Figure Drawing Reclining Nude

Last Wednesday I attended Paul Geigers figure drawing session. I created a lot of nice drawings. I wish I could share them all. I picked these two. They were the most challenging and I believe I learned a few lessons from these two.

The challenge for the top drawing was drawing the figure to fit the length of the page while her arm was in vertical position.

The foreshortening is off on the bottom drawing. I made the torso too long. She was reclining back more.

CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE

Figure Drawing at Paul Geigers Studio, Toledo, Ohio

This past Wednesday, I attended Paul Geiger's figure drawing session at his downtown studio. It was awesome! I had a great time drawing. I did feel rusty and a little "sloppy". It had been a year since I last went. The sessions started with short 5 minute poses which helped warm me up. Paul played nice classical music, and by the time we took our mid session break with 20 minute poses I was in the zone.

I forgot that Paul gives a good mid break to everyone. The artists walk away from their drawings to enjoy crackers with slice cheese, soft drinks, popcorn, and wine all provided by Paul.  It's a good moment for everyone: stretch, relax, socialize, talk art and have a couple good laughs together. I realized I take this break for granted, because it's also a great time to walk away from your drawing to refocus and then come back after a while relaxed. I believe lots of practice is key to becoming a skilled draftsman but I would also include camaraderie, happiness, good laughs, and perhaps a cup of wine to becoming a better artist. Thanks again Paul for providing a nice environment for all the artists.

For the 2nd half, Paul played music by Muddy Waters! Good combo for drawing. Here are two of many figure drawings I created Wednesday evening. Both 20 minute poses. The rustiness I felt was with my strokes, I felt heavy handed and a little sloppy which I think gave the drawing a nice rough, sketchy feel.  Also both drawings have a lot of structural lines to help me with the proportions and alignment of all the shape. These lines are part of my drawing tools, I'm constantly looking and aligning shapes.

CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE

Foreshortening Female Figure Drawing

Hi. Last night I attended Paul Geigers Studios open figure drawing session in Toledo, Ohio. I had a great time! A great crowd showed up, I met cool new artists, and I produced some nice figure drawings.

Here are two pieces from last night. The small drawing on the left was from a series of 5-minute poses that started the session. The large drawing on the right was a 25 minute pose. It's a classic reclining figure drawing pose from models. I've sketched this pose many times and it never gets old. It feels like it never gets any easier to draw either.

A lot of foreshortening here. It's tricky from the start because the image is wider then it is tall--believe it or not. It's such an optical illusion. If you measure from the outer edge of her right hand to the outer edge of her left knee, that length is longer than from the top of her head to the bottom of her toe. it's so important to get these dimensions right for this figure drawing to work. Foreshortening is always a good challenge.

Last night's model was new at Geiger Studios but experienced from other drawing studios. Every pose she created was nice and did a great job holding still. Thanks, Paul, for finding good models, keeping the drawing space warm, and for the cheese, crackers, popcorn and wine at break time. I also enjoyed the classical music during the first half and Beach Boys music during the second half. That was an interesting music combo.

Reclining Female Nude Figure drawing

WOW! I just returned from an awesome figure drawing session! I was definitely in the zone and created some really nice drawings. I don't know what it was about this drawing session; the good weather, or the nice music, or the fantastic model, or all three, but I felt focused and was having a good time. Plus they played nice Classical music and Irish music.

The session was started with several 5 minute poses, which were all wonderful poses, full of energy and emotion. The 5 minute poses really warmed me up and set my mind straight for the long poses. I was able to complete three drawings with the long pose and here is one of them. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. I'm still feeling fired up :)

Foreshortening Female Figure Drawing

Hi, here are two sample drawings from a figure drawing session I attended last night. It started with several 5 minute poses as warm-ups, then one long pose for the rest of the evening. Out of several drawings I created, I chose to post these two. The sample on the right was 5 minutes and the sample on the left was the long pose.

The long pose had a lot of foreshortening from where I was viewing it, so I found myself taking longer to complete this piece than usual. I've done plenty of drawings with foreshortening, I enjoy them and they are challenging. I learned a lot from this drawing, I made a lot of proportions and alignment measurements with my pencil and this was the result.

On the 5 min pose, as always it's not enough time! At the end of 5 minutes the timer chimes and I always curse it, saying to myself "just 5 more minutes". The drawing is always unfinished and well I admit that's good because it FORCES me away from the drawing giving it that fresh, quick, unfinished, in progress sketch look. It's love-hate for me when it comes to 5 minute poses.

Hope you like these two drawings, feel free to let me know what you think of them.