2nd Entry for Mar 27, 2011

From the top these are a 3-minute and a couple of 5-minuter studies, also done with charcoal on 18 x 24" cartridge paper.

I was finding the `grain' of the charcoal much more coarse than that of the graphite, and was wrestling with learning how to hold it/ use it to best advantage.  While B-  took a short rest, I was testing out different strokes and marks on the rest of the page, to try to better get the `feel' of the material.  I felt it was capable of giving me moire than I was getting from it. each drawing tool - whether chalk, or charcoal, or a pencil, I regard as like a musical instrument - one has to learn what range can be coaxed out of it

The quality of the likeness and sensitivity of contour have dropped right off in the studies of this evening. 

Many of these things would be relative non-issues in tems of longer drawings, where things can be finessed through smudging, erasing, redrawing, etc.  But a goal of mine these days is ho cultivate a very direct, very spontaneous drawing approach on moderate-to-good quality papers which pleases me as much as the Conte crayon on newsprint drawings were.  I feel that many of the things I most want in terms of making images of people happen when drawing from life, and the faster the drawing can be done, the more opportunites there are at my disposal in terms of potential sitters and in terms of viable poses, and the less damaging it is to the sitters in the process.

But for that to wok its best, than I have to know the materials I'm working with so well that the drawing is as effortless and intuitive as possible, and in my experience the the best way to do that is by doing tons and tons of drawing. Originally I had given myself one year to learn what the graphite is capable of, but the charcoal was intriguing as a prospect, too.

If you've recently come across this blog, then you can get a sense of the level I was at in working on 24 x 36" sheets of Newsprint if you look at entries from October 2010 or earlier. It was around that time that I decided it would be in my best interests to translate what I was doing onto more archival/commercially viable papers.

1st entry for Mar 27, 2011

On the Sunday, B-   was working, and these are 1-minute studies of his trademark very athletic gesture poses. These are done with charcoal on 18 x 24" cartridge paper.

This drawing session marks the start of anew chapter of sorts of material investigation. A couple of days earlier, Jason, one of the other life drawers was using a compressed charcoal stick in the same `woodless pencil' format that the 8B and 9B graphites I have been exploring come in.

I like a lot of things about the graphite sticks, and after a few months using them, I am achieving a degree of control I can live with.  But one thing they lack is the intensity of blackness that a charcoal or Conte crayon affords. It's not that drawings have to have really black marks within them, but I rather like when they do. Unfortunately, I find my earlier preferred Conte crayon gives too coarse-grained a mark on non-newsprint surfaces for my tastes, and tends to scratch up the Japanese papers I like. Graphite has the `grain' I like, and is kind to the fibres of Japanese paper, but is still a little short on the `oomph' of carbon particles.

I thought the woodless charcoal that Jason was using might potentially be an acceptable alternative. It felt less `waxy' than Conte crayon, and therefore might not `cake up' on the tops of the paper fibres as Conte is apt to do on stiffer papers.
The Prang woodless charcoal pencils I picked up had three grades- Soft, Medium and Hard. I started testing them out this night. Sharpening them is a much messier affair. With Conte sticks I had worked out a grip on them that sharpened the stick as I was shading with them, which meant no extra sharpening was needed. The charcoal, like graphite, I tend to blunt while working, so periodic sanding is needed to maintain the right shape, which is a messy process.

These gesture sketches aren't that different from my graphite ones, just a bit bolder in value.

2nd Entry for Mar 25, 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 are two 10-minute studies above, and two 15-minute ones below. All are on 18 x 24" cartridge paper, done with 9B graphite.

This drawing session was the fifth one I took part in within the week, and the tenth in two weeks. Five sessions a week is quite a lot - more than I usually do, and I believe this was the point at which I was hitting the diminishing returns mark;  the drawing was, in my opinion, more uneven this night. The topmost ten-minute study is on the weak side, the one below it has good focus, and I peaked on the back study. Chester, one of my drawing students, who was also studying anatomy that term, was sitting beside me that evening. The lighting and pose really showed off G-   's body structures, and I particularly wanted to show the ridge of highlight running across the top edge of her right latissimus muscle, to point that out to him. One could very readily parse out all the shoulder musculature when G-   was holding this pose.

The last two poses G-  was facing in my general direction, so I got stuck on drawing her head ( not that ther's anything ultimately wrong with that). On the first one her face was mostly in shadow. Conours and shadow shapes are the two things that most help me with faces, and this viewpoint didn't have so much of either, and the likeness is weak on that one.

The last study I recognise much more as G-  .  The additional contrast between lit and shadowed areas, and the 3/4 view help.  3/4 views of heads like this lowest one are much more contour-friendly, as the edges of lids, nose, chin and middle of lips all jut out against the forms behind them of the face.

1st entry for Mar 25, 2011

On thr Friday, G-     was working.  These are three 1-minute studies above, and two 5-minute ones below.
All are done with graphite on 18 x 24" cartridge paper.

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

4th Entry for Mar 24, 2011

After a longer break, B-  did some more short poses. These are all 1-minute studies, done in graphite on 18 x 24" cartridge paper.

3rd Entry for Mar 24, 2011

These are 10-minute poses, which I generally find a much more workable time-span, though still a stretch to put down all I'd like.
These are graphite on 18 x 24" cartridge paper as well.