2009 is finally over. It's has been a challenging year and for the first time I don't feel sad seeing the year end. However, during the time I lost my job and depressed, I re-connected with many old friends. I'm also grateful for all the fun times I've had with my art buddies.
I've done a lot of drawings this past year, perhaps a form of escape or therapy, but no finished pieces. Therefore, I committed myself to finish a piece by the end of the year so I feel some accomplishment. I spent the Christmas vacation painting my niece in oil, something I haven't done in almost two years. I'm still putting some finishing touches but I think it turned out well. Let's hope that the new year will be more productive and I will focus on doing more finished pieces, maybe even some portrait commissions.
I wish everyone a great new year and let 2010 be a happy and healthy year.
I took pictures of different stages of my drawing during a three hour live session to show my drawing process. In this drawing I am using Conte pastel pencil on Artagain paper.
I first block out the structure of the figure using vine charcoal with straight lines. I measure carefully to make sure the proportion and the gesture is correct. The vine charcoal allows me to wipe mistakes off easily.
I then start to render the figure starting from top to bottom using Conte pastel pencil. I work from top to bottom because often as the sesssion progresses the model will shift the pose substantially. In a group setting it's hard to be picky over the pose so I don't want to commit any detail to the rest of the figure until I have to.
I do spend a lot of time on the face. It seems I get more compliments from by fellow artists when I nail the likeness.
In this sitting the model has done a great job of maintaining the pose. I typically render the figure by blocking in the cast shadows first, followed by rendering the form shadows by establishing a mid tone and describing the voloume of the form. I then pick out the high lights using kneaded eraser, using the tone of the paper as high light.
When I use darker grey paper, I will try to incorporate the grey as part of the cool mid tone and using a white chalk/pastel as high light.
I spend the last 20 minutes of the session polishing the entire drawing so the figure looks consistent and accurate. If I have time, I would put in some background so the figure doesn't appear floating.
Three hours (with 5 minute breaks every 20 minutes) is not a lot of time. I wish some day I get to do longer poses where I can have more time to refine the drawing.
Much of my work this year has been influenced by the DVD "Drawing The Figure With Fernando Freitas". Even though I never reach the level of details and realism taught in the DVD, I did place much of my focus on measuring and rendering form shadows and cast shadows. Looking back at my drawings for the year, my art work struggled to be tight and accurate. It's hard to say if I made any break through, but I do feel like I have explored more aspects of drawing and have several areas I want to work on.
In September, I attended the "Weekend with the Masters" in Colorado Springs and took an one day workshop with Susan Lyon. In the workshop she taught me to focus on the forms as defined by light and shadow. Recently, I've spent a lot of time studying her work on her web site: http://www.scottburdick.com/2009SusanLyon.htm
Her drawings in the style of chiaroscuro, are amazingly soft and beautiful. You will see some of that influence in my recent drawings, where the edges are becoming softer. It is a challenge for me to lose some of those lines, but I find it librating not feeling guilty about rubbing and blending. Most of all it makes me focus more on shapes, the effects of the lights and lost edges.
