Life Drawing 4

 1 Minute Warmup Sketches -

This week for our 1 minute warmup sketches i followed on from my technique last week of finding the opposing curves of the limbs combined with studying the negative space to help me draw my figure, some of these poses were with weapons and some are without. I really like the first and third drawings in the top image, i like the movement and i think [other than the head] i kept the proportions somewhat accurate. In the third sketch in specific i like the shoulders being pushed back and the definition of the model's ribcage. I really enjoy this technique and i feel a lot looser than drawing in the scaffold, it does however mean that i really have to look at the figure and my drawing to make sure i am getting my limbs in proportion.

3 Minute Sketches -

The 3 minute sketches i did much of the same, but spent a little longer really trying to get the shapes of the muscles to be correct. I did struggle today with proportions and i think that this can definitely be fixed by taking longer to really study the figure, i might also try measuring using my pencil [though i will have to get a bigger pencil because mine is really short at the moment, which could be another contributing factor to these sketches not looking as nice as i would like them to].  The last drawing of this i also quite like, the tilt of the head was quite difficult to draw in as well as the  more harsh curve through the spine to the hips but i really like how dynamic this pose was and so i really tried to focus on capturing this motion. I wish i had left more space on the page so that i could have drawn in the feet to complete the figure, this poor placement was mostly just due to rushing putting marks on paper, i will definitely try to take a bit more time to plan out where i am going to make my first mark in future drawings.

Chalk Drawings -

The new exercise for this week was inverted drawing, we turned off the lights in the classroom and used the lights from the projector, black paper and chalk to focus on how light bounces on the model. I really found this very difficult, i don't like working with chalk or charcoal as i dont like how chunky this medium is and the lack of smaller thinner lines makes it hard to define what i am drawing. Although i struggled with this, i rather tried to block in the more abstract bounce lights from the model than focusing on the little details, i knew this drawing wasn't going to look to closely to the model due to the medium i was using but i think in the second and fourth image you can make out the figure and the lighting a little more clearly. I might have another go at charcoal or chalk in the future but admittedly i really really hate how messy charcoal and chalk is and it truly makes me a bit uncomfortable :(.

10 Minute Sketches -

These last three 10 minute sketches i tried again to work on shading and placing in different tones of shadow on the model. I first blocked in the main elements of the drawing such as the torso and arms in the first one, then used negative space and the curves to find where the rest of the features would be. In the first one i spent most of my time getting the legs to look correct and once i had put in the shadows, i had ran out of time to do the face. I think i need to focus less on the little details in the beginning and try to manage my time better. in the second and third however i really tried to capture the foreshortening of the foot in comparison to the rest of the body, i think the third drawing looks much better than the second however i like how i shaded the deltoid muscle stretched out and the twist in the ribcage. Placing in the wrinkles of the fabric also really helped push that foreshortening and also provide more visual interest  to the main subject.