At class it's interesting to see the differences in the way people work - some draw with a pencil each week, and take care to get the correct line, shading in with crosshatching; some do the dark tones in crosshatching with conte before line; some try to get the whole figure and some of the surrounds, some focus in on part of the body; some use willow charcoal or pastel and use broad strokes and energetic line. I tend to use charcoal, willow and compressed, and often red and white as well. Last night I used red only for a couple, and white on black building paper. I tried to take more care and be less quick. Overall I think I prefer to be energetic with the arm, and make my scribbly, quick marks but it's good to challenge oneself. To make a correct drawing I think I'd need a whole lot more time than the model can hold. We tend to have 5 minute poses, and then two or three 20 minute poses, so there is a limit to what one can do. The best life drawing I ever did was at a course a year or so ago, where the model fell asleep in a reclining post, near the end of the day, nice late afternoon sun and shadows in the studio. I did a huge drawing on brown paper (now buried amongst a year's drawings) and it was relaxing to not feel pressure of time to get down what I wanted before the pose changed. I always think I'll revisit my drawings, redraw and correct...it's on the to do list. Here's a couple from last night, including a cropped portion of the white chalk, I was quite happy with the face and I liked the way the hand fell though I didn't get time to go back and work on that - probably a good thing!
