"Framed" Nudes

Let's take a break!

It's time to skip the trees for a bit. These three are some "finished" drawings of nudes with added backgrounds like those I posted just a couple of pages back. A couple of pages, but a couple of years in the past! (You can scroll back through the blog and find each of these figures, sans background, in earlier posts and decide for yourself if these are improvements) While those others were a fairly clear explanation of the poses, these are an effort to upgrade the original drawings rather than leave them as just "sketches" relegated to a dark studio drawer. It's like framing a work gives it an official stamp of approval, setting it apart from the ordinary world. 

The background "grills" perform a couple of functions. First, they set the figures in a separate environment of sorts, a defined space that helps us to see shape and form as distinct aspects of the drawings. The grill also calls attention to the contours of form and figure.

Beyond that there is also the important concept of "negative space". The shape of the area defined by the figure's edges and the edges of the background geometry can provide interest itself. All in all, I find real satisfaction in these "Works of Art".   Do they "speak" to you? 

"I love revision. Where else can spilled milk be turned into ice cream?"  Katherine Patterson

"A Curve does not exist in its full power until contrasted with a straight line."   Robert Henri

Lauren

A good day became a very good evening early this week! For the first time in 2 1/2 years, I was able to participate with the weekly figure drawing group. Lauren was the model and we had her seated with arms supported, wound with long scarves hung from the ceiling.  A nice pose!

I was more interested in the figure than the fabric so I just left that out. I drew more quickly than I would have in the past, wanting to get an over-all understanding of the pose before settling down. I actually did three drawings, each a bit more lengthy than the last.  First a forgettable 15 min sketch,  a second one taking 40 minutes and I think the last (here right) must have been about an hour. Now I'd like to go back and do one more, a carefully rendered three hour job,  carefully measuring to get the proportions more correct. (I know! There I go contradicting myself again!)









Here on the left is a similar drawing done a few years ago. It's one that I really don't like as much but has better body proportions. Yes, the model above is much thinner but that does not account for the overly generous space between chin and mid breast. Typically that space is approximately one "head" so there's certainly some exaggeration there.  Still, I prefer that looser drawing because being less complete, it is more interesting. I was so diligent with features like the hair in this second piece, being so precise, that it is, as the old saying goes,  "... more prose than poetry."

Leaving out areas of her body involves the viewer, letting him contribute in imagination, making it a more engrossing piece. - At least that's the way it works for me.  It's much like Dan in his baker's duds in the previous post, there's more room for creativity with the distinction between subject and background in flux.  But then again, as with so many artists, we often prefer more recent work to the old, so it could be just plain bias! (Hmm, Age discrimination?)  In the end it's your work, deal with it as you will but do it with love and purpose and you will always be happy to own it!


"So the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the dancing."   T. S. Eliot

"It is love alone that gives worth to all things."  Saint Teresa of Avila

Form and Material

A previous post spoke of simplicity and showed a penciled beech tree drawing that I really liked. I thought it would be good to post more like that just because of the spare approach. I also thought, except for that recent one, that I'd shown too few trees lately so went through my files and found a real surprise, - No Trees!  Well, at least no more in pencil.  I must have been into pen & ink for a lot longer than I thought, - plenty of those! Among them, these great old maples, two of several bordering the drive of a wonderful Maine B&B where we vacationed many years ago. I spent a couple of hours in soft summer shade picturing these two aged guardians with a very fine pen. I didn't draw the horses eyeing me from the fenced pasture beyond but they were a lovely addition to a productive afternoon.






Without a tree in pencil, these graphite gloves, preliminary practice for a planned series of twenty years ago, will do to compare the natures of the two media, - the thin hard line of ink vs. the broader soft graphite.  I'd finished a couple of the series pieces when life got a little hairy and I put them aside to make room for recovery.  Neither of those is small enough for inclusion here but no matter, the pencil in this drawing is just what I wanted to present. The work is loose enough to be interesting and well enough controlled to describe the subject.

Looking back now, I wonder how I would have handled those trees if I'd had a pencil in hand rather than a pen.  Ink certainly can be looser than that above but still, today, I gravitate toward the simpler pencil drawing where the few details are nice contrast in the supple surfaces.  The penciled glove drawing is more abstract, so more contemporary and shows a better appreciation for form. The trees are an example of a tight working method I used for years, - nice in its attention to texture but now somehow "dated" in its fussiness.

Each of these materials have positive aspects. Work with both, either, or any other you find interesting.  Work with media you truly love, explore its breadth and become master of its depth!


"Every master knows that the material teaches the artist."   Ilya Ehrenberg

" 'Scenes' are temporary; form is eternal."   Lynda Lehmann

Close up

Here is a Prismacolor pencil drawing of a few years ago that might be instructive to examine. In line with my earlier comments about the artist's hand, I mean an examination of this  technique and how easily it can go wrong.

In last week's post we looked at the simplicity of ordinary pencil as a poetic treatment of subject matter. Here in an attempt to show realistic color we have a straight forward  impression of this lady's form, color and character but too much a failure as art. You can see in the enlargement the relatively loose hatching used here, much less precise than that of last week's figures. I don't remember exactly what happened but it seems to me that I'd worked slowly and carefully building up the flesh tones with layered hatching but then, rushing at the end of the session to add those more emphatic darks. While there was certainly a need for some of those darks, the casual way they were done is a distinct distraction.  You can see that most easily in the over-emphasis at the ribs and waist, and in those lumpy lines under her left breast and under her thigh. It hurts! Normally I'd never show anyone this piece but I make an exception here as a teaching tool.   Sorry, there's not much poetry in this image!

If that had been my intention I shouldn't have paid so much attention to detail and actual likeness. I think now a generalized depiction would have been more successful; why I noted that mole on her cheek, I can't imagine!  Thinking back, I remember a frequent admonition by one of my first drawing instructors, - "Don't be a wrinkle artist!" He wanted us to pay attention to structure rather than particular detail, to study human anatomy to understand what we saw and then reveal that structure by recording the play of light on the figure.  I'm still working on all that!

Yes, I often say be the artist you want to be now!  Think of yourself as an artist and do it now! Yes, do it but know that  as a serious artist you'll be self-critical, always working to improve. I find that saving your work and from time to time bringing it out for re-evaluation does two things. You'll more easily see problems after that lapse of time and secondly, you be able to see your improvement over time.

BTW, You are not seeing the whole drawing even in the one atop the page with legs running off the page because of my scanner's size. The technique of "stitching" separate scans together, while useful, is much too time consuming for our purposes here.



"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle."  Plato

The Shape of Content

I really like this lovely Red Anjou Pear!  I've been painting and drawing pears for a long time,  mostly because of the interesting shapes and color varieties, but also because somehow a simple pear may stand in for me. There is, in this particular pear a quality of real strength, - perhaps it's that marvelous red.  If this piece of fruit were a person, he (Yes, He!) would be a person of integrity, good health, self-assured  and even, perhaps, muscular! (For me, it's peaches that are feminine, but don't ask)  OK, I know I'm pushing it a bit but there is a solid "pear-ness" here in this straight forward depiction. I don't know if you can see it but this painting was not done from a photograph. The original was set up on a solid support, a pile of books if I remember correctly, carefully balanced and lit from one side by my easel lamp and worked on only at night so that the light and color would be consistent. As I advocate looking hard and spending serious time actually seeing,  it's important to love what you do as something important to you.



At the other end of the spectrum are these expressionistic, less reliable fruit, reflections of my emotional state just months after the accident which put me permanently on wheels. No, that is not my uncontrolled hand shaking as I worked, it's my shaken life view spontaneously reflected in my representation of what had been a solid presence. What I'd always relied on in my strong body in all situations is now at best questionable.  Losing so much of ones self is like losing that loving side-kick, the dog who cared for you more than you cared for yourself, the one who sat listening for the familiar sound of your car as it rounded the far corner. Or more pointedly, the loss of a life partner who now gone can never be resurrected. Yes, the world shook and blurred the image that once stood on solid support  - and I reacted in my art because it was totally real, totally there, - a total loss.  After twenty years I can still reach in to touch that moment.


I love the actual act of drawing but in the end the best, most memorable art in this world does more,  revealing something of the artist. The most effective, like the editorial cartoonists Edward Sorrel and David Levine, have viewpoints in which talent, style, craft and character come together in truly unique expression. They really do say something, whether about our world or their's, something that truly touches us.  BTW, I'm not putting myself in that great group, just pointing out the importance of intent and  content in the service of meaning.  You can draw and draw,  love the work itself as I do and produce tons of wonderfully crafted pieces but.... are you saying something worth saying? If Goya were working today how would he view those middle east Drone Strikes?  With Sendak gone who will be the next great children's book illustrator?  Will your next doodle lead to a painting of awesome singularity, - a simple statement that says it all!  An appropriate read here might be Ben Shahn's MIT lecture,  "The Shape of Content"...  if its still in print.  If not it should be!

"Paint what you are, paint what you believe, paint what you feel."
"Forms in art arise from the impact of idea on material..."
"Form is the shape of content..."     Ben Shahn





I think it appropriate to include in this  particular blog-post a portrait done on the occasion of my retirement a few years ago by the wonderful New York Capitol District photographer Leif Zurmuhlen.  Thanks Leif!

Fearless

Not all models are young and svelte but that is no reason to neglect any opportunity to draw those with interesting form or face. This young lady has a long history on the modeling stand unafraid to show her body. She would pose nude, partially clad, in costume or in motion!  You might think she'd always be sedentary but I have many action drawings in my sketch books where she moves, dances and does fast poses so that the artists assembled can practice gesture drawing! She was always fearless!


My very young son once described a full-figured relative as being "all circles".  For me, this woman was not all circles but all about form.  I always enjoyed rendering her abundant presence whether in an hours-long pose or working quickly to catch the light and shadow defining her ample body.

In our drawing group we've often had a very thin models whose value for me were well defined bodies with boney guide-points great for an art anatomy lesson. While more difficult to see here, we still need to find those guide-points, those small spots where hard bone comes close to the surface to help keep the drawn figure sound. The rolling landscape of this model's anatomy was
a wonderful challenge that made me bless my early art school instructors who had us drawing cones, cylinders and spheres in various light conditions while demanding that we "feel" the form and put life-like light in it!

I've heard movie directors speak of actresses whose faces loved the camera.  This large lady was a fearless and creative model whose body loved the light. As an artist working with form, you have to love the light and be fearless enough to spend a great deal of time looking, seeing and drawing.  In truth, drawing is seeing!


"There is only light and shadow."  Francisco de Goya

"With an apple I will astonish Paris."   Paul Cezanne

Two Portraits: One Model

I've been drawing Kristy for several weeks now with only modest success.  There have been too many false starts and poor finishes - all very frustrating! The warm toned work below, a partial exception in that bad run, was done weeks ago.

I finally settled down last week and made this decent drawing in blue Prismacolor pencil on grey Canson pastel paper. (The Prismaclor / Canson is a comfortable combination I often use) You can see considerable difference in technique between the two pieces. The one in blue is quite linear, the second on gold somewhat more sketchy as I worked lightly, constantly correcting. There I used some hatching and soft white hi-lites to show 3-dimensional form.  On the grey paper I drew with contour line, following each edge individually, concentrating only on the line as I drew it with few corrections.

I was introduced to contour drawing many years ago in the Kimon Nicolaides book "The Natural Way to Draw" published in 1941. It was out of print for many years but I see it is available again. While it is a bit dated in style this is arguably the best how-to-draw course ever put in print. He says it is a "How to Learn to Draw" book.  I believe it really should have been titled "How to See" as that is the thrust of every exercise.  I recommend it!

In contour drawing Nicolaides  allows  few corrections and no erasures, a rule you know I recommend.  Any correction has to be a new line, leaving the old one as an artifact.  Actually, Prismacolor does not erase well anyway, it really smudges! Sometimes it is possible to minimize an error by carefully working over the errant line with white. I believe I did a bit of that on the left hand above but for Pete's sake don't tell Kimon!

BTW, I don't know if I've mentioned this in the past but I usually work on the back side of this paper. The front has considerable tooth - fine for pastel but much too rough for pencil, - at least as I use it.

Now that I see the two portraits together on the same page, the model seems to have shed a pound or two in between times. I suppose it could be my inconsistant drawing quality or the fact that I was looking up at her as she sat straight on a high stool, but I'm not about to admit that!  No, she gets all the credit!  BTW, there in the warm tone drawing she's not waving her hand around or wiggling her fingers. As a good model she's always able to hold a pose for long minutes.  That was just my fumbled attempt to draw her fingers as I ran out of time to work that day. No doubt I'd had at least one false start that session too.

I think it helpful when looking at reproductions to be aware of original dimensions but I've been forgetting lately to note sizes.   The blue figure's height is 13 inches with some minor clipping because of my 9x12 scanner. The older, gold drawing is smaller at 8 inches high.


"What is art but a way of seeing?  Thomas Berger

"Focus and time limits, works for me."  Liz Reday

New Model

Here is a new model, - new to me, - new to modeling. I'm amazed at how easily she has taken to the rigorous "being still" aspects of sitting for an artist. She seems to like the work (it is WORK!) and she works hard at it!  Even with regular breaks, at the end of our two hour sessions she can really feel it!

Yes, I'm working at it too!  It has been 18 months since I last drew from a live model and I'm decidedly rusty. I tell her not to be concerned that these are not accurate portraits. While I want a likeness, I'm mostly interested in basic structure and the aesthetic aspects of the drawing.  My hospitalizations and subsequent bed rest recoveries have kept me close to home with little but the TV or an occasional foray to the car-wash for figures to sketch - good practice working quickly but hardly a good substitute for actual models. My accuracy will return with continued practice and as I become more familiar with her face and form.  She and I are learning together.






This second image from another session was done just a few days ago.  Here I'm back in student mode, trying to regain some old competence and at the same time moving a step away from that simple line-plus-white-highlight mode.  I'm working loosely, trying to render the form in simple terms then working back over it with line to help make the figure more coherent. Starting the drawing with a nude pose helped establish basic form and geometry. The model then donned simple clothing and re-established the same pose so I could draw the clothing over the body with a better understanding of the relationship between the two.  It's time I did more like this but working more slowly, doing more measuring, paying more attention to either actual or classic proportion. This work does not have the consistent "look" I want but that will come too.







"Draw, as much and as often as you can. When drawing lies fallow, the skill diminishes?  Gene Black

"Creativity flourishes when we have a sense of safety and self-acceptance."  Julia Cameron

Rendering Form

These drawings came out of an old sketchbook and form the "secret story" of three (Yes, three!) poses by one model done at different times. 

The  nude was done more than a year before the clothed figure. It's a similar pose, - but that's not the secret here.  The connection between the two is that the common purpose of both poses is to show the "form" of the figure, - to see the figure as a solid.  We know that lighting plays a part in our perception of form, but we should be aware of the figure as a series of solid "cylindrical" forms and  curved surfaces.  On one hand a sense of volume and weight, on the other, light and shadow on surfaces.

The clothed figure is actually two separate poses, one done "nude" then a week later the model returned and donned that simple dress for a second session in the same exact pose. It's not a whole new drawing, the dress was added directly to the nude drawing.  It's really a learning experience!  It shows us that having knowledge of anatomy is a plus whether  gained  through study or through observation as we did here. 

These particular drawings are very different from the majority of the figure examples I've been posting.  Here the emphasis is on accurate drawing, good proportion and most importantly,  using shading, shadow and contour lines in rendering "form", - the 3-dimensional  aspect of the figure.  BTW, I remember being very happy with this clothed figure when I'd finished it,  but we can see now there are a couple of proportion problems, - the head a bit large, the hands somewhat smaller than they should be.  I am, however, happy with the way the dress hangs on the body.  There's a sense of weight in the fabric draped on solid shoulders, breasts, knees and thighs.  If you look closely at the nude on the right, you can see lines drawn around the bulk of the thighs. These contours enhance our understanding of the form and the shape of the surfaces. If the model's dress hem had lain on the legs at that level, we'd see how the limp edge would follow that line, the surface contour, across the top of each leg then dip between the two.  Look closely, draw carefully, pay real attention to form.

"Form is the shape of content."  Ben Shahn

"Drawing is your understanding of form."   Edgar Degas

Real Ladies

"These drawings are quite different from most of the figures I've been posting here lately.  I tend to emphasize edges and line rather than form and color. Where these are somewhat more subtle, much of my sketchbook action is more graphic.   Those in the last post were almost cartoons.  (Yes, I do like cartoons!)   Adding highlights to what is basically a line drawing can produce a nice illusion of form,  but here I'm doing a bit more to strengthen that illusion, - giving attention to the subtleties of shading and color.  This is not sculpture where the stone or clay is essentially a one-to-one three- dimensional copy of the original figure.  A drawing is an abstraction so the line, shape, color or shading on paper are approximations at best.  It is all illusion.


Just as the writer chooses her words, you the visual artist must make choices. - First about materials like paper and medium,  then about the marks and the quality or character of those marks.  The combination of materials you choose, paper texture, the pressure you put on the instrument,  the line character and the color all bear on the results. Fine or coarse line, light or heavy pressure, strong color or perhaps so subtle it is hardly there.  In the end it is your creation, your artistic statement.

These three small pieces are my usual  Prismacolor pencil but on Borden & Riley #410 Grey Pastel & charcoal.

Beyond materials you must  also decide how much you want to say.  Do you want to show everything you see or know about the subject?  How much detail do you need? Do you think it does all you want it to do?  Is the work like prose or poetry?  Is it just a "picture" or is it a work of art,  where your hand, your point of view, your sensibilities are at least as important as the subject.  Is it something that you'd be proud to show others, - but more to the point, do you like it and truly enjoy looking at it.


"The subject is a means to an end, the end being excellence in artistry."  Theresa Bayer

"The beauty of poetry is that the creation transcends
 the poet"  Mahatma Gandhi

Time... and Time Again.

Just looking at older work, perhaps self portraits in particular, is often  somewhat strange. We have a mind's eye concept that persists for ages  until a time when life creeps up, wipes a slow hand over that image and makes you wonder where you've been.

The pencil portrait on the left pretty much meshed with my self concept for so long the mirror seemed immutable. Still a bit boyish in that drawing done at age sixty, I had an easy confidence in time's slow pace. While aware of ultimate mortality, it seemed so long too distant to matter but I've had a few too many reminders lately, - the deaths of old friends and colleagues who were much too young for that last occassion. Some are even now fitting foot to that proverbial banana skin.

Time matters!   For the most part,  I've tried to make it count.

This pencil portrait technique, tho' not exactly the same thing, came out of hours invested learning to draw with etching needles,  lithographer's crayons and then (again) with pen while pursuing my masters degree.  That pen, an earned favorite, was special.

Here on the right below is an early try at self portrait in ink, done well before my hirsute '"Hippie"days. There I am in 1966 suitably serious with my newly acquired Kohinor Rapidograph Pen. a beautiful black instrument looking much like the Classic Mont Blanc fountain pen but internally morphed directly from a technical draftsman's tool.  It could be quirky and temperamental, clogging almost every time used.  The later, newer ones seemed even worse!  They had to be dismantled, cleaned, refilled and re-started after each use.   I still loved them,  damned quirks and all!

I've included this early stab at self-portrature to demonstrate  progress over time. It takes practice to achieve a high skill level with any serious tool but once well used to the Rabidograph I produced a series of fine-hatched large (22x30) semi-surreal images that are included in good collections across the country and abroad.

Check the difference between the techniques in the ink portrait and the image below. They are worlds apart in quality! Sorry my color scan from a slide image is not the best, (Perhaps I can replace it later) but along with the close-up images below, you should have a fair idea of what the series was like.





Below left is a partial image, approximately one quarter of the 22x30 original.  On the right is an original size detail to give you an enlarged look at the hatching technique used. The image is on Arches Cover Weight, a print-makers rag paper,  a wonderful surface which works beautifully with the Rapidograph.  Even though these are 30 to 50 hour drawings, I loved the long hours building tone, texture and form. I enjoyed the repetitive strokes making marks add up to strong subject matter,  - Images consistent with my oft stated goal of objects interesting across the room and more interesting up close.

I want people to appreciate the actual work involved, the detail and texture, - the time spent as well as the "picture" itself.  Look at these side-by-side images.  On the left the original drawing,  - or  as much as would fit on the scanner,  - on the right an actual size "detail" where you can see the technique up close. I  haven't worked that way in a while but think I should give it a whirl again.  Y' think?

Hey, what do I have to lose? ... Life slips by, - well used or not!



"We work not only to produce but to give value to time."  Eugene Delacroix 

Jade & Fruit

Let me remind you again of the opportunities for simple subject matter in ordinary household "stuff".  Generally speaking, I choose simple things to draw and emphasize form by observing and reproducing light and shade on the object. If these works, especially that of the fruit, were in black & white with no color, we'd still see form. 

Now, let me play teacher for a moment. (Those of you who are experienced artists, close your eyes!)  Overlapping elements, like the leaves on the left, help us to see "depth" in a work. Our life experience is that an object in front is closer, a partially hidden thing is further away.  Picture two simple squares overlapped.

Another, very important contributor to the 3-dimentional quality of these drawings is Color!   Aside from overlapping, the green leaves come forward of the blue and grey background because of the warm yellow in the green.  The green is much warmer than those blues. 

The same deal in the pear/apple piece, the reds and oranges, very warm colors, quite emphatically push forward of the dull grey background.  Even in comparison to the cool greens and blues of the jade plant above, the fruit drawing stands out as closer!

The warm reds & oranges in the lower drawing are highly saturated compared to the green in the jade plant. When I laid down the reds with my pencils, I pressed down a bit harder, depositing more pigment, covering the grey paper completely so that no grey showed through the reds. Otherwise we would have seen the dull grey mixed with the reds, dulling or neutralizing the red, pushing it back.

BTW,  In each of the works above   I've made use of "analogous" color schemes,  colors next to each other on the color wheel.   - Blue/green in one,  red/orange in the other. Analogous colors work well together, they are harmonious.  The  quote below by Marc Chagall says it very well. 

There's another color "thing" at work here, - not in the drawings but on the page!  Red and Green are opposites on the color wheel.  We call them complementary colors.  When put near to each other, complements seem to brighten each other.  Just viewing these two drawings close to each other as they are, makes both seem more alive. (In some cases that effect is even stronger and the colors actually seem to vibrate!)  If I had drawn green pears and apples, this page would have been much less interesting!  Try this: scroll this post so that you can see both drawings at once, then with your hand cover each alternately.  See how much more lively the whole page is with both in view?  The power of complements!  The use of complements within an art work livens it up, - can make it more exciting!

OK, I'm done! Next time I'll try to lecture less.  You there, with your eyes closed, - Wake Up! 

"All colors are the friends of their neighbors and the lovers of their opposites." Marc Chagall

 

Twice Drawn, - Once Pregnant

 I've had but one opportunity to draw a pregnant nude.  She was this young woman  who had posed for us many times during the past few years.  This is a nice contrast.   Back in earlier posts you'll find her decidedly un-pregnant in nice poses like the one the right. 

Here I've drawn her with emphasis on the globular forms of her very pregnant body.  She is the same woman in both but along with those amazing physical changes  I've happilly recorded her usual proud and resilliant  personality.  - Lookin' good!


"Be both gardener and the rose."  (unknown)
 
"Art strives for form, and hopes for beauty."   (George Bellows)

Big Foot

tartin

This ample lady gave me wonderful opportunities - two tough poses with real problems in perspective and foreshortening. As you can see these were separate but similar poses, the one on the left being first.   This is a case where in contour drawing the old admonition to start with those parts closest may really be the best tactic.  In the first drawing I started with the head and upper body working down toward the feet, missing the very strong difference in size between foot and head.  While it is otherwise a decent representation of the pose, the  lower left leg and foot are much too thin and compressed, missing the dramatic contrast seen in the second. There I started at the feet working my way up to the head, being sure to note and emphasize the contrast between parts close and those at a distance.  In that respect this is a much more successful drawing than the first! 


I do wish it were possible to show that  second drawing complete here but unfortunately, it is just too large to fit in my scanner. I wonder if one of those hand-scanners that you move over the work would be a solution? 



There's another aspect of this drawing that I find attractive.  I've said in a earlier post that line  is an  reflection of reality but in the end, the product is a work of ART!   The line quality of the second is a bit more abstract, less naturalistic.  That, combined with my use of emphatic color in the line  makes the whole piece more graphic.  This  isn't at all a large departure, but it is a recognition of the creative freedom possible.  I intend to pursue this more actively in the future.  Stay tuned!


BTW, you may have noticed that I rarely post a drawing without being critical.  Why "Diss" my own work?  I've spent almost 40 years as a teacher and it's difficult to ignore my natural instinct to share whatever insights I may have regarding my art , - or any art.  As an artist I feel an obligation to those without experience and those who may be interested  in an  art  career, professional  or personal.  I want to help in any small way I can.  Even  those with only a casual interest should know what they are looking at and how to look when drawing.




Kurt Vonnegut said, "To practice any art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow."

"Keys"

Drawing is like any other endeavor where skill is important. You must practice!  Unlike musical practice, you can work on your drawing skills just about anywhere, - anytime.  This drawing is a case in point.  Done a few years ago, it was the product of a long boring meeting, but could just as well have been one of those times when I wasn't able to sleep so put the time awake to good use.

Once I'd finished with the keys themselves, I started playing with the composition. I repeated the key shapes in a looser, sketchier fashion while adding other simple elements to fill the space and complete the composition.  Think of musical rhythm and how it carries you along, so repetition of design elements adds depth and fullness to a visual composition.  It's more interesting.  I also took into account the shape of the paper by making the background shapes' edges parallel to the paper's edges, the echoed edges becoming a frame of sorts. Repetition is a "key" idea in traditional design practice. (Sorry, I couldn't resist!)

If I had been intent on producing a finished work of art, I would have been more careful lining up those edges, thinking out the various background shapes, but this is only a sketch, - almost a doodle so I guess I can be forgiven. 

BTW, in adding those various elements, besides adding interest I may have introduced some confusion. While I like it as an example of drawing, I can't decide whether this is a horizontal or vertical composition.  Oye!  I'm getting dizzy looking at them!



Vertical, Right?



No?

Small Loss!

And now for something completely different!  Looking way back in an early sketch book I've found a character I'd almost forgotten,  - probably a self-portrait of sorts.  This sketch was the forerunner of two large (22x30) ink drawings,  one of my most popular images.  They were both fairly straight copies of this "Guy" leaping forward, his foot pushing off from an old fashioned piano stool as he attempts flight.  One went to an active collector of my work, the other to a good friend who was just captivated by this foolish "Chicken Man", as he dubbed it, trying the impossible.  Only the second survives. The collector's house went up in flames a few years ago turning several of my works to ash and smoke.  I do miss knowing those pieces are out there giving people a bit of pleasure but, in the larger scheme of things,  it is a very small loss.

Following this drawing I did a number of works that reused the same basic idea but with other images  which were "darker" and therefor less accessible for many people. This image-idea was no doubt rooted in my responses to then current experiences and situations. At the time I felt compelled, in a sense, to create strong images and spent little time interpreting either my motivations or the results. 

I first started this post with my own interpretation of the image but in the end decided to leave it to viewers.  How would you describe this cartoonish "character"? What's his mission or motivation? What does he think he's doing?  I'd love to read your interpretation!  Please post a comment, here or on facebook!

Double Trouble

These two older drawings, done in the same session, are examples of a learning situation. The first, on grey paper was weak, - the shoulders and back were poorly defined and I'd elongated the body from shoulders to hips. I switched papers and started anew.  In the second I solved those problems and at the same time emphasized the "swing" of the body, taking note of the difference in  the planes of shoulders and hips and really defining the three dimensional aspects of the figure.  This is a better, more interesting drawing.

There may have been another factor at play here. This was likely a three hour pose and generally speaking, models do not hold a pose for long periods of time. They take breaks from time to time then get back into position. A good model has "body / muscle memory" and can regain the exact pose or very close to it.  There's another point too, - as time 'in pose' goes on, the model relaxes, the body slumps a little and the pose changes, so the artist has to compensate and make adjustments as he works.

In the end, I'm also glad I changed the paper color, it may have influenced the way I approached the work, giving the drawing more life.  On the negative side I did over-strengthen the bulge of muscle in her left leg just a bit.  Even so, while far from perfect, it's a more successful drawing. It was worth re-doing!

Just as it is important to look at the work of others, it is good practice to spend time examining and re-assessing your own product.  It's good to be self-critical, good to recognize your strengths & weaknesses, good to be aware of where you've been artistically and where you'd like to be.  Comparing one work to another or even to a range of pieces can be very beneficial.  Keep on Looking!

Keeping it Simple

Here is a very simple drawing;  My usual combination, Prismacolor on Canson Pastel paper.  A line of varying weight describes edges and to some small extent the very darkest shadows.  White pencil highlights show not only where the light falls but also defines mid-range shadows, - the flat blue areas of the body.   Between the two we have a spare representation of 3-dimensional form viewed from ... where?   Where would you place the artist's eye-level?

It is fun sometimes to analyze, - trying to put yourself in the artist's place and ask if you understand why the work looks as it does, or ask how you would handle the same situation.  I don't know if the particular questions are important but I do know that looking at the work of others is very important.  Really looking can reveal a lot!

Early in my training a  2-d design teacher sent our class to the MFA with instructions to find an interesting work and make a faithful copy. I wandered the galleries with my little folding stool and finally settled on a one-foot square scrap of old French tapestry. It was displayed low down in a wall case, low enough that I could sit comfortably with the material at eye level.  I concentrated on the "simple" border design, - leaves, tendrils and small fruit.  Piece of cake!

Even with my intention to get through the assignment easily, I did my best to draw carefully and make a good reproduction.  It took hours of drawing and re-drawing!  As I worked I became more and more involved and began   following the artist's hand as he fitted the various elements together. It was amazing! By the time I was finished,  I was intimately aware of the mind behind the anonymous design and was literally in love with that scrap of beautiful cloth.  For many years following I never entered the Boston Museum of Fine Arts without spending time with that gorgeous little remnant.

No Pin Up!

 I'm not particularly interested in producing "pinup" type pieces.   I reflect as faithfully as possible overall individual characteristics, without being slavishly photographic or tied to detail.  There are distortions here because I never erase and rarely make actual measurements.   In the end, my purpose in these drawings is to emphasize form.

For those who have been followers for a while and are familiar with "The Weekly Figure",  I have (or will soon) close that blog and post my weekly nudes here in "Dailies".  I've decided that my original assumption regarding Blogger's restrictions on "adult" content does not apply here. Along with the last piece from "Weekly Figure"  here is a new drawing.

Making History!

This drawing seemed to go wrong from the start!  After multiple corrections and alterations with my Prismacolor pencils, the drawing was a mess.  I gave up and turning to a fresh sheet considered a new beginning.  It was probably what my daughter refers to as "The Inner Donkey" that made me go back to my pencil box to find a lone Staedtler "Pigment Liner", my favorite pen!  Using the previous color marks as scaffold and freed by the knowledge that it would be lost anyway, I redefined the figure with loose line and hatching, saving the day!

One lesson here is the old "Never Give Up",  but perhaps a more important one is, "History Preserved"! Sketched lines, approximations of position or proportion for example, show not only the progress of the drawing but open a window on the artist's visual problem solving process.  The ability to participate in the creation via appreciation of preparatory marks and the archaeology of layered materials  gives the viewer a richer experience.  This is a much more interesting and vibrant drawing than it otherwise would have been!  I like it!