Of course after 2 weeks of not drawing a model I was a but rusty, so I started off with an easier medium for gestures, sanguine. The first few poses were 2 minutes long and it seemed like the more my brain got involved the worst the drawings got.
After the 2 minute gestures we moved to 5 minute poses and I changed to charcoal. Things immediately got worse with charcoal. I’m going to blame it on the fact that I had run out off soft willow charcoal and all I had was hard and medium charcoal. Drawing with it was like nails on a chalk board. So at one point I gathered up all my charcoal and gave it to another artist then promptly went and purchased some more soft willow. Sometimes materials really matter, not only with your drawing but with your sanity. After the new charcoal, the drawings began to improve.
Jamie really liked the last one I did, commenting that it looked very good and not labored. I have always wanted to hit a point in my artwork where it seemed almost effortless and I guess after almost a full year of drawing every day that is starting to happen. I hope that I can keep it up.
The Drawings
