1st entry for Aug 31, 2014

Looking to learn some life drawing yourself? I teach a Fall 12-week introductory class at the Toronto School of Art on Saturdays from 12:45 - 3:35, beginning September 20, and there's still spots available. You can sign up for it here.

The voyage of learning to draw from life - as well as the ongoing study of it - tends to start at scribbly gesture sketches like these:

Owing to circumstance and inclination, I haven't been doing much flat-out scribbly gesture drawing these days. When I do short poses of people they tend to short contour studies.  But there are things to be learned and refreshed through the free searching marks of a gesture drawing. They teach about overall body forms and proportions, rhythms and articulations.
We say that the point of gesture drawing is not to describe how someone looks (their surface) but rather what they are doing with their body. That, and how their energy is deployed: what's under tension and what's relaxed, and how their weight is borne.
I got to the Rebellion Gallery session on the Sunday, where Jay was working. These are some 1-minute studies, done with Pitt pen on 18 x 24" sheets of Canson Recycled Sketch paper. The pen doesn't allow for the range of softer marks that a conte or other chalk can supply.