Life drawing with model Chris

In this session with new model Chris, we limbered up with some short poses.

In this 10-minute study, I used charcoal pencil and initially struggled to get the right proportions and general shape of the body. But after ample application of the putty rubber, it got slightly closer to the right image...The left arm still looks a bit odd, but I ran out of time.

Then came this 15-minute pose, with Chris curled into a ball. I used Conte crayon for this, and I'm fairly pleased with the result.

Then for the final long (55 minutes) pose, I went back to charcoal pencil adding Conte crayon (white and brown) later to get more texture and shape. I'm quite pleased with some aspects of the picture, such as the sheen along his back which was created by the white sheet on which he was laying.
I still need to work in the finer details of the hands, but I think I've managed a better job of depicting the foreshortening of the legs which went away from me.
The left arm, I now realise, is slightly shorter than it should be, but I was running out of paper (classic mistake!) and wanted to include the hand.

Life drawing: 2nd session with Sarah

Our model came armed with some props - an umbrella, a hat, a scarf and a chair - in order to provide some variety.

This 10-minute sketch was done using Conte crayon, and presented a challenge because the left leg was curled under the chair away from me. I tried to convey this in the drawing, but I still think it looks a bit too small.

 

This 20-minute pose was in some ways easier, but I didn't really have enough time to get in more detail. Also, although I tried to reproduce the structure of the colllar bones and the shoulders, they don't really look quite right.

However, I think I've captured something of the playful nature of the pose.

 In this last 50 minute pose, I did two sketches, one using pencil and the other Conte crayons.

I'm not too sure about the results, which seems ot lack any real life to them. In both, I've tried to capture the foreshortened feet, which were turned towards me. 

Also, note in the pencil sketch the right hand is wrapper around the hat; however, the model did at one stage stretch out her arm to relax it and so I took the opportunity to do something that looked better to me (which explains why the arm looksa bit rushed!)

Life drawing: a 2nd session with Erol

In this life drawing session our model used a set of steps as a prop, and we did a series of short skecthes of him from different angles (the member of the group rotated around him, rather like musical chairs, every 10 minutes). This one, using charcoal on coloured paper, was probably my most successful of the four sketches I did, as I managed to convey the weight applied to the step and with the hands on top of the ladder.

Our final longer pose lasted 50 minutes, with the model seated in a corner and illuminated by an anglepoise lamp.


Here I used Conte crayons on coloured paper. The pose was a little tricky because of the foreshortened right leg and feet, so I'm not really too happy with the result which seems a bit lifeless for some reason.