Bonus Entry for Feb 18, 2011

While I was drawing on the Thursday, I discovered a graphite drawing on Japanese paper that had been sitting in the roll of paper that i use for padding. It was a 20-minute study of D-   from earlier in the year that got overlooked. So this seems a good time to include it.

2nd Entry for Apr 7, 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 - but act fast - the window of opportunity is drawing to a close...)

Above are two sheets with 5-minute studies, and below are two 10-minute studies. All are done with 9B graphite on 18 x 24 cartridge paper sheets.

2nd Entry for Apr 5, 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 - but act fast - the window of opportunity is drawing to a close...)

Above are two 20-minute studies, and a 15-minute one below.   The top two are charcoal on 18 x 24" sheets of Japanese paper, and the one below is charcoal on cartridge paper.   I saved the `good paper' for the longest studies, but in hindsight, the last one worked out with more feeling than the longer sitting pose above it. You just never know which drawing will work best, which is a good argument for always using good paper, if possible.

1st entry for Apr 4, 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.)


On the Monday night I was over at the east-end Ralph Thornton Centre.   M-   was working. For the start of the session I retreated to what is now my `comfort zone' of 9B graphite on cartridge paper. These are two 10-minute studies above, and a 15-minute one below.

1st entry for Apr 3, 2011

On the Sunday morning I went over to the TSA to do some drawing, but was a little tired and preoccupied. I ended up fixating on drawing A-   's face, and didn't get much farther than that.  The top three studies are 10 minutes, using chacoal on cartridge paper.
The lower two studies are on Japanese paper. Of those, the one above is done with charcoal, and was a 15-minute study.  For the last one, which was also 15 minutes, I switched back to graphite. I was most happy with it, as far as that morning's drawing went.

2nd Entry for Apr 1, 2011

The topmost study of K-    is 15 minutes, done with charcoal on 18 x 24" cartridge paper. The two below were 20 minutes and 25 minutes respectively.  They are on 18 x 24" sheets of Japanese paper, augmented with some 8b graphite afterwards, more on the middle one, less on the lower one.

The composition on the lower one was a bit of a tactical error. I was most interested in the shapes and shadows where her arm and feet met, and started there. I misgauged how high I put them, which meant lots of chair legs and such, but an awkward cropping of her head.  With the best of intentions, some drawings will crash on the reefs of awkward placement.

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.

2nd Entry for Mar 31, 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.)


These three longer studies of A-  are an initial experiment in mixing graphite with charcoal. The topmost one is a 15-minute study, initially done with charcoal on 18 x 24" cartridge paper. The two lower 20-minute studies were done with charcoal on 18 x 24" sheets of different Japanese papers.
At first I found the `grain' of the charcoal on the paper too coarse. Later in my studio, I was looking at them and tried laying some broad graphite strokes atop the charcoal, and I liked how that gave a much wider tonal range, by filling in some of the white between the charcoal dots, as well as being a tiny bit like a blending stomp in effect.
I felt that was something interesting to pursue further.

Also, it was that night that Chris, the animator was sitting beside me. He once took one of my classes, and remarked, just before A-  started back to work, "Oh no, my teacher is sitting beside me. I better not f--- around now... ". So I wrote a note on it and passed it to him, informing him that I really hoped that my presence would spur him to f--- around more, not less.   After all, messing around is an important element of creative discovery.

2nd Entry for Mar 29, 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.)




The upper two images are done with charcoal on 18 x 24" cartridge paper, They, and the lower one are all 20-minute studies. The lower one is done with 8B graphite on Japanese paper.
I was gaining some degree of control of the charcoal in the longer poses, but my drawing was not at its best.  The pose S-  took at the end was the one I most connected with - it was an unusual angle, and lots of foreshortening and subtle values on her torso. The drawing is richer in terms of subtlety, but the graphite seems washed out beside the more intense charcoal.  Somewhere in between these two seems to lie my ideal medium.
Overall, I didn't feel it was one of my better drawing nights. I could have omitted most of these, but I think it is worth sharing some of the weak studies as well as the good ones, to underscore that you can't have one without the other.  Also, I had some personal matters that were weighing on me from the day before, which may have been part of why S-    looks particularly blue in a lot of these.

And as I've said before, anyone who knows of a 22 x 30" inexpensive acid-free cartridge paper with a nice tooth, please let me know...

2nd Entry for Mar 22, 2011

These are two 10-minute studies above, and a 7-minute one below.  The 10's are on 18 x 24" cartridge paper, while the lower one is on 18 x 24" Japanese paper.  All are done with graphite.

2nd Entry for Mar 14, 2011

From above, these are a 10-minute and a 15-minute study with graphite on 18 x 24" cartridge paper, and below that are a 15-minute and 20-minute study on 18 x 24" sheets of Japanese paper, also done with soft graphite.
On these papers, I have been finding that graphite replicates most of the feel of my preferred medium for a few years, which was Conte crayon. If you're interested in learning about Life Drawing working in a variety of media, I do have a couple of classes ( beginner and intermediate life drawing) starting soon at the Toronto School of Art. You can get more info and contact them via their website.

2nd Entry for Mar 13, 2011

 

 

 

 These are a couple of 15-minute studies of S-   above, and a 20-minute one below.  All are done with graphite on 18 x 24" cartridge paper.

Some of the drawings like these will be on show at the White Wall North Gallery in Toronto, up on Lawrence Ave. near Leslie. You can get more details on their website.

Also, if any of you are looking fo some instruction, the Spring term at the Toronto School of Art is starting in two weeks. You can get information on the classes I teach, on Wednesday nights and Saturday mornings , if you click here.

2nd Entry for Mar 8, 2011

 

Above are three 20-minute studies, done with graphite on 18 x 24" Japanese paper.
Below is a 10-minute study with graphite on 18 x 24" cartridge paper. 

2nd Entry for Mar 7, 2011

At top is another 10-minute and 15-minute study on 18 x 24" cartridge paper.
Below are a 20-minute and a 25-minute study on two types of Japanese paper, both around 18 x 24". The lower one has been reworked a bit in the studio afterwards.

3rd Entry for Mar 4, 2011

These two studies are 20 minutes apiece, and are done with 8B graphite on 18 x 24" Japanese papers.

2nd Entry for Feb 25, 2011

These are a 10-minute pose above, and two 15-minute ones below. These are also done with graphite on 18 x 24" cartridge paper.  I'm quite happy with the value range in the bottom two images, and with the degree of connectedness within the drawing.