Drawing Friday LifeDrawing 24th October

A Change of Plan 24th October

As soon as I stepped through the door of my Friday drawing class I could tell something was wrong. We had been told that today we would be doing print making. I could see this was definitely not the case as there were easels set up and a male model was standing in the centre of the room. We were then informed we would be doing life drawing and not printing today.

We quickly went over how to start a life drawing properly; how to measure and scale what you want on the paper. Starting with measuring the head, we were told to see how many head lengths went into the body, making sure we had our arm straight to make sure that we always had the same point to measure from so it didn't change.

With the talk over, it was right into drawing the model standing in a normal upright pose. First I had to make sure my starting point was correct. I had to fill as much as the page as I could with out cutting any parts of the model off. This being my first life drawing, I was a bit apprehensive of what my drawing would turn out like, but I had very little time to think about that. With a little help I mapped out the proportions on the paper and was ready to start drawing the figure. As quickly and lightly as I could, I sketched out the model, constantly going back and checking the measurement against the head size, not only for the length, but for the width too.

I found it a lot easier to draw the longer I was doing it. I got into a rhythm, and was getting quicker as time went by. The only thing I had to fight against was the urge to add a lot of tone. The first drawing was to be more of a study on line and proportion than anything else and adding lots of tone would detract from that.

With the minutes racing by, it was time for a break before I knew it and I had to stop drawing. We then went to the other room for a group discussion. Mostly we talked about how we felt about our drawings and what we found difficult. Almost everyone said getting the proportions right was something they found difficult and I was the same. With a quick recap of how to make sure we were doing the measurements correctly, it was back into the room for the next drawing.

This time it was a different pose with the model sitting on a stool, having one foot up on a box whilst twisting to the side. It was a lot more interesting to draw if nothing else. Also, we were using an off white coloured paper which meant we could the add some tone into the drawing. This was something I was happy with, not only adding the shading, but also using a white pastel pencil to add some highlights. I took all the things I did from the first drawing, measuring and scaling it to the paper, while still keeping the proportions right. This drawing took a lot less time than the first one. I found it a little easier because I kept checking and measuring all the time.

With most of the model mapped out I could then move onto adding a bit of tone to the figure. I started with the head and worked my way down to the feet. I also added a little tone to the stool he was sitting on, but I wasn't really worried about that. I wanted to finish the figure before spending any time on the objects around him. I used crosshatching to add layers of tone. I went over it again for the very dark part of the drawing, then with the white pastel I gently added a little light to some parts.

I was so busy concentrating I forgot about the time and before I knew it, the lesson was over. Most of the drawing was done. I didn't get around to finishing the stool, but I wasn't too upset about that. I was happy with what I'd done considering it was my first attempt at life drawing. I look forward to improving in the lessons to come.