Since Part II of the book, Expressive Figure Drawings, went into media - what we use and how we use it - I thought I'd get out some other dry media I rarely use.
First drawing is with Prismacolor Nu-Pastels. I bought a box of 24 years ago when I was taking a university drawing course. I didn't care for them much and they aren't my favorite now. Something about how hard they are and how dusty. Anyway. This is with the nupastels on a soft drawing paper (can't recall the brand and no watermark). I did think the softer paper helped them seem not so hard and brittle when using them.
The second drawing is using the same soft paper but using Rembrandt soft half pastels. Not sure how long I've had these but I rarely touch them. So it was good to get them out and find that I like the softness and the smaller and rounder shapes (the Nu-Pastels are squared).
One of the complaints about the Virtual Pose figures is the lighting - harsh shadows on all and the same lighting for all. But I kind of like incorporating the shadow shape into the drawing so used it here.
And then I went to wet media.
I picked out an old, used piece of yupo which I'd tried to clean off using alcohol (after spray sealing it with whatever was there at the time). So there were some blotches and things I liked on there, including the shape of a figure behind the woman, which I intensified with Indigo watercolor.
I drew the leaning figure with Caran d'Ache water soluble crayons and then took a rough angle brush and scrubbed at the edges to get shading and modeling of the shape.
I still intend to do the previous exercise where you practice putting in the shadow shapes of the body and then outlining just a bit, leaving more to the imagination - but I'll share that another time.
Tomorrow, I'll start working on the summary of the Alice Neel biography. Follow along, if you're interested.
First drawing is with Prismacolor Nu-Pastels. I bought a box of 24 years ago when I was taking a university drawing course. I didn't care for them much and they aren't my favorite now. Something about how hard they are and how dusty. Anyway. This is with the nupastels on a soft drawing paper (can't recall the brand and no watermark). I did think the softer paper helped them seem not so hard and brittle when using them.
The second drawing is using the same soft paper but using Rembrandt soft half pastels. Not sure how long I've had these but I rarely touch them. So it was good to get them out and find that I like the softness and the smaller and rounder shapes (the Nu-Pastels are squared).
One of the complaints about the Virtual Pose figures is the lighting - harsh shadows on all and the same lighting for all. But I kind of like incorporating the shadow shape into the drawing so used it here.
And then I went to wet media.
I picked out an old, used piece of yupo which I'd tried to clean off using alcohol (after spray sealing it with whatever was there at the time). So there were some blotches and things I liked on there, including the shape of a figure behind the woman, which I intensified with Indigo watercolor.
I drew the leaning figure with Caran d'Ache water soluble crayons and then took a rough angle brush and scrubbed at the edges to get shading and modeling of the shape.
I still intend to do the previous exercise where you practice putting in the shadow shapes of the body and then outlining just a bit, leaving more to the imagination - but I'll share that another time.
Tomorrow, I'll start working on the summary of the Alice Neel biography. Follow along, if you're interested.
4 comments:
Rhonda, I really admire your diligence at honing your already great skills through all sorts of exercises such as these! Thank you for sharing.
Thanks, Christiane. I am enjoying this and it keeps me moving forward when I don't have anything specific to paint right now. Winter leaves me with little motivation and inspiration and I usually slow down and read more in the winter. But have specific exercises to try keeps my hand in.
I feel the same as Christiane, Rhonda, in my admiration in your desire to improve. I'm also enjoying your book reviews.
Thanks so much, Ann. Ditto to you!!
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