Portrait Drawing Up Close

I had a good drawing session at the Saturday morning Al Hyter portrait group. Model dressed in costume with her face painted. I got up close to her so I can sketch the details on her face. I often do this. It makes a big difference in my drawings; there is so much more information on the eyes, nose, lips, chin, ears.

Bruce, the coordinator, brought in nice music. One of them is a favorite for everyone: The Sound of Music with Julie Andrews. Nice combo for drawing, had everyone humming the tunes.

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New Years Still Life Sketch

Here are two sketches I created at the beginning of the year. I wanted to start with a drawing pencil in my hand. In 2013 I do want to draw and paint more. I get so busy and the days just fly by that everything else just seems to get in the way of what I really enjoy doing most. But no excuse, I have to set my priorities and at least draw and paint a little bit everyday.

I recently applied to grad school for an MFA. I applied to the New York Academy of Art and The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art. I submitted my application with portfolio, so now for the wait, hopefully an acceptance letter. I'm a little nervous, fingers crossed, and Insha'Allah.

I don't think I'll ever lose interest in drawing still lifes, the possibilities and drawing challenges are endless especially when drawing bananas! I believe drawing fruits and vegetables are the next best thing to drawing the human figure from life.

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First Figure Drawings of 2013

It had been several months since I last attended Paul Gieger's figure drawing sessions at his downtown Toledo, Ohio studio. As always, when I come back from a break, my drawing skills feel rusty. I always want to be better with my drawing but I accept my "rustiness", it creates interesting lines, textures, and feeling. When I draw a lot, it can start to look too technical, so "rustiness" gives it that rough struggling feeling of trying hard to make the drawing look its best, perhaps more rewarding and better results this way.

The three drawings above are from one long pose. Instead of working on one drawing the whole time, I break down the time to create several drawings. I enjoy the creating process, it's the most challenging for me. So as soon as I feel the challenge is complete, I tell myself to sign it and move on so that I don't overwork the drawing. I get up, move to a new location and take on the challenge from a new spot.

It was great to see Paul, fellow artists, new artists, and the chubby cat that roams the studio. Thanks again, Paul, for providing an awesome artist environment. I believe the secret to everyone's nice drawings is the wine and cheese served at mid break! Oh, and the classical music/classic rock played.

I plan to attend the figure drawing sessions regularly for 2013. This year I want to focus more on my art; more drawing to improve my draftsmanship and painting techniques.

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"Ceci n'est pas une pipe"

Had the luxury again of attending Paul Geiger's figure drawing session on Wednesday evening. I had a really good drawing session.  Figure drawing will always be my foundation for my drawing technique, and my strong appreciation for the craft. Of course it helps that Paul played excellent music, and provides an awesome environment to draw and that he finds such amazing models!

As always, I'm just drawing shapes: positive and negative. The real person is on the pedestal, I'm just creating an illusion, a representation. Ever heard the phrase by the Belgium artist Magritte "Ceci n'est pas une pipe (This is not a pipe)"? For me to tell you this is a reclining women is a lie.  It's just graphite marks on paper, or better yet, if you're viewing this on your computer, it's just zeros and ones illuminated on your monitor.

Excellent Drawing Session

Wow I was in the zone at Wednesday evening's figure drawing session. As always, the group started with sketching several quick 5-minute poses to warm up and to get the mind in drawing mode.

After the 5-minute poses ended, one long pose was chosen for the rest of the drawing session. Here’s were I started feeling in the zone. I had a lot on my mind but was able to maintain focus, I sketched and sketched and felt confident and relaxed with every piece.

I would sketch until I felt the piece was completed, I averaged about 30-minutes per piece. At some point I would look at my drawing and it would just feel completed, I have to listen to this feeling because sometimes I keep drawing and then it has an overworked look. So I would stop, enjoy the drawing for a bit and move my drawing pad to another spot in the studio. Each angle I chose was challenging and well worth the drawing adventure.

It was a successful evening, I learned a lot and I’m looking forward to next Wednesday’s figure drawing session.

CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE, GRAPHITE ON PAPER 14" x 17"

Quick Studies of Nude Model

These are short quick studies from the Wednesday night figure drawing sessions. These poses are 5,10 or 15 minutes long and are great for improving drawing skills. They can be difficult and overwhelming because you have to think fast and draw.

For a 5-minute pose, I look for the general shape of the pose. If model is standing I run a line on my page from top to bottom and quickly put in circles for the general shapes I see: so a circle for the head, chest, hips, thighs, calves, and feet. Then circles for hands, arms, and hair, then I begin to connect circles to create shapes of arms, legs, body, and head, then add tone to understand how light is adding depth to the shapes, then keep drawing simple darker lines to help define the model's pose. And before I know it, my 5 minutes are up and I’m sitting there wishing I had more time. So I turn the page and start on the next 5-minute pose with the same process.

Quick studies have helped me become a better draftsman. The technique I use to quickly draw the model is also applied to my other drawings. Whenever I’m out drawing landscapes, still lifes, portraits, or anything else, as soon as I sit down with my drawing pad and pick my composition, I begin looking for the general shapes and draw them in by using circles. Once I have the general composition and proportions down, I set a pace of adding detail, and tone.

CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE, GRAPHITE ON PAPER 14" x 17"

Portrait of Young Woman

I attend Saturday morning Al Hyter portrait group in Toledo, Ohio. They have two new models, but since it’s a two-hour session I focused on drawing one model. I first created the ¾ view then created the profile. It was cold in the room so my arms and hands felt a little stiff but I still had a good time drawing these two nice pieces.

I feel all my recent drawing is paying off because I felt comfortable drawing these portraits. I was confident creating the cross hatch texture, proportions, sighting, and composition. It’s a good feeling for me. I’m looking forward to next Saturday’s portrait session; I’ll focus on drawing the 2^nd model.

CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE, GRAPHITE ON PAPER 14" x 17"

Music and Figure Drawing

At the last Wednesday night figure drawing session, I was thinking about how we listen to music while we figure draw. Paul Geiger organizes the drawing sessions, directs the models and selects the music. He starts the drawing session with classical music then after the mid break he plays something contemporary with vocals, sometimes edgy, rough, and expressive. Last week was Bob Dylan, and week before that was old blues. Paul has played the Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, Tom Petty, a lot of amazing albums.

Paul never asks us what we want to hear, he picks the music and we listen, it’s good he picks because I’ve discovered there’s a lot of nice music I never would have thought to listen to while I draw. In the figure drawing sessions I often find myself tapping my feet, humming, and quietly singing along. And if you look around you’ll see other artist doing the same. At the last figure drawing session we listened to Elton John, it was great!

I’ve sketched at figure drawing sessions were there is no music. I think that’s good too, I still produced good drawings. But there’s something about listening to the right music while I draw that I feel inspires and motivates me, it seems to add to the drawing experience. I get a joyous feeling that I can draw forever, and a feeling that at that moment, I am living my life to it’s fullest.

What's your favorite music to listen to while you draw/paint/create art?

CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE, GRAPHITE ON PAPER 14" x 17"

Gathering Art Work for a Portfolio

Lately, I've been working on putting a portfolio of my recent work together. I'm doing this because I'm visiting fine art schools in the east coast. I want to apply to graduate schools to earn an MFA (Masters of Fine Arts).

It's not easy picking twenty of my best pieces for a portfolio. I like my work, I am proud of it, so looking through my drawings and paintings from the last couple years to pick the best work has been tough.

Here are two older pieces that caught my eye: I like the fresh sketch feeling these two drawings have, and I thought they were nice pieces. I think I draw so much that perhaps I get immune to my drawings and get caught up in the production and technical part of it that I don't see the beauty in my work. It's not until I have set it aside, forgotten about it, then later revisit my work that I say "Wow! what a beautiful piece, did I really do that?" I think that's when I truly enjoy my work.

So what schools am I interested in? There are a lot of schools with impressive programs. Two I want to really visit are NYAA (New York Academy of Art) and PAFA (Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art). Impressive programs, I'm looking forward to touring the schools and talking to the faculty and students soon.

CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE, GRAPHITE ON PAPER 14" x 17"

Toy Penguin and Loafers

"Hay! What's this penguin doing inside this shoe?" This is exactly what my 4 year old nephew, JD, said to this drawing. I didn't think much of it when I saw JD looking at this piece. He usually doesn't respond to my drawings, but with this one he got it. All of a sudden, he looked up at me, put his little index finger on my drawing and responded! "Hay! What's this penguin doing inside this shoe?" He made my day, I laughed, I loved his response.

These are JD's loafers, I've been wanting to draw them. They are so cute, and I've been wanting to incorporate some of JD's toys into my drawings. JD has a lot of toys, so I didn't want to think too much about selecting a toy, so I grabbed this penguin. It caught my attention, it's a character from the animated film Madagascar by Dreamworks. So I quickly put this still life together and started drawing.

I liked JD's response because when I begin a drawing I try to make sure it communicates clearly, I don't want to confuse the viewer or have them wonder what it is they are looking at. So seeing a child understanding my drawing on paper was a big compliment.

CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE, GRAPHITE ON PAPER 11" x 14"

Low Turnout at Figure Drawing Session

This past Wednesday night, I attended the open figure drawing session at Paul Geiger studios and I was surprised to see a low turn out. So strange because usually a good crowd shows up. I really didn't mind, for me it meant more options of drawing the model from different sides of the room. Though it's nice to have a large crowd, there's always that intense feeling of concentration that radiates when a big group is drawing the model. And I really like the camaraderie I feel in a group of artists, everyone with similar interests of improving their drawing skills and drawing because they enjoy it.

Here's a drawing from Wednesday night, this was a 10 minute pose. Paul hired a male model, it was a good drawing session. Paul played classical music and Bob Dylan.

CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE, GRAPHITE ON PAPER 14" x 17"

Drawing Father n Son Nike Air Jordans

Lately I've been been making still life drawings of shoes. This drawing is of the Classic Nike Air Jordan's, the small ones belong to my 4 year old nephew, (he's learning to play basketball at the local YMCA) and the adult size shoes belong to his father (he's the basketball coach).

I struggled with deciding if I should post this drawing. I was concerned that it was just a drawing of shoes: big deal, kinda boring subject. But two reasons I decided to sketch this type of still life convinced me that I need to share this drawing with others.

One reason was simple: I liked the Nike Air Jordan's Basketball high tops, they are so cool! Beautifully designed: the boldness, the shoe strings, the shapes, and most important for me, I saw a challenge that made me want to prop these three items on a stand and try to create a nice bold three dimensional drawing. And trust me, it was tough.

The second reason was sentimental. When I first saw my 4-year-old nephew's basketball high tops at first glance I thought, 'how cute, they're so small". Then one can't help ponder on how innocent and new he is to this world and how father, mother, grandmother, and uncle protect, love and cherish every moment with him. I sketched father and son shoes to possibly represent that bond and I added the fruit to possibly represent god, nurture, teacher, growth and happiness.

CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE, GRAPHITE ON PAPER 14" x 17"

Figure Drawing with the Right Elements

Wow! Where do I begin: good model, good old blues music, good drawings, and good vibes at last nights Geiger Studios open figure drawing session. I think all these elements helped me produce a lot of nice drawings last night. I had a tough time picking a piece to share on this blog, I was in the zone, it's a great feeling.

Another element that helped me draw with lots of confidence and ease last night is practice. I've been drawing a lot lately, 2-3 hours daily, still lifes during the week, and Saturday morning portrait drawings. And before I went to last night's figure drawing session, I sat down to draw a still life for 2 hours, so I had a good warm up before the evening figure drawing session.

I strongly believe practicing my drawing daily will continue to improve my skill. It takes time to train the brain to translate what it sees to a hand drawing created on paper.

CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE, GRAPHITE ON PAPER 14" x 17"

portrait Drawing Male Teenager

Today we had two new models at the Al Hyter portrait drawing group in Toledo Ohio, Joseph and Jessie, two teenagers with their own unique character. This portrait is of Joseph, he has a great hair style for drawing. I like the way the length of his hair makes a nice shape for drawing. His hair is parted at the face so it frames his eyes, nose, lips and chin. I really enjoyed creating Joseph's portrait. Next Saturday I'll sketch the other model, Jessie.

Good drawing music was played at the portrait drawing session today:

• Fiddler on The Roof
• Simon & Garfunkel
• Ray Davies

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