| Author | Message | ||
  folio |
Drollere’s experiences with figure drawing made for a great read. I felt glad that someone was able to find words for these complicated issues, such as the power dynamics of figure drawing and trying to get models to do natural poses. I hesitate to add anything, but then it might be churlish not to, so what I add is that I usually use Conte crayon now for figure drawing, black and white together on brown or tinted paper. These drawings, though rapid, can provide both ideas and concrete information for later work. Lately I’ve been using a few coloured Conte’s, again on brown paper. Conte does a neat little set of a dozen assorted colours in a plastic box that snaps shut and is therefore easy to carry around. | ||
Eugene |
Jandrle. I agree. The best painting techniques in the world cannot cover up poor drawing. | ||
jandrle |
At Iowa the art program is figure based. We were taught that if you can draw the figure you can draw anything. We drew from the skeleton and spent one semester in the University Med Labs drawing cadavers. Most of my work doesn't have figures in it but occasionally I want to do a series from an event... my friend and me golfing in Florida, or when eight of my high school friends had a five day gathering and I can do it without agonizing. If I were asked I would advise every artist I know to draw from the figure, clothed or nude or from a skeleton, it will improve your drawing skills. The biggest flaws I see in paintings generally start with poor drawings. My 2 cents for what it is worth! jane | ||
jdaneman |
Drollere, I love that drawing! I found, myself, that people inspire me MUCH more than landscapes or still lifes. When I traveled through Asia for my previous career, I did a lot of pencil sketching of people in notebooks (often while sitting cramped in the back of a Fiat.) I used to sketch characters in French cafes (we lived on the French border. Sigh. All in the past. It was a dream.) I'd ADORE a weekly life class. Maybe we can get one going in our rural town, as the new town manager wants to encourage us to be a sort of artists' colony and we have one new art center going in and another already extant in our town of 6000 folks in below-the-canal Delaware. Our landscapes are flat farmland with farm buildings and lovely skies. We have marshes and water. But I prefer people. Joanna | ||
drollere |
i'm sorry this topic didn't go further so i will dump a truck of coal on the fire. about 2 years ago i suddenly discovered figure groups after grinding efforts at landscape. all the hazards, distractions and loneliness of landscape painting were taken away, i joined a community of artists, and the focus on drawing really helped my hand and eye. i spent about 4 months working intensively with a few models in private sessions at home, about 20 hours a week, and now attend 1 or 2 groups in my area each week. mostly chalk or charcoal, though once a month or so i use watercolors instead. i cull the drawings about a month after i've done them, usually throwing out more than half, then half again when i look at them a year later, and again after another year. i mostly throw them all in a portfolio, where they seem to do fine. charcoal on bristol is rather smeary and requires a spraying of fixative, so i leave them sitting out of the way until i sort them, and only spray the keepers. i like very short poses to start, and try to cram five or six on a single sheet, which gives the effect of different figures in a dramatic scene. i dread long poses. not only does the model show the strain, i just don't have anything left to add after 20 minutes or so. figure drawing taught me alot about the unspoken side of art. for example, it is frankly a challenge to face a sexy young woman or a well hung young man and keep your eye on the task, and i've noticed that some artists develop weird evasions of that primate predicament. some yammer on about triangles and squares, some treat models with coldness or needless familiarity, some look at the drawing and not the model, some talk ceaselessly to the artist next to them, some make a great fuss about posing the model just so ... the list is a long one. i dislike very much posing the model, and some models i have to instruct away from academic, arty farty posing styles. once i trust the model i let him or her choose the posing tempo and poses; i explain that there is a specific life history coiled in the body and that this comes out best through natural, casual or habitual positions. i have a variety of chairs and a couch available and tell the model to use whatever seems interesting to do whatever seems interesting. then i draw what they give me. the power dynamics in figure drawing are extremely interesting. i used to laugh at the 19th salon paintings of pygmalion and studio seductions, or eakins' idealization of the model as muse, but there is really something to all that. the film "belle noiseuse" is actually pretty accurate about this element, especially about the partnership that forms between the model and artist. a good model sometimes knows better and works harder than you do, and will show you things that can be painful for you to see. one model got so used to my breathing that she could tell when something went wrong and then she would bark at me, "did you screw it up?" i found an extraordinary variation in my ability to draw different models. one woman, who was extremely attractive and disturbingly flirty, was almost impossible for me to draw. another had a tight knit, sinewy figure that just gave me one great drawing after another. my wife's favorite drawing was of a woman who was so fat she literally flowed off the chair. i also found that i did my best drawings sometimes when i felt discouraged, tired, used up or hopeless about ever doing good work. it's not something one can control. not sure i can attach a drawing here, but here goes ...  | ||
John Preston |
PS And where can we see more? | ||
John Preston |
Man, that is terrific! What size is it? | ||
jdaneman |
buffalo tar--applause!! | ||
buffalo bill tarr |
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John Preston |
Drawings have a way of getting beat up and soiled just kicking around the studio. I would make or invest in a portfolio/folder and store them in that with glassine interleaving paper. I've found many half wrecked old drawings that I'm sorry I didn't take better care of. | ||
Anonymous |
I do figure drawing/painting twice a week. Two hours on Monday and then three hours on wed. I'm a very loose painting and very interpretative I like shapes and form - to the extreme fast & wuick figure drawing - charcoals provide the freedom would love to have some ideas as to what to do with the many drawing, etc. done two shows - as a part of the group - each time they were the favorites - the public really liked them - haven't offered any for sale - they are in a a pile in a corner what do you do with your drawings? | ||
Robert |
I am curious if any of the rest of you frequent figure drawing / painting sessions. I do --twice a week-- 3 hours of short poses and one three hour long pose. It is surprising how much one can learn about drawing and brush handling from figure work. I am getting much looser. I just hope it will one day transfer to my landscape painting which is quite a bit tighter still. |
