Flow + Movement
Flow and Movement
Session 1 (8 October 2014)
The theme for my double session of life drawing class at Salford Art Group was Flow and Movement. I described to the art class a ‘toolkit of exercises’ that when returned to over time will help students improve their sense of movement and dynamics in their drawings.
I started the mini art course off with a loosening up exercise by asking members to try and draw the model from the ‘inside’ and not to worry about the outside edges.
I then introduced a couple of new drawing exercises that were designed to help art club members extend the length of lines they draw with. I talked about drawing ‘beyond the natural nodes’ of the human figure that so often make us stop-start our drawings and results in awkward, tightly controlled drawings.
The final challenge for the evening was to encourage members in the art class to rely less on the outside contour line when drawing. I explained that a good way to do this is to start with a very light ‘smudge’ drawing which I likened to ‘filling the model with smoke’. This was a very new concept to most members and many found this challenging and exciting too.
Session 2 (15 October 2014)
For my 2nd class I continued my theme of Flow and Movement with a few loosening up exercises. I did lots of one to one teaching and moved round to speak individually to all the members during tonight’s session giving positive feedback and making sure everyone had the chance to ask questions.
We did a 15 minute pose to concentrate on this new technique of starting with a ‘smudge’ drawing and then only laying in lines later on in the drawing process. Many found this challenging as it is a very different approach to drawing. This way of drawing was introduced to me by Heather Spears in her book ‘The Creative Eye’ along with the courses she has taught in Manchester.
After an early break we spent the last hour drawing 3 studies on one page. The model moved freely between the 3 different poses at will and we had to move between our drawings at the same time as we did not have time to fully complete any of the drawings before the model moved again. This was brilliant and everyone got involved quite quickly. It was good practise for those of us who like to draw animals or sit at train stations doing quick sketches. It really helped members get to grips with how to draw people on the move. The practice we did with trying to make longer, more fluid lines really helped with making this page of multiple figure studies.
I had a great time teaching and got some positive feedback from many members. Hopefully all members will see their drawing improve as they use these techniques to practise with in the future.
If you would like to find out more about his courses visit www.creativeartcourses.org
