Friday, March 6, 2009

Watercolor Figure Drawings from the Live Nude Female Model

We had a great drawing session last night! We skipped gesture work and went right into a nice long pose. I had a couple 11" x 14" inch pieces of watercolor paper mounted to foam core and my watercolor pencils with me, so color was on my brain!

The first pose, with the model's legs up on the wall, was gorgeous (although watching her "roll" into the pose was incredibly funny! we were laughing ant what she had to do to get into the pose!)

I first worked in a light blue wash and slowly built up layers of color. I went more "intense" than natural - the drama of the pose lent itself to more provocative color. However, it was too cool at first - the purples, blues, and even the reds I chose were all "cold". I added some sap green which really brought some warmth to the piece.

The second drawing I worked with a 4H pencil to lightly sketch in the figure - just focusing on the largest shapes and major angles. In this pose I felt the chair was especially important, because of the way her form "tucked into" the space.

I tried to develop the values in the figure and the drapery at the same time, so that the over-all lighting scheme worked well.

I love the turquoise in the drapery, and the red I used to define her features. If I had used black to draw in her eyes, the effect would have been very different.



6 comments:

Elizabeth Seaver said...

Those are very successful. I like the two different treatments.

Tina said...

Kristina, I had a lot of fun posing for your group last night. That "legs up" pose was a new one for me, and I'm glad you got some amusement from the awkward way I ended up rolling sideways into it. :)

These two drawings are different from some of your other drawings of me. I especially like the flow of the second one. It conveys languidness and tension at the same time, if that makes sense.

Krystyna81 said...

thanks Elizabeth!

Hi Tina...it makes sense! I'm glad you can see such complexities (and of course that you are such a great model!

K

dd03 said...

I like that first pose very much. You did the legs very well. I was never good at foreshortening, limbs, etc.

Lilacpop said...

Wow, are you ever talented! I miss having access to a model since I graduated from college.
Janna-lilacpop.blogspot.com

Jay said...

If you don't mind me asking is there a name for layering or combining the colors like that?