Thursday, April 30, 2009

Figure Drawing in Charcoal and Pastel from the Live Nude Female Model

Another sublime Wednesday evening here in GA, and another blissful night of drawing from the live female model! Our lucky group had a new model, who was just lovely - long beautiful lines, great expression in her face and her poses - just wonderful. This is a quick, 2-minute gesture drawing.
I have to say - I am usually very big on avoiding the face (I have sticky notes in my drawing box if I spend too much time drawing the face - I'll actually cover up that area if i work it too much!) but I could not help myself last night - she had beautiful features, and I did this quick 5 minute sketch of her face during our warm-ups.

And I continued to break my no-face rule the rest of the evening! I was working on anther piece of teal mat board, this time using light and dark blue to start the drawing and slowly adding in black and white as we neared the end of the pose.

Although this is pretty close to how the light was falling across her nose, it doesn't feel quite right yet - maybe a little more work on the high light and it'll be better.

And of COURSE I had to break out my nupastels and a small piece of colorfix paper and get a little crazy! This small abstract portrait of the model was the last 25 minutes of the pose, and I just tried to have a little fun and create some interesting color combinations!
The model was kind enough (and very patient!) as I snapped a few portrait shots of her...I really want to do a painting of her...I'll post it as soon as I get to work!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

i really like the colors and your ability to loosen up your technique. just hints of the figurative highlights to understand this is a nude...

Krystyna81 said...

thanks deborah! I think that's part of the reason I do this at the very end of class - I'm forced to work quickly and not add too much info!

Linda Hammelman said...

Her pensive expression is to peaceful. No need to stay away from faces!

Chrisy said...

You're so talented...I'm very taken with the 'face' ones...just beautiful...

missknits said...

wow these are all beautiful! i love the one on the teal art board - beautiful work!

Unknown said...

Nice work! I need to go to drawing class next Tuesday...
Cheers,
Julie
http://juliedarcy.blogspot.com

Krystyna81 said...

thank you for all the kind comments!

As far as "staying away from faces"...it's just something I keep in mind as I am working on the whole figure - don't obsess over the face, you'll forget the rest of the body!

I'll learn to embrace the face :)