Figure Drawing!

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Today the Loudoun Sketch Club hired a model and invited us to draw him in a library meeting room in Leesburg. The model started with some short poses to warm us up (30 seconds, 1 minute, 2 minutes, 5 minutes, 10 minutes), then longer, culminating in two 45-minute poses. He brought a couple of costumes for the long poses. 

I love to draw people, and seize the chance whenever I can. Today I used charcoal. For the short poses, I used one sheet of paper (gray Canson pastel paper, the smoother side) and vine charcoal, and wiped the drawing out after each pose with a chamois cloth. For the first 45-minute pose, the model wore a top hat and formal coat. I did a portrait study. (I took photos so you can see his costume.) I drew on the original piece of paper with multiple drawings wiped out on it. This gave a nice base of mid-tone charcoal to work on. I used the chamois and a kneaded eraser to pull lighter areas out of the darks and mid-tones. I enjoyed "carving" out the drawing this way. For the second long pose, he wore a flight jacket, and I loved trying to depict the textures of the thick, dark leather and fleece lining using charcoal.

It's been a while since I've been in a formal figure drawing session (as opposed to sketching unsuspecting people going about their business). I started with a gesture drawing, even for the longer poses, but did some measuring also. I really enjoyed losing myself in looking hard at shapes and values and didn't think too much. Time flew! Here are the drawings I did today:







Thanks for reading! Click the pictures for a larger view.

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