Iris
8/15/2011 10:17:00 AM Posted In charcoal , life drawing , portrait Edit This 21 Comments »
Last Thursday my friend Vicki and I went to a life drawing group of the Jackson Civic Art Association. I hadn't done any life drawing for years, and was a tad nervous about doing it, especially with a group of people I'd never met before. They couldn't have been any nicer! Both Vicki and I were welcomed by a small group of very friendly women (later a man named Gordon joined us), and I felt comfortable being with them right away. The model was a beautiful young woman named Iris, a daughter of one of the artists. Iris was an experienced model, and she was a joy to draw. This group uses clothed models, and they pose for 20 minutes at a time - no short warm up poses to start with. So, my first drawing was my warm-up.
I decided to focus on doing portraits. Iris has the most beautiful face and hair, and it was a real pleasure to draw her. I only took charcoal pencils with me, and I think next time I'll take along some graphite pencils, too. I did get interrupted by a phone call that I had to take (I had my phone on "vibrate only", in case you're clucking at my rudeness), so I tiptoed out to the hall to take the call, then tiptoed back in when I was finished. Because of the call, I only spent 10 or 12 minutes on one of the poses, and it shows. I'm thinking I might play around with at least one of them a bit more, now that I've shown them to you "in the raw", just to see how far I can take it. If I do, I'll post it so you can see if there's any improvement. I'm not entirely pleased with them, but maybe playing a bit will make a difference.
I hope you have a super week .... that's what I'm planning on doing!
I decided to focus on doing portraits. Iris has the most beautiful face and hair, and it was a real pleasure to draw her. I only took charcoal pencils with me, and I think next time I'll take along some graphite pencils, too. I did get interrupted by a phone call that I had to take (I had my phone on "vibrate only", in case you're clucking at my rudeness), so I tiptoed out to the hall to take the call, then tiptoed back in when I was finished. Because of the call, I only spent 10 or 12 minutes on one of the poses, and it shows. I'm thinking I might play around with at least one of them a bit more, now that I've shown them to you "in the raw", just to see how far I can take it. If I do, I'll post it so you can see if there's any improvement. I'm not entirely pleased with them, but maybe playing a bit will make a difference.
I hope you have a super week .... that's what I'm planning on doing!
21 comments:
These are so nice, Nancy. I can't wait to see where you take them.
I am planning to try charcoal next time.
xoxo
these are lovely!!
Those are nice. I'm thinking of going to a live drawing session on Wednesday. It will be my first if I go. I wouldn't have thought to do portraits, I would have been trying to draw the whole body all the time. I learn so many good ideas here.
I too thought I would have to draw the whole body which was really intimidating. Maybe I could tackle a portrait at first. A little less scarey. Wonderful drawings. Thank you for sharing them and your experience with me.
I am cowardly when it comes to drawing people or anything that isn't from a photograph, for that matter. Nice job! Must be fun to have a group of like minded folks to sketch with. :)
Thanks for stopping by my blog and I hope to see you again.
Nice! I especially like the one with the profile view (the second one). Beautiful work!
Great sketches and lovely hair!
I would have drawn the body and not much of the face, I find portraits very intimidating!
Lovely work Nancy. I wish I was so brave to go to a life drawing class.
Think you've made a great start! It's years since I did life drawing at college, but as hard as I found it, it was really good for my drawing (even if the drawings weren't necessarily good!!) and I'd like to pick it up again at some point! Looking forward to seeing how it goes for you!
I would love to do a life drawing class! Your drawings are really good so well done.
Nice work, Nancy! You and Vicki have definitely inspired me to try a class. I think I would learn so much. I look forward to seeing more of your lovely sketches.
Sue
I love the first two. So much expression, and the hair is beautiful. I thought I had commented on your "finished for now" a few posts back, and don't see it. I think that face came out beautifully. I would love to see the hat done!
So well done - I especially like the hair and the shading on the first drawing.
Working with a time limit is great to find new ways to express things! Great work, especially the second one - she seems to be a beautiful young woman.
Beautiful sketches Nancy! =) Love the expressions captured
A friend and I are talking about going to a life drawing session soon, with nudes. It's been a while for me, too. I'm nervous about how bad my drawings might be!
You used the charcoal to great effect here - the drawings look soft and pretty and feminine.
I'd tell you the last time I drew from a live model was in the sixties. It's kind of a funny story but I'll spare you. Anyway, I hope you're enjoying the classes! You're really doing well and your drawings look great!
These are great, Nancy! Especially the top two! Fantastic!
And thank you for your warm welcome back! I certainly missed it!
I love the profile drawing. Those can be very hard for many people, but you did an excellent job.
I too just did a couple of portraits, for the first time in years...but I used a couple of photos. (not able to make it to a life class right now, but hope to soon.)
I like doing the warm up sketches first...gesture drawings are so much fun, and help me loosen up.
looking forward to more.
wendy
wow. These are fantastic!
Congrats on you and Vicki taking a drawing class! Sounds like you had a great time. Always good to keep learning...
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