about the TSA here.

2nd entry for Aug 13, 2012

These are some 2-minute studies. Jasmine had some interesting footwear I hadn't seen before called `jazz boots'. With a split sole, they looked like a cross between ballet slippers and old-style wrestling-type boots.

1st entry for Aug 13, 2012

On the Monday, Jasmine was working at Diane McGrath's studio. She was working on `straps': thick, flat inelastic fabric bands with a loop open at their end, like a flat firehose sewn together. These are some 30-second and 1-minute poses she did.
All of these are done with hard compressed charcoal on 18 x 24" sheets of bond paper.

5th entry for Aug 11, 2012

This mix of random-length poses, which varied between 40 seconds and 2 minutes each rounded out the hard-working afternoon. Zia did a great job of taking over 80 varied and interesting poses - 87 in total.
The afternoon was a very solid workout for all.  There's still one more of these, Saturday Sept 1st, from 1:30 - 4:30.

4th entry for Aug 11, 2012

After a longer break, we continued with some 3-minute sequential and thematic/character poses.
After Zia did a sequence of a swing with pole, I asked her to do three very `gendered male' poses, which were very strong. Then three x 3-minutes heading to sleep, where I focused on heads.
After the three-minute poses came a couple of 5-minute ones, which generated the back study and portrait sketch. The other back study beside Zia's head is the first of some random-time studies following another break.

3rd entry for Aug 11, 2012

These are some 2-minute studies above, and some 5-minute ones below.  

There will be one more of the present cycle of 'Gesture Boot Camp' sessions on Saturday, Sept 1 from 1:30 - 4:30. It's at the Toronto School of Art, and only costs $10. Come try it out if you haven't already.

2nd entry for Aug 11, 2012

These are 1-minute and 2-minute studies, also done with charcoal on 18 x 24" bond paper.

1st entry for Aug 11, 2012

The Saturday afternoon was the second `Gesture Boot Camp' session, and Zia was working that day. These are 30-second and 1-minute poses from early on, all done with hard compressed charcoal on 18 x 24" sheets of bond paper.
Gesture drawing is an important foundation of figure drawing, and it is part of both the Introductory figure drawing class I teach Saturday mornings in the fall, and the Intermediate figure drawing class I teach on Wednesday evenings. Both are at the Toronto School of Art