80 Minute Portrait Drawing

Here's a recent portrait drawing from the Al Hyter Portrait group. Usually I change drawing positions on every 20-minute pose, but lately I've been wanting to slow down and spend more time per drawing. Last week I sketched 40 minutes per drawing, but on this portrait I spent 80 minutes, the entire drawing session. It gave me more time to focus on all over details and building of darks and lights.

Figure Drawing on Fire!

I was on fire last night at Paul Geiger's figure drawing session. We had a good model, good group and good music.

I used 18 x 24 news print paper with Vine charcoal and General's 2B Charcoal Pencils. I created some nice drawings!

The best part for me in this session was the deep dark lines. I got nice thin rich black lines with the sharp tips on the General's pencils. Perfect for drawing shapes and giving illusion of depth.

Below I included a picture Paul took of the figure drawing group. It's a perfect space for figure drawing. Thanks again Paul for the snacks at break and the good tunes. I especially liked the music by Tanita Tikaram.

Paul Geiger Studio - TholepinPress.com

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African American Woman Portrait Drawing

 

 I created some nice drawings at the Sunday morning Al Hyter portrait group. They have a new model. She's wearing a beautiful dress from Nigeria Africa.

A lot of artists attended so space was limited. I started my warmup with a side profile drawing. Then I was able to squeeze in front to draw a 3/4 profile. As always, I sat as close as possible to the model to see all the details of eye, nose, lips, ears.

I treated these drawings a little differently. Recently I finished updating my online illustration portfolio on theispot.com and noticed subtle changes in my drawing style. My older drawings seem to have more emphasis on technique: clean sketch lines, and more contrast between lights and darks.

So at this session I spent 40 minutes per drawing instead of 20 minutes. I slowed down to focus on my technique, and I kept using  sharp pencils to get nice clean dark lines in the details. I'm happy with the results. I'm looking forward to next week's session.

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Figure Drawing with Charcoal Pencils

I attended Paul Geigers figure drawing session on Wednesday. This time I used some different materials and medium. I purchased 18"x24" Strathmore Newsprint paper (300 series). I also bought 2B General's Charcoal pencils and soft vine charcoal. These materials are a perfect combo. The Newsprint paper has a nice rough surface so when drawing with sharp charcoal pencils I get beautiful rich dark lines. It's been so long since I've sketched with charcoal. I had forgotten the feel and sound charcoal makes when it strikes the paper. Felt like I was coming home.

We had a good model, I sketched many pieces in charcoal. Here are a couple drawings that challenged me.

So, good art materials, good model and of course good music. Paul played The Beatles White Album. Awesome tunes for drawing. Thanks again Paul for the music and the drawing sessions.

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