Monday, 24 January 2011

Life drawing classes (3)

The third and final timetabled life drawing session covered three tasks:
-A single 10 minute warm up sketch
-16 2 minute or less sketches
And 2 ‘Light only' sketches.

The first ten minute sketch was somewhat disappointing. I focused on the face of the model for most of the time, creating what I would consider to be a very ‘so-so’ face. However when I had finished with the face it only left a short amount of time to work down, meaning that the end result has proportions which are not accurate.





The 16 short sketches were a way to build on the 32 drawn last week. Aside from one on the lowest row there was definite improvement from the last session.  The form of the model was captured – albeit not entirely in some cases, cleanly and quickly using single lines. Considering the work process of an animator – especially one which has to complete every ‘tween’, this is an important skill, and one that I hope will continue to develop.






The reception to the ‘light only’ sketches was mixed. Will Teather had rearranged the canvas groupings to around 8 people to the front and the back of the model. Switching on a light source to one side of the model, he instructed the group to colour only the areas which are in light and have no ‘lines’. At the end of the 20 minute time span I was very impressed with the turnout. Making note of an early instruction to apply the chalk lightly on the paper, I began with a light chalk run – before smudging it to create a smooth but defined covering. Working over the top of the with solid chalk to empathise the areas where the light was strongest. The mid drawing advice from Will was that I had not covered the slight light areas so I covered that when I had finished the bulk of the work. At the end of that drawing my piece was selected as one person’s favourite – which was helpful as I received both positive and negative highlights from Will and other members of the session.  The negatives were that the hand was too smudged and that the hair could have been not smudged for a better effect.


The final drawing of the session added pencil to the chalk for the darkest of shadows. Unlike the last sketch which received plaudits, this sketch was easily the worst of the session. Focusing again on getting the face as accurate as possible, once again it led to lack of time spent lower down. Furthermore the face was not perfect and my application of pencil was detrimental to the overall sketch – something I had feared throughout the sketch.

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