3rd entry for July 10, 2015

These are all water-soluble graphite on 18 x 24" sheets of watercolour paper, either Canson or Strathmore.  I continue to enjoy how the directness of pencil drawing can be quickly shifted into brushy washes.
The top three are 10-minute studies, and the lower three are 15-minutes. Any shorter than these and there was not enough time to include any description of tattoos. A longer stretch of time would have been better still for that.

2nd entry for June 8, 2015

These are four 5-minute studies at top, and a couple of 10-minute ones below. They're also a pigment liner pen on 18 x 18" sheets of Canson Recycled Sketch paper. By the end of the session I was getting back into more of an accustomed drawing zone. The lower two did have some fast pencil underdrawing, which for me helps a lot with taking care of proportions.
Also, facial features I find much easier to delineate if I have set down a general layout of the person's head. It takes a lot of pressure off of the need to be descriptive of features while creating the head all in one pass. the downside being that each preliminary mark takes time out of the available time for a pose someone is holding.

2nd entry for March 1, 2015

These are three pages of 5-minute studies and a 10-minute one at bottom. All are ink washes and Pitt pen on 18 x 24" sheets of Canson Recycled Sketch paper. I realized I had miscalculated on the likely number of sheets I'd need, so I doubled up on the two 5's to conserve paper.
Trying to bang in fast washes in the short poses is really good for pushing the envelope of how much I can depict. There isn't time to get very fussy in these shorter ones.

2nd entry for Oct 3rd, 2014

These are several 3-minute and  5-minute head studies of Erica Furness (there wasn't time to draw her whole outfit and pay any attention to facial expression.) Below that are a 5-minute and a 10-minute study of Severin Stargher, and another 10-minute study at the bottom.
All these are Pitt pen on 18 x 24" sheets of Canson Recycled Sketch paper.

1st entry for June 11, 2013

On the Tuesday evening I went over to Artists 25. Natalie was working that evening. Strong sidelighting from my point of view, and some rich colours in background fabrics and her hair. I was working again with the warm gray Copic matkers, but was working more slowly and wrestling a bit more with the materials.  I felt the previous time I had drawn her at the TSA (May 17) in charcoal was more successful. The lighting was more frontal and subtle on that occasion.
These efforts were more up-and-down, I felt.
I like the `painterly' aspect of the markers- their look evokes for me a bit of Rembrandt and Goya sketches.They have lots of gusto, but there's some textural aspect that I'm not feeling in them - too smooth or something - that I'd like to work out.
With adequate time, the distinct multiple levels of value are great for exploring contrast and lighting considerations in a less random way. Without adequate time, they get an urgency, and if I luck out and everything necessary works out, they are very vibrant. And it's okay that many of those don't - that's part of the price of working that way.
'Adequate time' seems to be currently in the 20 minutes plus range. But I believe it takes a good half-year or more to really get inside a new working medium, and things usually speed up as familiarity grows.
The top study is 3 minutes on 18 x 24" bond paper.
The next three are a 5-minute and two 10-minute studies, on 18 x 24" Canson Recycled Sketch paper.
The lowest one is on 18 x 24" Canson Mixed Media paper.

1st entry for June 2, 2013

On the Sunday, Essa was working at the Sackvill session on the Daniels Spectrum building. These are, from the top, a 5-minute study, three 10-minute ones and a 15-minute study at bottom.
I was using warm gray Copic markers, in a range of 10%, 30%, 50%, 70% and black. I was doing initial drawing more gesturally with the 10% and working light to dark.
One of the pitfalls of working light to dark is that values are relative on the page; I tend to shade with the 30% gray as if it was a black, and it looks fairly dark when nothing else is on the page.
But when I add a 50% or darker value, it blows away the effect of darkness and everything looks washed-out.
This is an issue when doing short studies as there is limited time to go over areas multiple times with darker layers; too much time on the light info and the pose is over before I get to darks.  But light values are good for setting up shapes on the page as they are forgiving in a way a dark black mark isn't, because they are ultimately less obtrusive. Layering on one level at a time is like shading the image 3 or four times, in successively dark areas. I could shave off time and save ink by only laying in initial light values in the places they will be seen, but that is weird and patchy until darker values go in, and requires a lot of trust along the way.
My preferred compromise has been to block in all the tonal scheme quickly with a very light value, and then use a much darker one, like a 70% gray in the darkest bits, as a cue to what really dark will look like. Then I go back to building from light-dark through the mid-values. Black I save for extra punch at the end.
I didn't do that here, and the images look washed-out because of running out of time to get to darker values. I might have been smarter to start with a 30% or darker value for these fast ones, and only add lighter values than that if time allowed.
Charcoal and graphite are easier that way; one material means no fiddling back and forth between which instrument I'm holding, and more seamless tonal graduation. But these marker wash sketches have a punchiness and liveliness of their own.

3rd entry for Mar 11, 2012

 

I stayed in through the afternoon - these area a 2-hour study above, and a 40-minute one below,  At the time I was fooled by the time change - I didn't realise I'd spent as long on L-   back as I was looking at a clock that was still an hour behind.

The top study is nice enough, but the shorter one has a bit more life. Both were done with the same Maidstone paper and other elements I was using in the previous post.

If you're in the downtown core this week, try checking out the show of figurative work by OCADU students, up on the 2nd floor of the 100 McCaul St. building. There's some interesting pieces.

1st entry for Mar 8, 2012

After the time-trial fun of the Tuesday night, I was back at the TSA on the Thursday afternoon for part of the session there. C-  was working, and these are three 20-minute studies, and one 10-minute standing figure.  These are all on 22 x 30" sheets of 90 lb Maidstone paper.  Apart from the standing one, these all have a light graphite underlayer.  I got fairly preoccupied with drawing C-   's face, and was running out of time for the rest of her. I was trying to be more conscious of placement on the page. The lowest one was the first of the day, and the other three are in order of being done.

(In a couple of prior posts I had a link to the info for the Drawing Room aerial sessions now back on Tuesday nights. I realise now that link can only be followed if you're a facebook user.  If you're not, and want info about how to attend, leave me a comment with a contact address and I'll e-mail you the details.)

2nd Entry for Oct. 2, 2011

These are three 10-minute studies, using U-Art charcoal on 18 x 24" cartridge paper sheets. The lower one was not an intentional fragment - I had started with the foreground legs,  and misjudged the time I had left.

1st entry for Apr 5, 2011

On  the Tuesday, L-   was working at Artists 25.  from the top are are a 2-minute study, two 5-minute studies, and two 10-minute ones.  I was getting fixated on setting down L-   's likeness and expression, but was moving slowly. The upper four are 9B graphite on 18 x 24" sheets of cartridge paper, while the lowest one was using compressed charcoal on the same paper.

2nd Entry for Mar 24, 2011

These are three 5-minute studies. 

B-    s poses were really good, but five minutes is for me the awkward transition time-span between really spontaneous gesture drawing and longer studies; too long for the former, but too short for the latter. You can see in order the transition and settling in to more focused drawing from the top to bottom of these three.
But the reach- to try and pack as much drawing as possible into five minutes - is really good exercise.

3rd Entry for Feb 18, 2011

These are 10-minute studies.  I got occupied in setting down D-   's likeness for this bit of the evening.

These are all done with 8b graphite on 18 x 24" cartridge paper.  As is also the case, usually the head is quite small on the page (i.e approx 6" square), but I crop the excess away.
They are drawn this small in the hopes that I will get further in the drawing, but that often doesn't happen.