Today was the first day of my figure drawing class. I thought it would be a good idea to integrate the drawings into the blog to document any development compared to my attempts during part 4 with myself in the mirror as a model.
There were some initial warm-up exercises with charcoal and then we drew a series of 3 minute poses. The model was clothed. We were advised to focus on the structural elements of the figure rather than on outlines.
I drew very quickly, using the charcoal flat on the paper, and needed only about a minute for each drawing, so I made two attempts for each pose. I had a somewhat difficult placement at the outer edge of a half circle the students had formed around the model, and got a view of the poses with strong forshortening effects. The final sitting pose was frontal to my position and was kept for about 15 minutes. With the longer time, I began correcting and working over the drawing after comments by the instructor, but felt that the my drawing style for this series did not lend itself to corrections. The corrections rather spoiled the spontaneous energetic effects and did not improve the drawings overall.
Overall I was quite happy with my new attempts at figure drawing. I liked that I was able to draw quickly and capture the stance and posture of the figure in the various poses. With longer poses, I think I will use a different approach and try to create a more complete depiction of the figure. This would include drawing the actual shapes of the body, beyond the more suggestive style of these drawings.
All drawings were made on 18 x 24 inches (45 x 60 cm) newsprint, using charcoal.
