Figure Drawing

I'm trying to make the values and edges a little "softer" in this one. I don't know how successful I was. I think the drawing ended up being a bit too light. Anyway, this was done in 25 minutes. Back poses are easier to draw so I was able to get a little more done.

Feel free to comment.

Here are a few more figure drawings. The first one was done in charcoal. The next one was done in about an hour using conte. I laid the ground with conte shavings and spread it with a paint brush. I "added" light values by erasing with a kneaded eraser and dark values with a darker conte crayon. The last one was done in about 20 minutes. I tried to work on the drawing instead of adding values.

Feel free to comment.

This one was done at the St. Augustine Art Association's figure session. It's on Mondays from 7-10pm. They do a few 5 minute warm up poses to start and go into the long pose for the rest of the evening. This took about two and a half hours. I'm starting to like profiles a lot more now. I think it's because it looks like the subject isn't posing. To me, it looks like the artist captured a moment of time when the subject was doing something else or thinking about something else. It's also a different way of looking at a face, and since it's simpler to draw, I can get more done within the time limit. After a while, if you go to enough of these sessions, you start seeing the same models. So I think this is a slightly different way of looking at her.

Feel free to comment.

Figure Drawing Session

Here are two drawings from the Sunday drawing session. I usually work on the figure, but lately I've been focusing more on drawing the portrait. It's rare that I can get someone to hold a pose this long so this is a good opportunity to draw a portrait from life. I did about five drawings. I'm showing the portrait and the hour-long pose.


Here's the long pose:




Both were done with conte. Someone commented that I work in a "minimalist" style. Feel free to comment, criticize, or question.

Figure Drawing Sessions are Back

Now that the figure sessions have started up again after a month long hiatus I can get in more practice drawing the face and figure. I really wish I could do this more often, but there are about four or five sessions I know of now, so there's an opportunity for practice at least four times a week. This figure drawing was done at the St. Augustine Art Association. I've included a closeup of the face (more like a profile).



Feel free to criticize or comment.

"Go Figure" show

Butterfield Too art gallery in St. Augustine, FL had an opening titled "Go Figure". It featured the art of about 8-9 artists who are regulars at the figure session held on Tuesday evenings. The artists are really talented, and the drawings showed different styles, perspectives, and media to depict the nude or partially nude model. Artists worked in pencil, pastel, oil, and conte. I used conte crayons for these sessions. I had about six works on display; here are three of them. The figure was done at this session, and the portrait was done at another open figure drawing session, one hosted by the St. Augustine Art Association.

This figure was done in an 8-hour open figure session at the Artistree art gallery at Jacksonville Beach. The model holds the pose for 20-25 minutes, takes a break, and resumes the pose. We took a break for lunch and finished the session at around 5 pm. There's never enough time to totally finish a drawing, even after 7-8 hours spent working on a drawing. Oh well...

Feel free to comment or criticize.

Still Life Paintings

I haven't posted anything in a long time, so here are two still lifes. Two of the life drawing sessions I go to have been cancelled for August, and that has cut down on the figure drawings a lot. I've been practicing with still life drawings to make up for it. At least this way I can practice with color, which is hard for me to do, and composition. These were done in pastel. Feel free to comment, criticize, or question.