I'm trying to think

Life Drawing - Week 8

Week 8 was hard. Everyone in the class had a nightmare except Eli who expertly mixed washes, paints and carcoal while the rest of us bungled through like a bunch of overgrown 5 year olds. This picture was the final pose - we were asked to paint in the white areas first, no drawing, no planning - just straight into laying the bright areas onto the page. This paint was only defined when we carved into it with charcoal - but by this time the measurements were all out - arms were too skinny, legs too fat and feet just plain weird. The only chance to correct things was to effectively tipex out the mistakes with more white paint, grinding out an image that worked. This is how far I got in the time allotted, it's better than last week - so that's something.

Life Drawing - Week 7 (Don't laugh!)

Yes I know she looks like a mutant pixy with one leg - I haven't got my eye back in yet. Looking back over the life drawing classes so far, this is where we're at:

Since a high point in week 3, the trend has been decidedly south. As I said in week six, I am not a quitter and I will once again walk into the arena of truth, stand at the easelof possibiliy whilst sketching the breasts of frustration. I think the main problem I'm having is no time to practice due to the new job - which is also the reason for the lack of activity on this here blog. Never mind. Laugh yourselves silly at the picture below and let's see how we get on next week.

Life Drawing - Week 6

It's the first post for two weeks and you'd be entitled to think that after the week 5 life drawing wobble (plus a life-in-general wobble) that there would be no more life drawing posts. I may not be able to paint, draw and think like Damien Hirst (famous name drop for search purposes) but I am not a quitter. I got back on my metaphorical donkey and galloped along the metaphorical beach of destiny looking like a proper nana.

So week five was all about tone and light. Every time I mentioned I was doing life drawing to friends who had themselves done some life drawing, the laughter would slowly die down and then they'd ask me if I'd done the thing with the rubber yet. Well, this week it was the thing with the rubber - you effectively colour in the paper with charcoal to create a black canvas and then draw with the rubber, picking out the light in a Rolf Harris / Art Attack fashion. It's a lot harder than it looks. As someone who has trouble drawing with a pencil, drawing with a rubber was slow going. Rub a bit, clean the rubber a bit, rub a bit more until slowly a figure emerges from the blackness. I guess this is what film lighting must be like - finding the light areas, building an illusion from patches of white out of black. I'm not crazy about the results, but it was a fun week.

Life Drawing - Week 5 Walkout

Last week was a washout due to life overload - builders trashing my flat (and clothes due to lack of dustsheets), a bit of new job stress and a stag do - so that's what happened to week 4. There was a lot of catching up to do in week 5, unfortunately Andy our usual inpirational teacher had to attend a funeral - leaving us in the hands of the kind of teacher that made me give up art at the age of 14. After asking if there were any beginners, she launched into a series of fast poses - a bit like asking someone learning tennis to have a few quick games with Andy Murry. After that barrage, I was disorientated, frustrated and on the road to defeat. We then went to a long pose, and by this time I couldn't make a mark without it feeling wrong - I had the drawing equivalent of writer's block. Teaching is not walking around the room counting down the time left of the pose, layering pressure where there is already enough, seeding doubt where there is plenty and casting a critical eye where one is used to a calm voice filled with wisdom and support. After 20 minutes, I grabbed my coat and walked out - I was furious with myself, but I couldn't stick it out. Next week, it's back on the metaphorical horse and I will be hanging on for dear life until I get my nerve back.

Life Drawing - Week 3

We got a man this time - quite literally a hairy arsed bloke with muscle tone and straight lines interupted by a pot belly. That was the first challenge - making him look like a man. The first few sketches produced soft womanly shaped transexuals made of curves and smooth lines until eventually I got the angles and the sharp points and it started to take shape.

This week was all about tone - light and dark, images built from light, figures emerging through contrast. It was tough, having only just learnt to draw a basic figure and now being asked to build an image from light and dark. But once it clicked, it really clicked and the absence of line really freed me up to put an image of this man on the page. So much so, I forgot about any background and instead of lying down, he now looks like he's floating - but you can't have everything can you?

Life Drawing - Week 2

It's a week late going up, but I've been putting together my first big client presentation at my new agency GT (which has a spangly new website.)

Week 2 was about building images, rather than line making, with small simple marks, rather than continuous lines. We were encouraged to dot around, make a mark where we saw a significant point, then move on - rather than get hung up and draw what we thought was there. So we were building images rather than drawing people. I'm sure there's a wider lesson here, but I likened it to writing - working on a sentence at a time, a word at a time until the whole thing comes together to make something worth reading.

The first image is another two minute sketch. The second is a longer pose and my first attempt at foreshortening. For the lesson this was a great pose because I was forced to draw what was there - a giant hand in the foreground, a tiny body as it disappeared into the distance and this strange foot hanging there on the horizon.

Life Drawing - Week 1

I've started life drawing with Eli on Saturday afternoons. It's something I've been meaning to do for some time as a complement to my core skill set as a copywriter, but my memories of art lessons are dominated by grumpy beardy art teachers drilling every ounce of enthusiasm and originality out of me and the rest of the class. I dropped art at 14. There is also a part of me that avoids trying things I suspect I won't be good at more or less straightaway - I had to overcome that. The teacher Andy is really cool and got straight in there - my drawing changed dramatically within the first two hour class. Hopefully, as the 10 week course goes by, you can witness some progress in the category 'Life Drawing'.

The first blue drawing is a 2 minute sketch using an old brush. The second is a 20 minute pencil sketch (I've cut the head off because I really can't do faces yet, so it looks much better without it.)