Figure Drawing- Part 1
5 Minute Pose / Conté Crayon / Yao Cheng
figure drawing:
I cannot believe it has been almost 2 decades since I attended a figure drawing class… The last time I picked up a piece of charcoal and traversed with it across a large-sized newsprint was back in college. I’ve always found this practice intimidating- figuring out techniques and proportions felt daunting to do in a room of other fellow artists.
But, working on a children’s book (years in the making!) has rekindled my interest in this area of drawing again. There is a buzzing feeling when I walk into a room that is filled with easels, messy drawing materials, the crispness of paper… It feels like anything is possible. And yes, a lot of it will be bad. This is about finding out what materials I like best, studying the figure from different perspectives, and practicing proportions.
This week, I walked into a space like this, ready and willing to face my frustrations and technical insecurities. And it was so much fun. I felt like a giddy kid, running through a candy store, just soaking it all in. Studying the human figure in real life, with nothing but a simple piece of conté (my immediate favorite- it is also called hard pastel), was exhilarating. It felt like flying, because the poses lasted only a few minutes each. I had to work quickly, relying on intuition to capture the essence of each figure. Pose after pose, I work through various issues. A lot of it did turn out to not be any good. A lot of botched proportions- foreshortening remains a tricky skill! Still, I pushed past those thoughts, focusing instead on training my eye to measure, finding expressive strokes, and most of all, studying light. This seems to be what captivates me most.
Light is so ethereal, so elusive… I’m really obsessed with this idea, but it’s often so hard to grasp. In a room like with figure drawing, though, the light is often at high-contrast. There is usually a light source on the person in an otherwise dimmed room. I think this is what made figure drawing so fun for me. I wasn’t just drawing figures, I was chasing light! What I am figuring out is that light isn’t just an element of the drawing- it is as integral as the subject itself. It ebbs and flows, interacting with the form rather than simply defining it. I often try to blur my line edges in pursuit of this effect, letting light merge in and out of the figure.
“I wasn’t just drawing figures, I was chasing light!”
10 Minute Pose / Pencil / Yao Cheng
I’m hoping to keep going to these figure drawing sessions regularly. What I am starting to realize is that I gravitate toward drawing tonally. With a conté crayon, I can easily capture tonal areas that I get to then shape and refine. It is both dark and soft, allowing me to push deep blacks with ease.
drawing from life
I love studying from life… Photographs tend to flatten all the rich, dimensional planes that bring me to a different level of creativity. The female form, in particular, is especially engaging- its curves and rhythms create endless visual interest! My drawings are also often messy, full of measurement marks. I make a point not to erase them- they are part of my searching process, a record of discovery rather than something to be hidden.
Sketchbook / Pencil / Yao Cheng
drawing in public:
I got this idea to sit in public places and do quick studies of people from a good friend. In the past, this felt even more intimidating than going to live figure drawing sessions. Who’s to say what people would think? I would feel artistically exposed to others’ opinions, criticisms, ideas…But today, I didn’t care. My curiosity to continue studying the human form surpassed my anxieties about drawing in public. And really, everyone is going about their own day. And I get to be in my happy place, drawing and observing.
Like with figure drawing, I hope to make this more of a regular practice. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I loved it! Here are a few of the more successful quick studies.
“I feel like I’m “sculpting” as I draw.”
Here’s the thing that I kept coming back to…I feel like I’m “sculpting” as I draw. I often first put in tone shadows, sometimes arbitrarily, sometimes to describe areas of shadow. From such broad marks, I will then go in and refine, usually with darker and darker marks. This always make me feel like I’m carving out the subject, or sometimes it also feels like it is emerging from these planes of tone. It is a similar experience to working in a dark room to develop film. Slowly, you see the image appear within the chemical baths. Either way, it is really interesting to observe this within myself. As a side note, it is intriguing that when I’m in this type of creative state, I am both the person making the art and also the observer standing over my shoulder…I see the work coming to life from different vantage points.
Anyway, more drawings to come…This has become part of my lifelong creative practice. And I know for a fact that it won’t be another 2 decades before I draw the human form again!
2 Minute Pose / Conté Crayon / Yao Cheng
