Observational Life Drawing

Week 4

Time to re-enforce the process of observational drawing – well the way I think is best – and I guess all teachers have ‘their way’ of doing things. But – I always tell students to take what I’m teaching and find ways to make it their own – ways to incorporate the techniques and processes into their own way of drawing so it’s something they feel comfortable with.
This session began where our ‘tin men’ left off. Using that exercise as the starting point we did some drawings that followed my preferred process of observation:
Gesture – fluidity – smudge – measure proportions & angles – structure & form – line & tone

Using a more organic idea of the geometric shapes we did last week we concentrated on using tone to develop a real sense of depth and structure in our drawings. Concentrating on 3 basic tones of highlights, mid tones and dark shadows it ensured students didn’t get too bogged down in detail and were able to keep focused on the broad details of the figure, proportions, shapes and composition. Detail can come later and if the big shapes are correct then the detail /smaller shapes will fit right in place – correctly!
Later drawing used more intermediate tones and shading. Here are a few examples.

Not many managed to complete their drawings as everyone was getting so involved in looking really hard, concentrating and staying focused. Another hour would have been good but after 2 and a half hours of drawing I think students – and model – were getting a bit tired. More time for practise next week.