I decided to try an evening using just charcoal for all the poses. Feedback from my most recent OCA assignment is that I'm still too fussy in my approach and need to achieve a freer style of drawing. That, I fear, will only come with greater confidence in my abilities.
Anyway, we started with a few very quick poses and then did these two, taking 10 minutes and 15 minutes.
The lefthand one doesn't work. The buttocks aren't right, and the right leg is too short (ran out of paper). I'm a bit happier with the righthand one, which I think captures the fact that he is gripping his left leg. The foreshortened shin and foot also work OK, although I probably need to emphasise the left knee to show it's pointing at the viewer.
Then came a longer 45-minute pose, which initially gave me me some problems, particularly the left elbow, which was pointed directly at me. After a lot of re-working, I think it came out OK. The face still looks a bit wooden.
With a few minutes left at the end, I decided to focus on the head, and do a very quick sketch hol
ding the charcoal quite loosely in an attempt to achieve this "freer" approach.
The result is quite rough, but has a certain energy that I quite like. It's something I need to try more of...
