Life drawing.

Here is some life drawing I did at the classes in London,

 and thought I may as well post.

Assignment Four.

1. Figure study using line.

My first try.

Ink with brush on a brown support.

This is my sister again, I didn't have her sitting for the full duration of the drawing, and that is where (I think) things went wrong, as I had to continue working using a photograph,

you only discover how distorted photos really are when you draw from them, the whole thing is wildly out of proportion, and something to very wrong with her face. 

  The technique though was fun and I quite like the marks and feel of the drawing.

After getting in the basic structure with pencil,

I tried working with dip in pen and then fountain pen, but as I had my paper on an easel I couldn't get ether of the pens to work at a slope, so I opted for a brush, and found it very satisfactory.

Dissatisfied by the first drawing, I started again,

and as my sister was in her Ballet dress and shoes, I thought it would be nice to look at some of Edgar Degas drawings, who's work I love. 

Edgar Degas, drawing of dancer leaning forward.

Pencil.

Pen and wash.

I did some quick preparatory sketches.

I am afraid the two above are ones I started, went wrong, and had another go.

Charcoal stick and pencil.

So this is my finished drawing.

I have got a bit of a likeness, I think.

And she also doesn't look like a statue, I mean she looks alive.

I found it hard going though, dealing with children's proportions, as I spend my time struggling with adult measurements and then suddenly drawing seven year olds was an adjustment, I kept wanting to draw the head smaller. In spite of that I don't think the proportions are too far off.

I chose charcoal because I was bored with graphite but wanted something more forgiving than ink. 

I am worried that it might have got a little tonal for a line drawing.

 I had fairly basic lighting, just coming from the right and slightly downwards.

Because of it being a line drawing I was trying to avoid it getting too tonal, 

but I did, and I quite liked the effect, try something I have seen in other drawings, putting thick marks to the side of a figure where the shadow is, and lighter, thinner lines to the side of the light source.

I made sure to put in some background, as I didn't want her floating.

I quite like the composition and the pose, as there are lots of pleasing underlying geometrical shapes at the heart of the image, triangles and a sort of S shape that makes the eye flow through the figure.

I wish I had worked longer at making it easier to see the structure of the figure, as it all gets a bit lost under the clothing.

I found working at this size really hard.

I feel reasonably pleased with the drawing, though, if I where to do it again I think I would do it quite differently.

I probably could have worked on it longer (if I had more time) and got it to more of a finished standard.

2. Figure study using tone.

Watercolour and fountain pen.

 Pink support with blue conté.

Two small warm-up sketches.

Pencil, pen, gouache and conté. 

This is my finished tonal drawing of my brother.

Unlike the drawing before, I feel I have got little likeness and even less life.

The proportions are't too bad on this drawing, I think, though the head might be a little too big.

I started in pencil with a rough sketch, and then blocking in areas of tone with gouache.

When looking at Degas for the line drawing, I was struck by these beautiful tonal studies he did.

Edgar Degas, drawing of dancer adjusting her slipper.

And wanted to try the technique out myself.

I then added conté, to define areas.

 I set up lighting so I got a fun shadow of his profile, cast on the sofa.

I am pleased with the background, 

rather fun to do, I actually believe it to be the best bit of the piece. 

The composition and pose are boring,

I wanted him sitting more upright (perhaps leaning on one arm) reading a book, but he couldn't hold the pose for that long.

I wish I had taken a more interesting view.

There is something off about the sofa, to do with the left-head side, the arm looks a little wrong, I think.

I worked hard at getting the bent leg to came forward.

The shadows worked quite nicely.

Again, I struggled a bit with the size of support.

I really struggle with tonal work, it is something I must work on, getting a good varied range of tones.

I don't like this drawing at all, if I had more time I would defiantly do it again, and very differently.

Close up.

Self-Portrait.

I started by looking at lots wonderful artist's self-portraits,

I collected lots of ideas for compositions.

Quick thumbnail ideas for compensation.

Preparatory sketches, 

trying out different looks and angles.

Pencil.

Dark brown and white pencil on light brown paper.

Dip in pen with sepia ink washes on light brown paper.

Black ink using dip in pen, brush and dropper cap.

I found, and liked very much this drawing by a Russian artist Mikhail Vrubel.

Mikhail Vrubel self-portrait.

This was going to be my finished piece, 

Dip in pen and brush using sepia ink, a red, brown and white conté, on a light brown support.

But in the end, I didn't like it enough.

Red, white and black conté, on a dark brown paper.

So this is my finished self-portrait,

I am reasonably pleased with it, and I enjoyed doing it.

It looks like me.

I worked from a combination of mirror and photograph.

I thought about the skull and proportions. 

I would like to study muscles, I feel that is a let down for me as I know little about them, and they are so important to drawing the figure.

I think the left eye is slightly out of place, being not in line with the other eye and a little bit to big.

I like using conté more and more, and was pleased with the Red, white and black combination on on the dark brown support, the highlights might be a little too harsh.

I think the range of tones was quite successful 

(for me)  

I like it being a dark picture with a dark background, it makes you focus on the face. 

Its nice having the face at an angle, but hard to draw, I was conscious of finding myself wanting to straiten the face upward.

I think this drawing is to a nice finished standard, although that might partially be because of me drawing it at a more manageable size than the to other A1 drawings.

Close up.

"Like the painting of a sorrow, A face without a heart"

Exercise (3) Portrait From Memory or the Imagination. Project (6) The Face.

I was looking forward to this exercise, 

I like to work from the imagination,

and trying to translate onto paper what is in my head.

I started by thinking it would be fun to draw someone from literature, 

I decided to try my hand at depicting the character 

Ebenezer Scrooge, 

from the book A Christmas Carol 

by Charles Dickens.

I am a fan of Charles Dickens, and I am very interested in illustration. 

I hand a strong image in my head of what I thought he looked like, from the extract.

"Oh!  But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grind- stone, Scrooge! a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner!  Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster.  

The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, shriveled his cheek, stiffened his gait; made his eyes red, his thin lips blue and spoke out shrewdly in his grating voice.  A frosty rime was on his head, and on his eyebrows, and his wiry chin.  He carried his own low temperature always about with him; he iced his office in the dogdays; and didn't thaw it one degree at Christmas."

I love this passage, 

as it doesn't describe how he looks.... but rather how he might look.

First try, looks too flat, especially his cheek.

Fountain pen and water-brush.

Fountain pen and water-brush.

I like some of the marks I achieved on this drawing,

as I have said before pen and wash is one of my favourite things to work in, and I really enjoyed doing this piece.

the background got a bit mucked up, as I had originally drawn in the top of his head too big, and had to shrink it.

The eye got too dark as well.

Wasn't sure how far to push the evilness of the character, as I wanted him to look reasonably believable, he is slightly exaggerated, but not, I think, beyond the reality. 

Close up.

Come to think of it, my image is similar to Arthur Rackham's Scrooge, 

I love Arthur Rackham's work, he is, without a doubt  my favourite illustrator and one of my favourite artists. 

He is a great influence over my Art. 

Arthur Rackham, A Christmas Carol.