Movement, lignt and drapery

These are my favorites of the short study

Light & drapery

Here are my three drawings from this weeks' class - as always, I had a lot of fun working with ink!  I feel with all of these that I could work them a little more, which I may do in the week to come - if I do, I will be sure to post photos!

7th class ink and brush

First of all hats off to our model, I thought she was great and seemed to know exactly what we were looking for with the drapery. I said her poses reminded me of the art-deco designer Erte, who also did lithos and sculpture. I'm including one of his pieces to give an idea of what I meant. 





Here are some of the fast gesture drawings which I found to be a lot of fun and would love to do more...






The first longer study that we did, for me was probably the least "successful" but maybe the most interesting, being more bold and taking chances. The other two I suppose I was playing it safe although I felt I was exploring the different media, the eraser in the second and laying down intense pencils and then going over with a brush in the third. I think I would need many, many hours of practice to really start to gain some mastery over these. Or be better able to react to the unexpected. Working with a coloured ground seems to have so much potential and I can see the possibilities, changing colours, going darker with the ground to make the eraser that much more effective, and maybe being more bold with a brush. The final pose was a bit of a gift, since where I was sitting the pose was very simple and easy to capture. 

7th class - 7e cours

Hello everyone,
once more this week we will we will focus on studying light values and form. We will give attention to the study of the clothed figure and thus, we will draw from dressed and semi-nude poses. The model will be Melanie for those who know her (she was the last model we had last year). Bring your inks and intense pencils, white eraser, brushes, water-colour paper as well as paper for quick studies.

Bonjour,
cette semaine nous allons nous concentrer sur l'étude des valeurs de la lumière et de la forme.  Nous accorderons de l'attention particulière à l'étude de la figure vêtu et donc, nous allons utiliser des poses habillés et semi-nues. Le modèle sera Melanie pour ceux qui la connaissent (elle était le dernier modèle que nous avons eu l'année dernière). Apportez vos encres et crayons Inktense, l'efface blanche, des pinceaux, du papier aquarelle, ainsi que du papier pour des études rapides. 

I am attaching below two images of ink drawings, one of L.Cambiaso and one of Rembrandt. What is worth remarking are the different qualities of each one; The one of Cambiaso shows a precise grouping of three values (almost graphic), great design of contours (remember the class on straight and curve) and of course an excellent understanding of form. The result is solid and structured, it almost feels as a marble sculpture. Note that the figure is dressed, there were probably many folds, but he manages to compose everything into large forms. This is something you want to keep and experiment in your drawings, regardless if you only have 5 minutes or one whole hour.
Rembrandt is using only brush and the majority of his strokes are on the dry side. He is working freely, expressively and gesturally. This is something you also want to keep.

See you soon!

Je joins ci-dessous deux images de dessins à l'encre, le premier est de L.Cambiaso et le deuxième de Rembrandt. Remarquez les différentes qualités de chacun; Celui de Cambiaso montre un regroupement précis des trois valeurs (presque graphique), du dessin de contour (rappelez-vous la classe sur la ligne droite et la courbe) et bien sûr une excellente compréhension de la forme. Le résultat est solide et structuré, on sent qu'il s'agit presque d'une sculpture en marbre. Notez que la figure est habillé, et malgré la complexité des plis et des petites formes, il parvient à composer tout en grandes formes. Ceci est quelque chose que vous voulez garder et d'expérimenter dans vos dessins, peu importe si vous aurez 5 minutes ou une heure.
Rembrandt utilise seulement des pinceaux et la majorité de ses coups sont sec. Il travaille librement, expressivement et gestuellement. Ceci est une autre chose que a garder.

À bientôt!

L.Cambiaso

Rembrandt

Dessin de Robert

Voici l'étude longue de Robert de la semaine passée. 

Bonne composition, modelage des formes et regroupement des trois valeurs principales.

6th class modelling in the dark

Not happy. The class was fun and interesting and challenging but I'm not thrilled with what I produced. To be honest I prefer the shorter pose we did first. I find the longer one looks primitive or expressionist, but not intentionally. I don't recognize it as something I did. Maybe it just needed more time? Or maybe I worked it too much and my skills are not there yet.

6th class - 6e cours

Hello everyone,

Often I ask students to explain what is the essence of modelled drawing, in other words, what do they think that modelled drawing aspires to teach you. In the beginning it might seem obvious that the answer is: to make darker what is further and lighter what is closer. Still, this answer is only describing a part of the process, and certainly not the essence. In reality, the modeling studies we have done so far, have one, very important objective: to stress the importance of becoming aware of the form you draw. Modeling studies demand that you discover  the three-dimensionality of the form and the distribution of the different parts between them and in space. In the same time they make you develop a tactile approach: drawing feels like sculpting, every stroke touches the form, drawing is not just decoding grays. 
While keeping these things in mind, this week we will combine modeling studies and studies of light values. Take a look at this charcoal drawing below. What is closer is not necessarily lighter. That would be the case if the light source was in the eye of the observer. Here, the light source is at your left and we can easily feel how light coming from the left touches the parts of the form that it's facing. On the other hand, some other parts are not touched by light, light is obstructed from touching them by other parts of the form. When one has good understanding of the form, he will also have a good understanding of what is touched by light and what isn't (and how much). 

This Thursday, I will do an introduction/demonstration at the beginning and there will be one short and one long study. Our model will be Steve, for those who know him. Bring your charcoals, charcoal pencil, spectra fix (if you have), Ingres and cartridge paper, erasers and cotton cloth.

See you soon!

Käthe Kollwitz, charcoal on paper - fusain sur papier

Bonjour,

Souvent, je demande aux étudiants d'expliquer l'essence du dessin modèle, autrement dit, qu'est-ce qu'ils pensent que le dessin modèle aspire à vous apprendre. Il peut sembler évident que la réponse est: faire plus foncé ce qui est plus loin et faire plus clair ce qui est plus proche. Pourtant, cette réponse décrit une partie du processus, et certainement pas l'essence. En réalité, les études de modelage que nous avons fait jusqu'ici, ont un objectif très important: vous faire comprendre la forme que vous dessinez. Dans une étude de modelage on tente de découvrir la tridimensionnalité de la forme et la distribution des différentes parties entre elles et dans l'espace. En même temps, l'exercice vous fait développer l'approche tactile: dessiner ressemble à sculpter, chaque coup touche la forme, le dessin n'est pas seulement un décodage des gris.
Tout en gardant cela en tête, cette semaine, nous allons combiner l' étude de modelage avec l'étude des valeurs lumière.  Observez ce dessin au fusain ci-haut. Ce qui est plus proche n'est pas nécessairement plus clair. Ce serait le cas si la source de lumière était dans l'œil de l'observateur. Ici, la source de lumière est à votre gauche. On peut facilement se sentir comment la lumière venant de la gauche touche les parties de la forme qu'elle fait face. D'un autre côté, d'autres parties ne sont pas touchés par la lumière, la lumière est obstruée de les toucher par d'autres parties de la forme. Quand on a une bonne compréhension de la forme, on aura également une bonne compréhension de ce qui est touché par la lumière et ce qui n'est pas (et combien).

Ce jeudi, je vais faire une introduction / démonstration au début de la classe et il y aura une courte et une longue étude. Notre modèle sera Steve, pour ceux qui le connaissent. Apportez vos fusains, crayon de fusain, Fixatif spektra fix (si vous l'avez), papier Ingres et cartouche, gommes à effacer et un linge de coton.

À bientôt!