We continued to work with creating the illusion of depth in our figure drawing session at Studio b. again this week. Instructor Heather Clements reviewed the 4 ways we had been practicing: size and perspective or foreshortening, degree of development, Mach bands, and value or color contrast. Our model held a long pose at the end of the session, and I focused on her face in my final drawing.
I love when a face shows elements of one’s life, giving a glimpse of the joys and laughter over the years, and sometimes the pain and fatigue. This model has a novel in her face. I wish I had the skill to do it justice.
I drew slowly on this night. From the beginning of the session to the end I was frustrated with how quickly the poses were over. I had difficulty clearing my head. This week marks the beginning of tourist season here in sunny Northwest Florida, when my pool service business, my day job, starts occupying my mind 24/7.
This week Studio b. instructor Heather Clements gave us the exercise of creating illusion of depth. She asked us to exaggerate it, to make the foreground appear much closer than the parts of the model that were further away. Perspective of course is the most obvious method of creating the illusion of depth on a two-dimensional plane. The parts of the subject that are closer are much larger in proportion to the parts that are farther away. In figure drawing, perspective already is exaggerated, because the model is in close proximity to the artist.
The highest contrast of values, and if working in color, the brightest colors, also tend to advance toward the viewer, while midtones and duller colors tend to recede. Purposefully muting the lights and darks will cause that part of the subject to appear farther away, and purposefully heightening the black-white value contrast and brightening the colors of the near portions will advance the closer part of the subject.
The degree of development also creates the illusion of depth. Highly developed areas advance, whereas silhouetted shapes with perhaps hazy edges, recede.
This is the second week Heather mentioned Mach bands, an optical illusion causing forward edges to appear lighter against darker values behind. This optical illusion occurs even though the local value does not change — our eyes do it for us. If the artist will exaggerate Mach bands, that too will help give the illusion of depth.
Fellow students Renee McCalmont, Nancy Nichols Williams, Didon Comer, and Instructor Karen Cope
Karen Cope continued her Sculpt Across America presentation at Studio b. in Alys Beach, Florida, May 15 and 16, with two 5-hour days of a figure sculpting workshop. Since my preferred mode of expression is drawing, I had to look at the subject in completely new ways. I gained a much greater understanding of form.
As with every class at Studio b., the energy was intense. The instructor’s extraordinary skills were evident both in her teaching and the samples she had brought with her. Everyone experienced a fair degree of success.
I was fairly pleased with many aspects of my end result, despite my only previous figure sculpting experience being the 3-hour session two days prior.
My attempt, full figure at left
My attempt, from behind
For me, though, the true pleasure was in the process. Karen taught us to add small “notes” of clay to build out the form.
I am right-handed, but I caught myself using my left hand a lot of the time. I wonder what that was about.
At left is the creation of a fellow student, Nancy Nichols Williams, who also regularly attends the weekly figure drawing sessions at Studio b.
I know very little about sculpture. When I was studying art in college, I took only the one required sculpture class. My area of emphasis was drawing and I also studied painting, but the three-dimensional arts intimidated me. So when I learned that Colleen Duffley had invited a sculptor to give workshops at Studio b. the 2nd week of May, I was thrilled for the exposure to the community, but not so excited about participating. That is, until I found out she would be doing figure and portrait sculpture workshops. I knew there would be an immediate application to my figure drawing efforts, so as soon as I found out the workshop dates and times, I signed up for all available.
The instructor is Karen Cope. Karen is doing a Sculpt Across America tour, offering workshops as she goes. She is an extraordinarily gifted sculptor and a great teacher.
The night before last we had an introduction to her language and approach, “The Speed At Which Form Turns,” and last night we had our first clay-in-our-hands session with 3 hours of figure sculpting. 10 people participated.
My effort was passable, given that my only other effort at sculpting, in college, was carving a rock out of plaster of paris, which found its home in the recycle bin as soon as it was graded.
The bearded model was infinitely patient with us, sitting for 3 hours in 20 minute stretches. I made his legs about 3/4 as long as they really are — proportions were obviously a challenge for me. But I think I captured the general lean and weight of the various masses.
I arrived at the Figure Drawing session fairly exhausted this week, being in the middle of teaching a 2½ day crash course for one of my businesses (a certification course for operators of public swimming pools). Counting me, only 3 artists were there at Studio b., plus the instructor, Heather Clements, and the owner, Colleen Duffley. The model was unable to make it, so Heather modeled for us without disrobing.
It takes me a while to “learn” a new figure’s shape and proportions. I focused on contours the whole night. In this post I have decided to show examples of my work throughout the whole session, from initial 1-minute and 2-minute gestures to the final 20-minute line drawings. Clicking on the picture will give an enlarged view.
As usual, though I arrived exhausted, I left energized by the thrill of expression.
Today I took some of my drawings to June Holm Art and Frame Atelier to be matted and framed. June is a talented and accomplished pastel artist and instructor, as well as a framer, in my home area of Santa Rosa Beach, FL. I will choose three of the framed drawings to put in the Cultural Arts Association Member Tent at the nationally-recognized annual ArtsQuest Fine Arts Festival which this year will be in Seaside, FL, on May 8 and 9. All but one of the drawings I’m framing have been posted in previous blogs.
The application fee to have work shown in the Member Tent includes a commitment to volunteer 5 hours at the festival. I have volunteered at the festival a few times before, the first couple of years back in the ’80’s when it was called the Grayton Beach Fine Arts Festival, and also when it was held at Eden State Gardens, and one year I had the privilege of serving as one of the jurors for the submitted art.
It was after seeing some of my art on the Figure Drawing Wall at Studio b. that I decided to put some drawings in the Member Tent. I had a hard time choosing the three that I will show, so I took several extra drawings to June to be framed. I think it will be easier to choose 3 when I see them professionally presented. I find assessing my own work much more difficult than assessing someone else’s, because my judgment of my own work is colored by how much I value the process and the learning that happened in the production of the piece. Since Heather Clements, our figure drawing instructor at Studio b., has offered so many interesting exercises taking us “outside of our comfort zone,” I have produced a number of drawings that I find very interesting and very different, but I’m not sure how other people will see them. So I’ll choose between those and the other pieces drawn from a more classical approach, being conflicted about whether to show some pieces I find more interesting, or to show work that might get compliments.
This week Heather reviewed what to look for in the model’s pose, how the angles of the hips, knees, and shoulders help indicate the model’s balance and center of gravity. She pointed out how the knee and hip of the weight-bearing leg will be higher in the picture plane than the knee and hip of the other leg, in ordinary perspective. And usually the shoulders are contrapposto to the hips. We had an excellent model for this exercise.
The drawing at the right is an extreme example, with the angle of the hips and knees contrapposto to the angle of the shoulders, helping to indicate the vertical center of gravity on the inside of the weight-bearing left leg.
And at left, the model’s right knee is higher in the picture plane than the left, and her right breast is lower than the left, indicating the weight is on the model’s right leg, with the vertical center of gravity toward her right leg.
A common mistake made by accomplished figure artists as well as novices, is thinking they know how a line or shape should go and failing to look at the subject to see that indeed it might not go that way at all. Heather Clements, the instructor for Studio b’s figure drawing sessions, is always saying, “Draw what you see, not what you know!” The artist may know that an arm is a fairly long part of the human anatomy, but when the arm is receding away or coming towards the viewer, it has to be drawn much shorter, because that is how we see it.
Female Reclining on Elbows
Blind Contour Underlay, Female Facing Left
Female Gesture Reclining
This week we practiced drawing the contours of the model without looking at our paper, an exercise called blind contour drawing. The purpose is to improve hand-eye coordination and also to help us become better at really seeing the subject, instead of just looking at our paper and drawing how we think the subject looks. Blind contour drawings usually turn out pretty weird. Because there is so much detail in hands, feet, and the face, those parts of the drawing often become huge and distorted, like the face I drew in Female Reclining on Elbows.
Later in the session we first drew a blind contour, and then drew another line drawing over it, the second drawing not “blind”. We repeated the angles and shapes from the blind contour that worked well, and corrected the ones that didn’t. I drew with a different color in the overlay, so I could see the two different drawings. It was fun.
Female Seated
Foreshortening forces me to draw what I see, and not what I know. In Female Seated, the model’s elbow came straight towards me so I had to draw the arm almost straight even though I knew it was bent. Similarly, in Female Gesture Reclining, the model’s right knee came directly towards me, foreshortened — the thigh could not be drawn the length that I knew it actually was. Blind contour drawing helped me to see how I needed to draw it, unhampered by “what I knew.” Female Gesture Reclining was probably my favorite piece for the session.
Figure drawing with a live model requires me to be in the moment. There is an immediacy, an urgency, a compulsion. Nothing else exists but the model, my paper, and expression. Time stops. I lose awareness of tired feet or hunger. Sometimes feelings remain, but it goes better if I empty my mind. That is when I am most likely to turn out a piece that interests me, one that I might even be surprised by. The final result may not be beautiful in the classic sense, it may not be polished, it may not follow the rules, whatever the rules are, but I will have a joy afterward. And if I show the piece to others, then my hope is that it will at least be interesting to them.
It is such a luxury to work from a live model. I enjoy drawing, and a live model forces me to draw quickly, trusting my judgment. Poses are usually short, and the model, even the best of models, might move during the pose, adding to the challenge and the sense of urgency. Sometimes it takes most of the length of the pose just to get the angles and proportions drawn, and the last few minutes are spent rushing to develop the drawing. Hurried shading is coarse and textured.
Usually Studio b’s instructor, Heather Clements, directs us toward a particular emphasis, but this week we just drew. We drew very quickly — our longest poses were only 15 minutes.
Way before I ever imagined it happening, some of my figure drawings are hanging in a gallery. Colleen Duffley has covered one of the walls in Studio b with drawings by the participants in the weekly figure drawing sessions. The fact that our drawings are being shown at all is pretty exciting, not to mention the good fortune to be shown at Studio b, the premier fine art gallery and venue for creativity. Italian artist Sergio Poddighe will be showing his work in the main gallery starting with his opening reception on Saturday, 3/27/2010, from 6 to 8 PM. Our figure work will be in the back gallery. Our prices will be nominal, because our drawings are not matted or framed.
This week instructor Heather Clements had us draw the folds and gathers of fabric partially covering the model. A plain light-colored sheet gave us plenty to work with. The drawing sessions have been well-attended the last few weeks, with 10 or 12 artists there. As always, the energy was very high this week.
Each session becomes an experience: the scratching sound of chalk and charcoal on paper, the instructor’s soft encouragement and tutoring of the individual artists; one of the artists singing a parody of a mournful selection in the background music, with everyone laughing afterwards. And spoken aloud, the questions all artists struggle with (but usually don’t verbalize)… “How do you make a foot look like a foot? Why does mine look like a flipper?” And the groans of protest when the timer goes off, ending a particularly good pose. And then the hurried removal of drawings from drawing boards and the setting up for a new drawing, quick, hurry, we’re starting another 8-minute pose…
None of my drawings were “keepers”, but I’m posting a few anyway. I experimented, even using some color. I rarely use color for color’s sake, preferring instead to draw monotone value studies using only one color or a neutral. I may not turn out any masterpieces when I experiment, but I learn a lot, so I never count the effort a waste.
I love when a face shows elements of one’s life, giving a glimpse of the joys and laughter over the years, and sometimes the pain and fatigue. This model has a novel in her face. I wish I had the skill to do it justice.
