I'm sure there are many members here in Drawspace that has taken a Life Drawing class. Today will be my first day in this class. I would like to see what I can do to get the most out of this class. I also recognize that every instructor is different and probably will present the students with different objectives and challenges to complete by the end of the course as compared to other instructors. I also recognize that everyone has different levels of drawing capability. The instructor has not posted a syllabus either.L However, here are some questions to those that have completed the course.

Question on experience:

What was your experience good or bad?

Is there anything that would have been done differently?

Is it better to work in one media vs another? i.e. charcoal, pencil, pastel?

Is there any word of advice?

I very much enjoy Life Drawing still! It is a wonderful chance to learn to visualize in a different way and very helpful in developing your drawing skills.

I think all mediums are fun to work with. Your teacher will probably have different assignments using a variety of media. (For example, if you are working with figures, she/he will most likely have you work with either charcoal or pen and ink so that you learn to work quickly and ignore mistakes - such as in gesture drawing.)

I would guess, though, you will do a variety of subject matter so you will probably work with all of the media available for the class. Did you have to buy special materials for the class? May I ask where you are taking your class - through a gallery or school?

Have fun with it!!

Thank you for your reply.

My first class was today. I was able to get more information regarding the class. As I can tell, it will be a challenging class. The class is a college course with both drawing II and Life drawing students at the same time. Each day there will be a live model with infuses on gesture drawing.

Where I'm finding that we will be challenged is that we have to turn in a drawing on our own time as homework on any of the masters of our choice weekly. The drawing has to be in charcoal on a 18"x24". The choice of masters can be from the renaissance to present day. The pace looks like it will be quick. The class is 4 hours a day for 5 weeks. Yikes! I will definitely have a lot of drawing time put in.

Where I’m struggling is choosing a master. Suggestions would be helpful. I would like to find a piece of work that would be challenging, but not to the point it would take me to to long to do the assignment. I realize that various artist have different styles. I would like to find an artist that I can relate to with infuses in charcoal life drawing. This would be very helpful.

Again thanks for your words of encouragement.

Sincerely

Van Gogh did quite a few charcoal drawings; Degas did many pastels.

That class sounds like a lot of work and I will probably find myself taking it too. Sounds like fun.

I believe there have been a few charcoal drawings by Charles White and Robert Blackburn. If you care to look those guys up.
Good luck!

Thank you so much! I'll Google Van Gogh and Degas. I emailed my instructor and he replied with Mark Tansey or Gerhardt Richter. Richard Estes, Jim Dine, and Francisco Goya; also to try and Google figure drawing. I hadn't thought of doing that. ( Isn't this world of communication wonderful! )

Anyway, I'll publish my finale drawing for this week, you and anyone else that has joined this discussion will be the first to critique my interpretation of the work. He also replied that I don't necessarily have to draw the entire drawing of the artist, but just the portion that I've selected for my presentation. This takes a little pressure, but it still has to be on a 18"X24.

Also any drawing I complete will be posted as a result of this class.

It should be a real ride!

Thanks for your reply. I'll look at these artists too.

Regards

Second day of class:

Today, the class had a model to work from. The initial poses were for 3 min. Drawings were very loose. I had about 10 of these sessions. The next 10 poses were for 5 min. I could focus on a little more detail. The last session was about 3-20 min poses. This allowed me to work on even greater detail.

About the model, she was very professional. She was “I’m guessing” middle aged. She would keep the time and move to different poses after the time would end. She had done this kind of work before.

Since I was allowed to leave my news print tablets, (huge news print tablet 24”x36”) I'll compile my sketches and post this Friday. I have to say since it was my first time some are really crude. Don't expect the works of Michael Angelo.

As far as the Master Artist study, I will be drawing my interpretation of Sebastian Kruger’s work of Keith Richards from the Rolling Stones. I will be drawing it all in Charcoal. I need to have it completed by next Monday on 16”X20” drawing paper. I guess the instructor could see some of the students struggling with 18"X24" Ahh! So far, I’ve been able to establish a rough contour drawing. I hope to start shading tonight.

Oh, it sounds like you have quite a selection. I thought of Goya almost immediatly because I did have to do a project on him. But then I realized that the works I was thinking of were actually etchings. But NOW I do recall he did do some charcoals, one of them was a guy on a swing. I think his figures would be ptretty fun to do but not too hard to do.

One of the artists I mentioned earlier I don't think is easily found online.

But, do what you want. I am just suggesting.

I appreciate your thoughts, and Goya was a very profound and accomplished artist. I still have 3 more master drawings. I should be wrapping up with the current one this weekend. The next drawing though, I may not pick one as difficult.

On to the Life drawing topic, I will be posting some of my drawings tomorrow. This will give you an idea of how I'm progressing. Just the few days that I've been drawing, I've noticed a huge difference. My first day, I could hardly keep up. By the third day, I can now draw the full figure with some accuracy very quickly. Hopefully, by next week, I'll see even more improvement.

Here are my first drawings from the first 4 days of class. The first day was only a lecture to talk about expectations and materials required. Drawings were done a news print 24"x36". I used a vine which made it easier to draw with gesture movements.

You can see from my first drawings to last drawings there was a great amount of improvement. The sessions as stated before, first half of class were 3 min poses; the last half of the class were 20 min poses. The 20 min poses you can see had more detail.

looks like ur improving all the time, Well done!

Thank you! The first day was hard for me, as you can see, the best I could do was create a sillioutte. The next days were a little easier, I was able to create a close contour drawing of the model. I'm referring to the 3 min poses.

So far, I can tell this class will take my drawing skill to new level.

well done, you can really see the improvement here
I like the one you posted in your gallery very much, the woman sitting on a stool.

your progress is amazing. I like the 3rd and the 6th.I wish i could take a similar course here.Only that i am not that fast. You did a great job for a few minutes poses.

Hello Elena,

Drawing one, two and four were 3 min poses. Three, five and six were 20 min poses. If you ever have the opportunity, your speed in drawing is bound to pickup. I kind of plan my approach, by putting the tip of my vine on point a, and then point b. Then think about how I want to make the gesture movement. Then commit to making movement with my entire arm.

Thanks for the comment. Stay tuned for more updates.

Hello, I am in Gilberts class- I love the class though the 5 minute poses can be very frustrating! Many headless figures. I've learned to do the head last, as it is too difficult to adapt the rest of the figure.... Here are some of mine:



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Thanks for sharing, and I like your sketches. It is good to get a different prospective on the class.

I hadn't thought about putting the head last. I always start with the head first and build the rest based on the size of the head. I might try your method today.

regards,

Second week of life drawing:

This week the challenge was to draw the model with clothes on.

My experience was that the clothes don't generally follow the same shape as the body. As one can see, with the different types of clothing i.e. dresses, pants, hats, matching proportions, one has to resort to landmarks on the body keeping in mind proportions to make things look right. What about foreshortening where an is arm pointing towards the viewer with clothes? How does one make the arm look realistic with clothes on? Those are the challenges.



I have 3 more weeks left in the class. Next week the model will be dressed, but using more props.

Anyway here are some of my sketches from the week. The drawings were 5, 10, 20 and 30 min poses. I was also experimenting with color too in some of the drawings.

Please send any comments, and let me know if any of this is helpful or not.

hey gilbert,

here are some of my clothed figures from last week:

p.s.

I love the life drawing class that I am currently taking.... I feel that studying the human form is an absolutely essential basis for all artwork, drawing or otherwise

Hi
Gilbert and Danielle, how great that the two of you are in the same class
Both of you have really lovely drawing there, cant wait to see some more. keep it up you both

Kaly,

Thank you very much for your kind words.

Regards,
Gilbert

Sorry folks, I forgot my drawing pad at the class room today, and I will not be able to publish my weekly activities until next week.

This has been my 3rd week at life drawing. The biggest and most important thing that I have gained from this class is drawing from a live subject rather than a picture. It has given me a lot more confidence in my drawing capability. I also have been able to experience how others draw and solve problems of shape and proportions from a human body.

Currently for my weekly master assignment we are given an open assignment on drawing a figure using a any media. I have picked a scene from one of Shakespeare plays the Tempest. I will be working with colored pencil. I hope to have it finished by this weekend.

That's it for now.
Cheers

Gilbert

Gilbert & Danielle, great work! look fwd to seeing more. I told Gilbert in another forum that I have joined an online Life Drawing group - so to get my 3 min poses I set tyhe kitchen timer (and then I have to be strong & not try to cheat a bit more time ).

I agree with Danielle the head is hard so I leave till last - but I do mark the size with 2 lines (top & chin) so that it will end up in proportion if I get back to it.

As promised I've attached some of my sketches from the past two weeks. The poses varied from 5 min to 60 min. The quick poses are real obvious since there is no time for shading. From the last two weeks, it is apparent that I'm being more aware of the limb proportion as opposed to when I first started. It does take a lot of practice. With the longer poses, definition of the face become more apparent as well as value light and dark. The instructor is starting to add more elements to the poses and forcing us to be more conscious about prospective. I've also added Mr. Skeleton since we didn't have a live model for that day. He came out very well don’t you think?

I have my opinion on which one I’ll post, but I’d like to ask everyone’s opinion is the best one to post in the gallery.

Any comments or suggestions are welcome!
Click to view attachmentThis one I'm using experimenting with color. 30 min pose.
Click to view attachment60 min pose charcoal
Click to view attachment30 min pose charcoal
Click to view attachment30 min pose charcoal
Click to view attachment30 min pose charcoal
Click to view attachment5 min pose charcoal
Click to view attachment5 min pose charcoal
Click to view attachment5 min pose charcoal
Click to view attachment60 min pose charcoal
Click to view attachment60 min pose charcoal
Click to view attachmentMr. Skeleton 60 min charcoal
Click to view attachment5 min pose using pastel.
Click to view attachment5 min pose using pastel
Click to view attachment5 min pose using pastel
Click to view attachment30 min pose pastel and charcoal

Gilbert,

You are getting some wonderful gestural sketches there in the quick poses - I can see your improvement already. And there is some wonderful facial detail that you've gotten in some of the longer poses - I like that you've played with different styles - such free looking work!

Really like where you are going with this class of yours!

Sue,

Thank you for wonderful comment and your words of encouragement!

Please check this topic from time to time to make comments or even post any examples for me to shoot for.

By the way there was someone in our class that demonstrated planer analysis. Do you know anything about this style?

I might bring this up as a topic. I see that it might be helpful with my quick poses.

Regards,
Gilbert

Hi Gilbert!

Isn't life drawing fun? You have some really good drawings here - I especially like the woman in the high heels reading who we see slightly from behind. I love the shadows in that one from delicate in her face to bold on her back and skirt. And the shoe left in only the outline. Very interesting to look at.

I unfortunately don't have the time at present to go to a life drawing class, but I practise drawing the body at home as much as I can. Now I only need to get my boyfriend to pose, so I can stop using photos. I have recently bought a book called "Anatomy for the Artist" by Sarah Simblet. I think it is a very good book so far, it really visualises the way bones and muscles form the body. And there are some truly gorgeous photos in it. It's a bit pricy, but I think well worth it, if you are interested in that approach as well.

Gilbert, I haven't heard it called that but I have seen someone use the flat of pastels to delineate the planes of light on the body and so show the figure - is that what you are talking about??

Marie, you will find it a great help! The skin is just a thin covering over the musculature so knowing what lies beneath will be very usefull.

Hello

I love the class and look forward to go each day. It is a long day though, we spend about 4 hours just drawing 4 days a week Monday through Thursday; on top of that we have homework. Some days I can generate as many as 10 drawings. Some days I only draw maybe 4 drawings. It all depends on how long the poses are that the instructor wants us to focus on.

Regarding homework, the subject matter this week is to draw an interpretation of any master, but to put our own spin and make it our own. It can be the same drawing inverted in colors. I'm thinking of drawing Jessica Galbrath she draws fairies. The master term is pretty broad. My instructor will accept any master from the Renaissance era to now just as long as there is a figure in the piece. The work has to be done on a 18X24 in. drawing paper; so one has to move quickly in getting the drawing done. We can use any type of media though. I'll publish when I'm done.

I did look up Sarah Simblet's book. I see she has some very good reviews. The current book I reference though is Christopher Hart "Human Anatomy Made Amazingly Easy" I chose it before I started the class or when I started drawing which was about a year ago. At the time, simplicity was key since I felt I needed/lacking the experience. The last thing I wanted is the confusion of the technology as well as confusion of terminology.

Regarding the posting of my drawing class, The drawings are what I thought were my best drawings. Some drawings didn't come out as good as I hoped, so I've left them off. I'll post that one you speak of to the gallery, I actually have two that I like.

With all that I've talked about and all I've done in the class, I've signed up for the next class session which is 12 week session as opposed to 6 weeks that I'm taking now. I have a little time now, and tt is held twice a week. This will probably a little more time to breath.

Please come back and look at my progress. I'll try and publish something each week until I finsh the class.

Thank you for commenting on my life drawing class.

Regards
Gilbert

I'll describe the planar analysis method as best as I can. This is my interpretation in its basic form it's a series of lines where the lines intersect are the most important lines; where connecting lines should meet. He used this to create the short poses. All other lines that don't intersect are not important, and to be ignored.

I'll take my camera today and see if he can make a drawing for me so I can take a picture of it, I’ll post today, so all of us can analyze his composition. To me it is rather unique.

The funny thing is that I have not found any publications about it. It could be the name for it is called something else. The composition kind of reminds me of Chinese line drawings. You will see what I mean after I post.

Regards,
Gilbert

Looking fwd to seeing what you are meaning Gilbert - I can't quite picture it at the moment (and like all of us I am quite visual in my learning methods "see one - do one - teach one" !)

Sue,

It took me some time to find an example, but I found an online book on the subject. This is something I might start doing on my own time.

Here is the link to drawing lines without curves. It's pretty cool to watch someone actually do this too.

Go to this link and you will see what I'm referring to.
http://books.google.com/books?id=9RNrTz8i3ZEC

In the middle right hand side there is an example. I think I might purchase the book.

Let me know if there are other resources online that have similar examples if know of any.

Regards,
Gilbert

Is that the Giovanni Civardi book?? I am on dial up and could only get a few pages downloaded when I clicked on it. It is soooo slow.

Will have a look to see if I can see anything on it - didn't get top anything on planar analysis when I was going through what I could get downloaded.

I'm not sure if there is any coralation to Giovanni Civardi though? Dial up can really slow things down when downloading picture rich content. ugh.

The title of the book "Complete Life Drawing Course". By Diana Constance. The link only provides a brief look at the book. The subject matter that I'm looking for is constructing a drawing without using curves. My teacher referrered to study as the planar analysis, but in the book they just refere to is as constructing a drawing without using curves.

If you get to the page, there are some thumbnails half way down the page to the right. If you click the one that is marked page 58 it takes you to a sample of what I'm talking about.

Anyway, I'm off today to see if I can find the book at Barnes and Nobel or Borders.

I'll try and get more samples of similar drawings.

Regards
Gilbert

Gilbert I have sent you a PM about the book.

Sue

Here are some more drawings from this week. I noticed that I was slowing down on my 5 min poses. I was concentratiing more on the specific parts of the body. As a result, I wasn't able to capture the whole pose. I still have two more weeks of class. I've added some more poses. I hope they are a joy to locate as I'm starting to get more comfident with my drawing the human figure.
Click to view attachment 5 min pose Newsprint 24X36
I noticed that I was not completing the drawing
Click to view attachment 20 min pose Newsprint 24X36
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Click to view attachment 20 min pose Newsprint 24X36
Click to view attachment 20 min pose Newsprint 24X36
Click to view attachment 20 min pose Newsprint 24X36
Click to view attachment 20 min pose Newsprint 24X36

Any Comments Welcome!

I like the 5th one Gilbert - has a sort pent up energy in the figure.

i know what you mean about the 5th one it has alot of personality

Yeah! It was from one of the students in the class. He wore a hat and he is really a small person, but with very loose clothing. He did create a very unique opportunity. I was just amazed that he could hold the pose for that long. I know my back would have been killing me.



I might change one of the drawings I posted out with with number 5 in the gallery, or just add it?

Thanks

With that said, I'll post number 5 in the gallery. I too like that one too.

Regards,
Gilbert

I think that it is a great learning experience to participate in a life drawing class. I have taken many such classes and found them to an be excellent tool for developing my eye, especially for expressing movement and life. It is so different from drawing from a photograph. I think it is good to try different media, to see what works best for you. The only advice I would give is not to spend too much time on a single drawing. Getting the basics down is much more important that worrying about details. Good luck.

Yes! You are so right about the learning experience. I'm on my 5 th week and I've observed a noticeable improvement in my eye hand coordination. I've gotten quicker at my drawing pace. Although I'm not perfect at it yet, I've been able to draw the proportions of a body more accurately now. The main thing now is that my drawing skills have improved dramatically and will continue to improve even more. Also, my compositions are becoming much stronger. I can also draw with more confidence, and the types of media charcoal, pastel, colored pencil, and air brush I've explored; I'm starting to get more confident with this too.


I like the class so much; I've decided to take the same class over in the fall. It won't be as demanding as this one though. This class is 4 hours a day 4 days a week. The one in the fall will be twice a week for 12 weeks. I'll be able to breath and absorb more I believe.

I noticed that you are a new member. I welcome you to Drawspace. I do hope you plan to share some of your drawings in the Gallery. You speak as though you have a lot of experience. Our community here has some very talented artists that offers their support and advice.

Regards

Gilbert

I am still so excited that we have a model every two or three weeks for life drawing here where I live. I so much enjoy drawing figures. These are the three sittings we had tonight. The first and second drawings were approximately 10 minutes and the last was about 20-25 minutes.

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I love that last one, that's wonderful work! How big are these, Barb?

Thanks, Ernest!
I draw on a 12"x18" sketchbook but of course some end up larger than others and sometimes I get so big I go off the page! I hate it when I do that! That last drawing is approximately 11" x maybe 15".

The drawings are great! Thank you for sharing!

I like to see other peoples style. When you start drawing, do you start with the head? I know some of my fellow students actully feel more comfortable by starting with the body, and then adjust the size of the head based on the body. I start with the head and then mark out the rest of the body.

Again thanks for sharing. Some of my classmates have dropped the class, so now I feel like the lone survivor.

I know people are viewing this topic since I get a lot of tic or hits for viewing. That's why I keep posting.

Regards,
Gilbert

lancruz,
I do usually start with the head, as you do, but I have to admit sometimes after getting the body added as I want I end up changing the head somewhat. I simply use it as a starting point. My purpose for going to the life drawing is just to continue working with the movement and proportions of the entire figure - particularly foreshortening if possible. If the feet or hands are part of the foreshortening then I draw them. I rarely draw the face - that is a very time consuming part and the sittings just aren't long enough to do it justice. You notice the ones I did draw were very simple, sketchy.
I find that some students take to it and others have trouble understanding how the body moves and works but the more they draw the better they get. The paper towel tube that Kay has been talking about for perspective is a practice assignment I use a lot with figure drawing at the high school. It helps students see foreshortening-how anatomy moves in space.
I enjoy watching your progress as you are learning, lancruz. I especially like the dark (charcoal/chalk?) figure you did that was clothed. The turn of her head and arch of her neck is lovely. Keep up the great work!