Figure Studies | Pastel
My new Monday routine is 3 indulgent hours at Patris' Studio where she has a model long pose in the afternoon. I've heard it said if you can perfect figure and portrait work, you drawing skills in everything you depict will increase. I've watched one artist in particular go from mediocre to award-winning in a fairly short period of time where he claims the figure work in particular caused him to leap forward in his artistic abilities. I made a goal of going to figure/portrait sessions at least twice a month this year. Within three sessions, I now look forward to these 3 hours as a highlight of my week!
Painting Notes: You can tell I'm not paying much attention to the backgrounds, just using Canson or Strathmore tinted drawing papers. My method has been to photograph the model once she's in place and grid the photo. By griding my paper initially, I mark in the key lines. Then the photo gets turned off. I'll refer to it again later in when I blow up the eyes usually. That's because I'm quite nearsighted- it's a hassle looking thru my glasses to see the model, then having to move them off my face every time I look at the paper. Always previously, I've done the measuring and all, but I watched an artist short circuit the learning process by referring to photos and make more rapid advancement, so for now, I'm trying that out. One thing I can say with this 'short cut' is that my finished product looks substantially more like the model than other non-referenced attempts which I always felt were 'human' but maybe not the particular human model in front of me! I try to keep focused on the face as I love to put in fabric drapes and hair!
No comments:
Post a Comment