Thursday, April 16, 2009

Figure Drawing Technique - Mixing Watercolor and Pastel Media when Drawing from the Live Nude Female Model

Figure drawing group was a lot of fun, as usual! Everyone was hopped up on left-over Easter candy (of course we balanced this out with some Red wine) and we had one of our favorite models. I say that a lot...I love all of our models!After a series of gesture drawings, we set up this lovely pose that really showed of our model's long limbs. It also had wonderful shadows and light. I started with watercolor on a piece of Colorfix pastel board (board meaning mat board, not masonite - there are both versions available). I just aimed to wash in the major details and composition, being sure that I was going to utilize my page effectively. I did not want perfection - I wanted an interesting first layer. Next I used light purple and blue Nupastels to start blocking in color, checking my proportions and starting to really see areas of light and shadow. I occasionally grabbed my brush again, dipping it in water and washing away areas of color that were too strong or needed re-shaping.
I continued to add color, including fuscias and pinks and oranges to warm up her skin tone. If i needed to re-define an area, I used the watercolor to create a line or my black charcoal pencil.

It was very handy to use the watercolor brush when needing to make a change - I actually took off almost 3/4 of an inch on her backside because it was too long, just by softening the area with a wet brush. The same for her head - the scale was a bit too large for the body, so a quick wash over the hair and i easily adjusted the mistake.
I like the colors, the mix of the media, and the variety of definition - the detail in the upper knee, but the simple outline of her left foot. I don't feel that the point of focus is clear yet, so I may make some minor adjustments. I am glad I experimented with this paper and mixed media...I look forward to trying it again!

9 comments:

Dickie Maxx said...

I like your this work. It is an interesting pose they put the model in. I bet it was fun to do.

Shane McDonald said...

Thanks for posing her so well, Kristina. Your drawing is fantastic!

Kim Caro said...

wow amazing

Krystyna81 said...

Thanks for the comments!

Shane...Hi! I'll keep hunting for great poses...this one looked womnderful from so many different spots in the studio!

Rob Reeves said...

Lovely drawing. I'm enjoying hearing about your technique. I do pastels occasionally, but am not very adept with them.
Thanks!

Constance said...

gorgeous- simple color, calm, I love it.

The only art that sold-- or I should say MOST of the art tha sold in the last show I was in was NUDES.
I have to get back to the figure.
Viewing your work inspired me!

Connie
www.constance.1000Markets.com
http://wncArtist.blogspot.com

Elis Cooke said...

beautiful work! thanks so much for the inspiration! I love seeing how this developed and the way you intergrated the different medias!

Anonymous said...

Wonderful! Love the vibrant colors!

Anonymous said...

The figure before you put the color on it that you started out with was really nice. Do not get me wrong, I love the finished piece but what really caught my eye was the marks you made in the first step, they were truly impeccable.