I find it interesting that for this figure painting and the few previous I’ve been drawing completely differently than I did with drawing board and newsprint. I’ve slowed down a lot, and I’ve begun to measure much more. I’m not sure yet if this is a good or a bad thing.
I guess this is the biggest issue I could face with drawing from photos. It gives me an unreal expectation to the stillness of the model. If I was attempting this painting from life the model would have to take breaks every 20 minutes. Not only would there be movement between breaks but I’m sure the position of the model would be slightly different each time he/she returned to the pose.
Just like in landscape where the artist must work quickly to capture light, this is necessary when working from the figure also. I found that if I work too slow from the live model that I’m constantly adjusting what I drew previously to match where the model is now. Of course, this comes with practice. To expect to draw the entire figure accurately in 20 minutes after the first few sessions life drawing is a wild expectation. So I’ll keep my expectation where it should be and understand that this is a different process and it’s going to take a few months of practice to get faster with it.
