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.

3rd Entry for June 28, 2011

These 3 studies occupied the balance of the time I worked with Z-  that day.
Each is done with hard compressed charcoal on different sheets of Japanese paper, all roughly 18 x 24"
Each was roughly 30 - 35 minutes in initial drawing. followed by an hour or two of background shading later.

5th Entry for May 22, 2011

These are two 20-minute studies.  Both are done with hard compressed charcoal. The top one is on an 12 x 16" piece of Japanese paper, and the lower one is on an 18 x 24" sheet of Japanese paper.

2nd Entry for May 22, 2011

These are, in order from the top, a 1-hour, a 40-minute and a 20-minute study.  All three are done with hard compressed charcoal on sheets of a couple of types of Japanese paper.

The placement of the figure on the first was a little too central. The second worked the best, and the bottom one, at 20 minutes, was a little rushed, I felt.

5th Entry for May 9, 2011

These were a 20-minute and a 30-minute pose, both done with hard compressed charcoal on 18 x 24" sheets of Japanese paper.

2nd Entry for May 8, 2011

I stayed on for the longer sitting that afternoon. The top study is roughly 2 hours, and the lower one is a 20-minute study. The one above is on a 22 x 30" sheet of Japanese paper, and the lower one on an 18 x 24" sheet of the same paper.
The upper one has dramatic  shading and more detail, but is edging into being a little `fussy' in its handling.  The the lower one is more direct and has more `breathing space' in it, but could have a bit more resolution of values, especially on the dark end.
It has been striking me lately that somewhere between these two poles - too much time and too little - lies the best possibility for the freshest longer drawings.
Both are done with hard compressed charcoal.

2nd Entry for May 1, 2011

I stayed for part of the afternoon as well. This was a 1.5 hour study, with hard charcoal on 22 x 30" Japanese paper. I was quite happy with the handling of all the forms here, and the texture of the drawn marks. I prefer this degree of graininess on the larger surface.

An image like this is floating, in my mind, on a sea of possible directions into which the surrounding space could situate G-  , or contrast with her image.  I find that is often the stage the drawings are hovering at at the end of working with a model.

Any people who people who like investigating longer figure drawings of their own should check out a  Spring Intensive workshop I am teaching at the Toronto School of Art next week. (May 16 -20).   It's called "Bodies in Context", and runs from 9 a.m to 4 p.m daily     

 

Each day features a different model, set up in a tableau with props and backdrop elements, to explore narrative and symbolic  situations.  Good figure drawing practice, lots of time for one-on-one feedback and coaching, and an excellent opportunity to consider content - and the meaning of figures - within your work. 

There are a couple of places left, and for details, check in at the TSA's website.

5th Entry for Apr 29, 2011

(Images like these are floating, in my mind, on a sea of possible directions into which the surrounding space could situate the person pictured  , or contrast with his image.  I find that is often the stage the drawings are hovering at at the end of working with a model.

Any people who people who like investigating longer figure drawings of their own should check out a  Spring Intensive workshop I am teaching at the Toronto School of Art next week. (May 16 -20).   It's called "Bodies in Context", and runs from 9 a.m to 4 p.m daily     

 

Each day features a different model, set up in a tableau with props and backdrop elements, to explore narrative and symbolic  situations.  Good figure drawing practice, lots of time for one-on-one feedback and coaching, and an excellent opportunity to consider content - and the meaning of figures - within your work. 

There are a couple of places left, and for details, check in at the TSA's website.)

These are two 20-minute studies of M-   . The upper one is on is done with hard compressed charcoal on 18 x 24" cartridge paper, while the lower one is the same charcoal on 18 x 24" Japanese paper.

4th Entry for Apr 10, 2011

Most of the studies documented on this blog are very short and direct. But for people who are interested in investigating doing longer figure drawings of their own, I will be teaching a workshop from 9 a.m to 4 p.m daily May 16 -20 over at the TSA.  It's called "Bodies in Context".  Each day features a different model, set up in a tableau with props and backdrop elements, to explore narrative and symbolic  situations.  Good figure drawing practice, lots of time for one-on-one feedback and coaching, and an excellent opportunity to consider content - and the meaning of figures - within your work.
There are a couple of places left, and for details, check in at the TSA's website.

These longer poses finished the evening.  The top two are 15-minute studies, while the bottom two are 20 minutes each. The topmost one is charcoal on 18 x 24" cartridge paper, and the others are all charcoal on 18 x 24" sheets of different types of Japanese paper. 

2nd Entry for Apr 8, 2011

The topmost study is 15 minutes, and below it are two 20-minute ones that ended the evening. All of these are using charcoal on 18 x 24" sheets of Japanese paper. The handling is a little rough in places, but there was an `airiness' of shading that I clicked into that night, and a directness, that I liked. Now, if I could only do that a little faster...

5th 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...)

These are two 20-minute studies, that finished the evening.  The upper one was especially strong, I felt, and perhaps the most successful one I've done using the compressed charcoal. That was partly due to my being in a good viewpoint in relation to what was a dramatic pose on A-  's part.

Not all physically taxing or unusual body poses translate into remarkable visuals, and location is an important factor - what is a striking collection of forms and angles from one place may not be so strong from another. But when someone's pose strikes a chord - and they are pushing themselves - it makes a heightened sense of an event that I as a drawer want to reach to describe. But for those to work, one benefits from all the practice time and experience in setting things down on the less dramatic moments, to be ready for when something subtle or dramatic does strike a chord.

4th Entry for Apr 7, 2011

I was feeling lucky - or maybe just prodigal - that night, so I shifted over to Japanese paper for the balance of the evening, but stuck with the compressed charcoal sticks.
These are both 15-minute studies, on 18 x 24" Japanese paper sheets. I haven't tried to modify them at all with graphite or other media, thus far.

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.

2nd 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 - but act fast - the window of opportunity is drawing to a close...)

From the top, these are a 15-minute, a 20-minute and a 25-minute study.  All three are on sheets of Japanese paper. The top two were done with charcoal, and the bottom one with 8B graphite.  T
The graphite study is on a sheet of fairly tough, good-quality kozo paper that I thought might be a fair substitute for the `etchu heavy' paper I found and really liked (see March 13th).  It did handle nicely, but the dark shadows on M-  's lower shoulder and her hair were so close in value that I find her lower shoulder looks awkward.
Overall, though, it was a more succesful drawing outing than the previous two.

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.

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.

4th Entry for Mar 27, 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 two 20-minute studies finished the evening. Both are done with charcoal on 18 x 24" sheets of Japanese paper. 
I tried out this type of woodless charcoal stick for the first time on Japanese paper on these two studies. Initially I mostly noticed that the texture on the paper was more coarsely-grained than I wanted, but ion hindsight, I'm not entirely unhappy with the topmost study. It has good, bold blacks in it. Still, I prefer the finer grain of the 8B graphite on the same paper. If you look at the 5th entry for Mar 24 as a comparison, you can get a sense of the subtle difference.


It occurs to me that in some ways, this is like a photographer experimenting with the coarseness or fine-ness of the silver grains using different papers and printing/developing techniques. The charcoal here is more like a high-speed film - coarser grain, more contrasty image.


The shadows on B-   's face are a little dark on the lower study for my tastes. His seat and the background tones were added later - I was looking at the study at home, and that's what it seemed to need.

5th Entry for Mar 24, 2011

These are two 15-minute studies, done with 8B graphite on sheets of 18 x 24" Japanese paper. I was very happy with how these were turning out, but got called away on some other business after they were done, so the drawing evening ended on a high note.

For anyone looking for beginner or intermediate life drawing instruction, I am starting 10-week classes in the next few days at the Toronto School of Art.
Also,  if you want to get a better grasp of drawing simple solids (blocks, cylinders, etc) and applying perspective principles to drawing objects, there is also a Tuesday morning 10-week class starting next week called `Structural Drawing' , also at the TSA.

More details are on their website, http://www.tsa-art.ca

3rd Entry for Mar 22, 2011

These are all 20-minute studies, done with graphite on 18 x 24" sheets of Japanese paper. I was wrestling a bit more than usual with proportion on some of these studies, but the contours and the light and shadow ere working quite well. So in places they are more stylised than I would like, but each holds together well, and I feel they are fairly strong images.

If you want to learn about figure drawing, or if you have some ability and want to refine/deepen what you have, then you should check into the Toronto School of Art's Spring term, which is starting this week and next.  I offer a beginning 10-week life-drawing class on Saturday Mornings, and an intermediate/advanced 10-week course on Wednesday evenings. The school is right downtown at Spadina and Adelaide.
As well, in the Spring term, I also teach a Tuesday morning class on perspective basics for drawing objects (up to and including people, who are much more than objects...). It is called `Structural Drawing, and also runs 10 weeks.
The TSA's website has more info, here.