I had a wonderful day of life drawing today. It was a very long day and by the time I got home I was super tired. But a great day regardless.
My morning started out at the University of Washington for life drawing. The original model had canceled but luckily they were able to get a new model and the session only started a few minutes late.
After seeing that I elongated the model on the above pose, I slowed down for the below drawing and made sure my proportions were exact.
After three hours of drawing at University of Washington I headed over to Gage Academy to start the second session. This was a wonderful surprise, there were two models for this session and it was quite a challenge.
After three hours of warmup I was ready for a two model scene. This is the first time I’ve done this I think. Not only do I need to keep the proportions correct with one model but I also have to keep the proportions correct between them both. I figured the best approach was to get a quick and light lay-in to establish a general position on the page. I wanted to fit both models on the page without any overflow. After my quick light lay-in I began straight into the details.
For the female model I know that I tend to elongate a standing figure so I measured head units periodically and worked slowly. I had determined early on that this would be one drawing to last the entire three hours.
After my initial 20 minutes of drawing though I knew I had a great start and if I could keep up the focus the rest of the drawing would go well. I didn’t start drawing the male model until the female model was complete. Once I knew that the female model proportions were correct I began measuring proportions for the male model as compared to the female. This worked surprisingly well, she was like a measuring stick standing next to the male model.
I wanted to take a photo of the linear drawing before I added any value. Many time after I add value to my drawings I feel that it takes away from them somehow. I’m fairly sure it’s due to my lack of skill in modeling value.
I’m extremely happy with what I was able to accomplish with this drawing. I don’t think I would have been able to pull it off if I didn’t focus hard on life drawing for the past month. What a wonderful test for the end of the month! This just proves how hard work and perseverance pays off.
