Life Drawing

Those of you that know my work, will be aware that I put a big emphasis on drawing from the human figure. It keeps me aware of my drawing process and helps me to stay loose in my work. I'm a firm believer, that people who teach drawing, or art from observation, should also practise. It's no good to have a teacher that cannot remember the pitfalls of observational drawing from when he or she last worked from life, perhaps in their first years of art school!!!

The figure drawing classes have finished for this block, and so I'm going to post 10 of my favourite drawings from this session. Please, feel free to comment.

I find that since I left art college, I did an MFA in the States, my work has lacked the sort of drive that can only be achieved through constructive criticism. Without some sort of measure, there is no way of knowing how good...or bad my drawing is. So, tell me if it's crap, but if you do please also tell me why!

OK, if you want to know sizes, media etc, just ask. The same goes if you have any questions about technique.




This was a really quick pose, between five and ten minute. I like it because of the articulation of the foot. You can tell it's going behind the right leg. I'm quite chuffed I managed to describe that in such a short space of time. I think the quick shading works on this, but I've drawn a few where the texture of shading with the charcoal on its side picks up too much texture from the board underneath the page, and it ends up interfering with the detail of the drawing.



I completed this pose on a charcoal ground, I was happy with the way I managed to define the tone. If I had a little longer, I may have added white highlights and depth to the shadow with compressed charcoal, but then I may have overworked it. I'm a little unsure if the ground plane actually looks convincing, but that's just a little niggle.



I really enjoy working with conté. It's really hard to cover up mistakes because it's not nearly as erasable as other media. The entirety of this drawing is very immediate with no erasing, I'm pleased with the way it turned out. I like that sepia conté can convey temperature as well as tone. Sometimes I find reclining poses difficult, but if I can crack them they often become my best drawings.


This drawing was a very quick iterative pose. This is a pose where you are given a minute to describe each action, and then the model goes on to the next stage of the pose. This was completed with compressed charcoal, rubbed down between each stage. I'm really happy with how it turned out. I had this one framed by the "picture framer" in Perth. It sits really well in its frame, I think I might keep this one and put it on my wall.


For this picture, we were given a set time to lay down the drawing, ten minutes or so, and then we were asked to put in a few selective, but descriptive lines. Again, it's done on a charcoal ground, I do that to tone down the paper and give 3 tones to the drawing from the start.



We don't often get to draw from the male model at our group, simply due to a shortage of models. I can't quite place how long this took, but I'm happy with the results. Again, it was on a tonal ground with rubbed highlights and blocked in shadows with compressed charcoal. We had a spotlight to produce a dramatic shadow behind the model, it definitely adds to the drama of the pose. Perhaps I was in a little danger of being fussy with the feet and some of the verticals/diagonals. Still, I'm happy with the depth in the work.


This is one of my favourites from the session. Toned cream paper with sepia chalk, white and black conté. Ended up giving the model one of my sketches. It's not often I'm asked to do that, and he did a good job, so I gave him one of the gesture drawings.


This drawing is a big one, done on large format pastel paper. It's basically compressed charcoal with white conté.

Conté crayon with some very selective white highlights. I'm pretty happy with this one, the model has pretty toned shoulders, I'm guessing she swims or something. I found it a little tough to get the right proportions there.



Large scale drawing on lining paper. Conté again. I'm happy with the amount of this drawing I managed to resolve in the given time. Roughly an hour and a half.

All the drawings here will eventually be offered for sale through my website, if they're not already. Check there for details.

www.barryallanscott.com

Prices range from $70. Note, I'm based in the UK even though prices are in dollars.