I had a good life drawing session tonight. Most of all the drawings turned out well and I was learning how to deal with form during the whole session.
The top drawing on this page does really well to describe the dimensional shape of the head and neck. With just a few subtle lines I was able to capture the roundness of these forms.
Here you can see that i’m drawing contour lines over the form trying to fix the turn of the form in my head. Of course a finished figure drawing isn’t going to have contour lines all over it but this is the first step to understanding the shape of the body parts and eventually adding in the correct subtle lines to describe it.
I’m very happy with this drawing I was able to capture just about everything within 15 minutes. I still feel as though I could describe the turn of the form more but I’m learning that sometimes too many lines can make the figure look overworked or hairy.
If I only had another 30 minutes on this drawing I think it would have turned out spectacular. I was able to hit that subtle balance of descriptive lines in the head, neck and shoulders. But, I begin to loose it as I move down the back.
At some point I’m going to try some toned paper so I can introduce a lighter value into these drawing. I’ll have to look for an inexpensive paper that fits my needs.
This one started out really well, but then it got overworked with value too quickly. Subtle lines and shading is the key.
Life drawing Post Inspiration
I was lucky enough to see a show of Nicolai Fechin’s work in Seattle at the Fry a couple of years ago. I always try to remember the subtle tones he uses to describe the form. The values used in the face are barely different than the paper and it’s clear that line rules these drawings.