Life Drawing - Portraits

 Most schools are off for the summer, not this one.
We keep them working year round.
A short break in So Cal and now back to teaching the digital age how to move a pencil.
One of the many problems students face in life drawing is placing facial features and establishing character.
I have found it useful to start beginners out with drawing a profile.
 It helps them to understand that the face is not set on a flat plane.
Single source lighting allows you to see the edges and contours more clearly than in the front and 3/4 views.
  A couple of new models. Becky and Inky,  came in to pose this week.

These are a few quick demos done in class, about 20 minutes each.

Becky -  14" x 12"

Inky - 14"x 12"

 


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Koyote Joe aka Joe Segrest - 14" x 12"
The last drawing I did of Koyote Joe before his untimely passing. R.I.P.

Mary Queen of Scots & Sarah Bernhardt

  I took the Design class to the art museum the other day to expose them to some “real art.”
After I give them a  tour and lecture I let them loose to draw some of the art.
While I’m there I generally knock out a few sketches as well.
I’ll walk around until something pulls me in.
This time it was a couple of women…

Mary Queen of Scots by the French sculptor, Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse.

Sarah Bernhardt by Jules Bastien-Lepage

 Sometime later I discovered that Sarah Bernhardt had 

portrayed Queen Elizabeth in a 1912 silent film.

Queen Elizabeth had her cousin, Mary Queen of Scots,

 beheaded at Fotheringay Castle on February 8th, 1587 for involvement

 in a plot to kill her.

Zoo/Animal Drawings.

 Today was warm and sunny so I took the drawing class out to the Zoo to study and draw the animals.
It’s the only place where you can go to experience non-indigenous creatures up close and personal.
 It’s also kind of "cool” to see the little kids get excited seeing the animals for the first time.
I knocked out a couple of quick sketches while I was there.

Some individual Aldabra giant tortoises are thought to be over 200 years of age.
This is difficult to verify because they tend to outlive their human observers.

Common Elands form herds of up to 500 animals, but are not territorial.
This Eland was banished by a territorial giraffe before I had a chance to finish the drawing...

Rodin - The Three Shades

 I take my Design class to the Art Museum every term and I always knock out a few sketches while I'm there.
 Often the museum is crowded so I find somewhere unobtrusive to stand and draw.
The Legion of Honor in San Francisco has a huge Rodin sculpture collection ( thanks to Alma de Bretteville Spreckels ) including the full size Three Shades sculpted for The Gates of Hell.
Generally the museum visitors are looking at the front of the sculptures so there is no one around on the backside.
I've stood around back on a few separate occasions and done some sketches.
The last time I was there I was approached by a museum guard.
 I assumed he wanted to look at my drawing.
 Instead he admonished me for inadvertently dropping a pencil.
 He said it could possibly cause injury to a guest.
 So, I picked it up.

Here are some sketches - The Three Shades by Aguste Rodin.