I was a few minutes late getting to figure drawing at Studio b. this week. All the “good spots” were taken so I set up my easel in the last available place.
But then, what a treat, to find that the way the light was coming in through the window and backlighting the model, he was fairly glowing, for every pose. My “less-than-perfect” easel location gave me poses with silver linings.
For this pose, I drew the strong highlights with white on gray paper, and then worked in the dark values with black, leaving the gray paper showing for some of the midtones.
Heather Clements was drawing on the opposite side of the room, so her poses were almost completely brightly lit, with the shadow pattern of the window bars criss-crossing the model. One of her drawings is at right. This is one of the fun aspects of figure drawing — the same pose, drawn at the same time, will be markedly different from one artist to the next. The multiple points of view provide a more complete appreciation of the form and the conditions experienced by the artists as a group.
‘were taken so i set up my easel in the last available place’ -> can you explain ?
The session was well attended. Because I arrived late, the only place left for me to set up my easel was looking towards the window, which at first I thought would be blinding, and make it hard for me to see the form. That turned out not to be the case.