"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.

Drawing a Portrait With Eye Glasses

Here are two portrait studies from a recent Al Hyter Portrait drawing session. They had an excellent model, she did an excellent job holding her pose and she wore her eye glasses. I love it when portrait models wear a hat, ball caps, jewelry, a pencil on the ear, or eye glasses.  It adds so much more depth to the piece and it often makes it a bigger drawing challenge, that's what i enjoy the most. The best part for me is not the finished piece, it's the drawing process. I finish a drawing in about 20 minutes, then I'm looking forward to starting a new one from a different angle.

Full Figure Portrait Drawing of Heather

Here's one of my drawings of Heather from yesterday's Al Hyter portrait session. This was Heather's last modeling session. A good crowd of artists showed up. Everyone produced nice pieces, and Bruce the organizer played some interesting folk music.

The portrait sessions are two hour, so the first hour I created a close up portrait of Heather. Then in the second hour I decided to created a full figure portrait. Here's where all the figure drawing sessions I've attended at Geiger Studios comes in handy: sketching this full figure with chair in 20 minutes came easy to me. I approached this drawing like I would a nude figure drawing. I started with a gesture drawing to make sure the figure would fit and that all main shapes were proportional, then I began to add detail and tone. Creating this piece was rewarding, it's a reminder that I have to keep attending these drawing session and draw daily on my own to improve my drawing skills. It's what it takes for me to become a better skilled artist.

I'm already looking forward to next Saturday's new model.

CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE

Profile Sketch of Heather

I attended the Saturday morning Al Hyter portrait drawing/painting session. It was the model's 2nd of four sessions, her name is Heather and she did a great job holding her pose and maintaining a smile which is not easy. I created several portrait drawings of Heather and the profile sketch I am posting here is the last one I created. I feel this is the best one of the batch; it has a nice loose sketch feel. I captured her character and out of the portrait drawings I created of Heather for the 2nd session, this is the drawing that is closest to her appearance.

Seems like my first drawing is always my warm-up drawing. I loosen up and get in my drawing mood. Usually my first drawing never looks as loose or as nice as my 2nd or 3rd drawing, but sometimes my 2nd or 3rd drawings don't come out well either. This is when I need to remember that I also draw to improve my drawing skills. I say this because it can be frustrating when that 1st and sometimes that 2nd drawing aren't looking good. I do believe that every drawing is a learning experience and always makes my drawing skills better for future drawings.

3/4 Portrait Sketch of Young Women

Happy New Years! here's my first portrait drawing for 2011! I created it at the Saturday morning Al Hyter Portrait Drawing Group in Toledo Ohio. It was a good session, I had fun drawing the model, I liked the way her short hair style had a nice simple shape for sketching, I also really liked sketching her scarf, it added nice shapes to the drawing. I was also impressed with how still the model sat because it was so cold in the room, even my hands were stiff from the coldness. The model is scheduled for three more Saturdays so I'll be posting more portrait drawings of this model from different angels.

2011 is going to to be an awesome year! I'm planning on drawing and painting a lot!