So we've had a few weeks in the class now, and after a few sessions of drawing only still-lives, we finally moved into using live models. From the first day of drawing, I could tell that she knew what she was about. She kept up a fairly consistent background commentary on how she wanted the students to both look at the subject, as well as trying to break old habits. Drawing figures isn't like a normal study of a still-life, and she needed to change the way they thought, let alone draw. At first everyone took their time getting a contour of the items, took a while, and when she told them a few times in a row to consider getting out a piece of charcoal or conte-crayon, only one person in the class listened. This brought about another string of stern words to get them to adjust to the format of the class. Essentially: "keep your ears open and pay attention." She used the rounded forms in the early still-lives to translate directly into working on the body. Next, she had the students do some studies of a skeleton. Having been through a figure drawing class before myself, I saw the benefits immediately. Because of the nature of the body, we need to be able to capture both the form and the underlying structure, because if the weight of the body alongside the bone structure isn't in alignment on the page, everything feels off. Eventually, after getting this idea down, an artist might be able to think only in terms of value, but getting that early understanding of tension, roundness and weight are essential. Here are some of the skeletal studies I got of student work.
- sergelballif
