This was a fun one, although I’ll have to admit, not at first, lol. I’m having a tendency to lay out the initial drawing with a wide base. This made the model appear wider on paper. We were able to fix this and place the torso in a box frame. My challenges began with laying…
Over the first three weeks into the online course (through The Watts Atelier, San Diego), we’ve focused on these areas of the human portrait. I realize that shapes don’t have to be perfect and how much that perspective and depth has to be considered. It has been a fun and still a bit challenging so far.
This was incredibly challenging. The exercise this week was to break down a drawing of our model into 4 sections. I decided to start with the model’s left hand (lower right) and go section by section. Vine charcoal is nice because it’s a very forgiving medium, and I can erase and fix the piece as…
The assignment for week: nose sketches. I chose vine charcoal because of its texture and how I can smudge the medium into shapes. I’m starting to see how this relates to painting by including the background. The darker shade of the background creates a soft line to show the nose and brow ridge. I hate…
One of the many hardest things to draw in general is a skull. Yet it’s a good way to understand the face, proportions and where the eyes are in relation to the nose, brow ridge, mouth, and ears.
This was from my first session at a nearby studio, San Diego Art Loft. This exercise is about finding the dark areas of the subject using the side of a charcoal stick. My “aha moment” came from squinting my eyes and focusing on the shapes formed by dark shadows. I think that when it comes…
What better way than to learn from a classical master, Michelangelo. On tracing paper this exercise was to use charcoal sticks to widely cover dark areas. Then go into details with a charcoal pencil.
A warm up session, the first of the year. It’s also from my first online session with the Watts Atelier. I’m discovering a different way of using my charcoal pencils and sticks. I still have a bit a ways to go in my technique in putting together composition and perspective. Along with my painting goals,…