Figure Drawing - Oct 14, 2015

The new newsprint wasn't working out so well so I tried something new for the longer poses.  There's another regular artist at the session who does really nice cross-hatching.  I think she might be an animation student.  I was looking at her work during the break and thought "why don't I try some hatching?"  I do it all the time in pen and ink, this is exactly the kind of stuff I've spent countless hours on already.

So I've been playing around with hatching figures in pencil and I'm pleased with the results so far.  I think I'll be doing it a lot more, considering how many sheets of this newsprint I've got.

Figure Drawing - Oct 7, 2015

My first (or was it 2nd?) go with the new newsprint.  I don't think I like it.  I'm not sure whether it's smoother than the other stuff or what but it just doesn't seem to take the graphite as well.

Unfortunate, because I've got about 500 sheets of the stuff.  Oh well, if I decide I really loathe it I'll take up paper mache or something.

Anyway.  Another good model!  I was going to ask him if he was a cyclist.  I thought I recognized some cyclist thighs and cyclist scars and also there was a bike sitting in the hallway outside the studio.  I never did, though.  I feel weird talking to the model at the break and once the session's over I'm tired and want to go home.  But I'm starting to become vaguely interested in what kinds of exercise produce what kind of body, so I expect I'll talk to a few models about it in the future.

Figure Drawing - Sept 30, 2015

Figure drawing from September 30.  Now with extra model!

It's tough to get two figures down in the time I usually get to do one figure.  The model interaction was very nice, though.  Clearly two people who were comfortable with one another!

Figure Drawing - Sept 23, 2015

This model was so cute that I felt bad. These drawings do not do her justice.

Figure Drawing - Sept 16, 2015

I quite liked this model.  Good poses and pretty darn fit for an older dude.  Also had a very entertaining UK accent.

Would totally draw again.  Probably will too, there aren't all THAT many models in circulation at the drop-in sessions.

Figure Drawing - Sept 2, 2015

Actually I seem to have gotten the dates all wrong.  I started on the 2nd with the previously posted model and this one was from the 9th.  But honestly who cares except for me?  And I only care because I need to organize these posts so that I don't miss anything.

Anyway, here's a female model I've drawn before here.

 

That second-to-last sketch above is what I would like to aim for in the near future.  Not perhaps the most accurate representation but nicely stylized.  

I've managed to make it to four sessions so far and I've finished all the newsprint pads I own.  Today I am planning to go buy some loose newsprint sheets (since it's ever so much cheaper than buying pads -- nearly 10 times more sheets for five bucks less) and see how that works for me.

Figure Drawing - Sept 9, 2015

After what seems like a long, depressing and unproductive year, I promised my friends (myself, really) to go back to life drawing in September. I have actually paid for a block of sessions and have been to three.  It seems to be working out, with regards to both mood and productivity.  I feel okay!  I've seen some old familiar faces at the drop-in workshop and some fresh new student faces.  

And it doesn't hurt that my skill seems to have increased somewhat since the last time.  I took an acquaintance's suggestion to copy some Bridgman a year and a bit ago and that seems to have helped me tremendously.  I feel more confident and I have a better idea of what I'm going for.  Occasionally I make a stylistic flourish that makes me think "yes, this is how I want to define the human body".

Sketches from my first session on September 9th.  I'm going to try going for the entire winter.  I've also reserved the Bridgman book from the library again and plan to continue studying the rest of it.  If this is how far I've gotten by copying the first third, doing the other 200 drawings can't possibly hurt.

Vancouver Island Sketches

In May we went to visit family on Vancouver Island.

Here's a sketch from Vancouver Airport.  The island terminal is pretty tiny, and the planes are all propellor planes.  I said that if the flight took more than 15 minutes I'd be disappointed, and it took 13.

Once on the island I found it hard to get out and sketch.  When you're there with someone it's rather boring for them to sit around for hours.  We did a lot of hiking and birdwatching, but I did manage to get a few things done.

Here are some little sailboats at the Nanaimo Yacht Club.

This was painted on a hike around Englishman River Falls near Qualicum Beach.  I did a quick sketch of the falls.  The day was overcast and the birding wasn't all that great.  Apparently I had a Steller's iay hopping in a tree over my head the whole time.  I get a lot of blue jays in my yard so I was keen to see the Steller's but they just weren't cooperating.  I got a bare glimpse of the one above me just before it flew away.

But at least I got some kind of painting out of the deal.

I set aside a bit more time for sketching in downtown Nanaimo.  I got both these buildings on the same day.  It was tough.  I was bitten by ants.  Don't sit too close to an anthill while sketching, kids.

I got a chance to sketch a few people, too.  A couple at Penny's Palapa in Nanaimo, and a few people in Victoria.  We didn't spend very much time in Victoria.  We meant to do more than we did, but we didn't realize that Tofino was so far from Nanaimo and that all the activities we were planning for required more preparation.

Oh well, we go back to see family every couple of years, next time we'll hit the west end of the island and do some canoeing.  In the meantime I did do a ton of birdwatching and we saw some very neat species that I never would have noticed otherwise.  Also, turtles!  It has been a dream of mine to see pond turtles ever since I started hiking, and now I have.  We saw a whole row of them sunning themselves on logs.

Next time my run-down on Art Walk and paintings.