Faces on Friday: Figure Study

Sincerest apologies to my friends, who hopefully can't recognize themselves because the drawings don't look anything like them anyway. No - you really don't look like that. I promise.  

If you ever get the chance to go to a figure study session - DO IT! The people there don't care how good or bad you are. It is a fantastic way to get better. I'm finding quite some improvement in just a few sessions.

It begins with 30 second poses. They go by so fast I feel like I barely have time to get marks on the paper. Fantastic warm ups!

Next are the one minute poses. I've improved enough that I can get the form. I just can't get the whole thing on one piece of paper yet. I'm going to go get a really, really BIG sketch pad before the next time.

Five and ten minute poses give enough time to work harder on getting lines and proportions right.

After a break the 20 minute poses seem like a treasure. Unless things start going wrong - then it's an eternity. When that happened I simply chose a really hard feature like hands and feet and switched to working on just that.

This is my favorite. Roughed in with a pencil then lines laid in with a japanese brush pen. It occurred to me the other day that I could fill a waterbrush with india ink at half the price of the refill cartridges.

So which is your favorite? And - have you been drawing faces too? Put your links in the comments and I'd LOVE to come take a look!

Faces on Friday

Welcome to Week 4 of my year long determination to learn how to draw faces.

 At a daughter's concert. Fast sketches then longer ones... using pencil and eraser

I think perhaps next year I'm going to need to work on hands. ug.

 Same concert - this looks like her!!! Friends of the kid I drew on the other side happened to be sitting next to me and kept looking over my shoulder. I ripped it out and gave it to them for him. They handed it back and asked me to sign it. (big grins)

 Sketches at church, my own "Calvin" from a photo. (Calvin and Hobbes)

This little guy is full of happy mischief and loves to make faces!

 Concentrating on the mirror. Kids said I looked mad so I tried a smiling face - goofy.

I like my spiky haircut.

Watching TV. From my imagination.

I've always secretly wanted pointy ears.

How is your journey coming along? 

Faces on Friday

 Staring myself in the face late at night. My kids recognized the one on the left. PROGRESS!

I need to figure out how to do noses and lips in profile.

 At the airport - surreptitiously sneaking glances at people waiting in the terminals.

Isn't it funny how we draw what we THINK we see rather than what is there.

It's taken all this time to realize how far back to draw an eye in profile.

It's usually way back behind the nose and I've been drawing it too far forward.

Late at night and I don't want to get out of bed to look in the mirror so I made up a couple faces.

The one in the middle is from a photo. Still such a long way to go - but I'm having fun!

Faces on Friday

Week Two of my 365 Faces 2011 goal

I wonder how long it will take before my drawings look like the person I'm drawing?

Above and below are the same two kidlets.

Length and width are something I need to work on.

 Some of my kidlets are even asking if it's their turn to be drawn each evening.

Mr. Almost Perfect looks serious in the sketch - but will NOT stop making funny faces.

My little pixie friend thought it was great fun - she really does look like a baby doll.

Neighbors and unsuspecting strangers are fair game.

These profiles actually look quite similar to the actual subjects - ah - progress!

 And yes, I can't count. I'm still enthusiastic and some nights draw more than one.

 I did spend moments here and there this week making a sweet little box to put the 3x5 cards in.

You could make one too by following Jane's tutorial here.

Being and Becoming and Artist

I am an artist. Sometimes I feel it takes a certain amount of gall or hubris for me to introduce myself that way.

I am confident in what I do and the work I produce as an artist. I love textiles,  dyeing, stitching and printing, photgoraphy and even digital editing. Yet, I have always had a deep desire to be able to draw well - especially the human figure.

My hidden insecurity comes because I know I have such a very long way to go with my drawing skills. 

Soar III by Lyric Kinard

Notice I didn't say that I can't draw. (Here comes my soapbox lecture.) Too often when the outcome isn't perfect the first time we try something we give up and say "I can't." We must give ourselves TIME and PERMISSION to learn. 

We must also DO THE WORK. You know how to read right? It takes a lot of time and effort to learn to read but it can be done. People, even very young children, do it all the time. The same applies to becoming an artist and learning to draw. 

I'm determined to learn to draw the human figure. So this year, as part of the sketchbook challenge I'm going to draw a lot of people. I'm going to draw at least one face every day. I'll post them on my blog every Friday and over the course of the year we'll see what happens.

A few recommendations:

The Structure of Man by Riven Phoenix

Drawing Lab for Mixed Media: 52 creative exercises to make drawing fun Artist by Carla Sonheim

Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards