Here are some drawings from last night’s drawing group. The group is taking off it seems. Others are stepping up and offering to help run sessions, and start sessions of different days once a month. It’s great.
Part of learning is observation of what you are doing. In the drawing below, I was going along, somewhat pleased at what I was getting. Then I got to the area circled in red. I realized that the negative space outside the body in my drawing was at least twice as big as what I was actually seeing (The yellow area).
What it comes down to, my proportions for most of the drawing were way off. It happens. It’s why good artists draw all the time. You aren’t always going to be perfect, you don’t always get it right. Heck even the two drawings above are 100% correct. Maybe 80%. Models shift, you make one area a little to big, you forget to have some outside reference point.
It’s the ability to look and evaluate your work, that helps someone improve.
Brooklyn, Process, drawing, figure drawing, sketching
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Brooklyn, Brooklyn figure drawing group, drawing, figure drawing, Process, sketches, sketching
Last night we picked up our figure drawing group after a few weeks hiatus because of those pesky holidays. It was good to draw the figure again, though I did feel a bit rusty, and I wasn’t digging on my pencil paper interaction. I felt my shorter sketches were far more successful then the longer poses.
It was also a new model, which takes a while to get used to. When you use the same model(s) over and over, you begin to learn their body. This model was very good, and she had a really great body to draw. She was quick to want to use props, and was happy to wear the mask Kristen brought, and grabbed a hula-hoop. Having props and objects to work with, allows you points of reference outside the body.
We are thinking of trying to expand the days the group meets, such as a Saturday session. It’s nice that the group is doing well and there is an interest in it.
After a two week break, we got our figure drawing back on last night. At first, I just wasn’t hitting it. It was a new model, so I wasn’t as familiar with her body as I was with past models. It might have been that it’s been two weeks since the last session, even though I’ve been doing drawing and such at home. But the final pose, which we gave a hour for, I felt I really got the form down, though I wish I had paid more attention to the stairs and surroundings in my drawing, I feel I crapped them out.
It’s Thursday, so that means last night I was at my weekly figure drawing group. We used a new space last night, which was a combination studio/living area for several people, so it was very eclectic, 100% awesome. Wanna see? Of course I took a pano of the space!
Click to see larger
I felt it was a very good session for me. I focused more on cleaner lines, more confidence in when I make my marks. I think it really paid off. I feel I’m getting better proportions, and more in. I bought a bigger sketchbook, so I’m not cutting off hands and feet so much. If I have one rule during these sessions, it’s to NOT cop out on the hands and feets and heads.
So, if you find your normal drawing size doesn’t work with the sketch book you have, get a larger one. Mine is a little larger then a laptop, and it fits into my backpack. Finding the tools and materials that you feel work well for you is so important.
And now, some drawings, click to enlarge:
I go to a figure drawing group which is held once a week. It’s a good drawing exercise, and it’s also a good time to interact with other artists. The space we meet in is huge and very nice, so it gives us plenty of room to have the model do a lot of dramatic poses.
People work in all sorts of medium, paint, pencil, charcoal, iPhone, digital and I think last time, someone did some really great drawings using Sharpies.
The space, taken with my iPhone, using the Pano app.
Here are some of the drawings I did from the last session. If you are an artist in the New York area, this group is located in Brooklyn, and is a great group.
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