Quick Charcoals

John Zeissig · 08-18-2003, 09:22 PM

Hello all,

Recently a small Art Center sprang up near my home. They started offering studio sessions with professional models for a nominal fee, so I decided to start attending. I've been practicing Lon Haverly's drawing techniques for awhile, but it's been difficult for me to corral "victims", so I thought these studio sessions would be a good opportunity to get in some practice.

The models pose nude, and all the other attendees are mostly interested in figure studies. Not wanting to appear to be the odd man out, I go with the flow, but when the model gives a suitable pose, I'll rough out the figure and go for a portrait, or just do a head and shoulder sketch for a short pose. The lighting for these sessions has been from six halogen spots located in a circle directly above the model: not the best setup for portraiture, but it really brings out the shoulder blades and some of the other anatomical features. For portraits it results in double shadows under the nose and other undesirable (to me at least) problems, but I try to work around it.

The following drawings are all done with 1/4" and 1/8" willow charcoal. The drawings of the first model are done on Seth Cole #35 charcoal paper. The drawings of model #2 are done on Jack Richeson's 80 lb. drawing paper. No spray fixative is allowed at the sessions, so these may be a little "smudgier" than they once were. The sizes vary here, but all heads are between 5" (12.7 cm.) and 7" (17.8 cm.) high. I want to get some feedback on these from the forum, the folks you can trust! Hey Lon, you out there?

Model #1 - A 10 minute pose:

John Zeissig · 08-18-2003, 09:25 PM

Same model as above, another ten minute pose:

John Zeissig · 08-18-2003, 09:35 PM

Same model again, a 20 minute pose. This model was very muscular and my previous sketches may have softened her neck more than they should have. Also, she had so many piercings that I couldn't get them all in.This sketch shows more of the effects of pumping iron. There is also a lot of figure work in this one that doesn't show.

John Zeissig · 08-18-2003, 09:43 PM

A ten minute standing pose drawn from a somewhat low angle. This model was "Reubenesque" with beautiful red hair.

John Zeissig · 08-18-2003, 09:50 PM

A twenty minute pose of model number 2. This was a seated on the ground pose, a higher angle than the first. It gives a better view of the prominent epicanthic folds in her eyelids.

Steven Sweeney · 08-19-2003, 09:23 AM

Hey, John, nice work

John Zeissig · 08-19-2003, 08:34 PM

Steven,

I like the way you think, buddy! Yeah, I can see it now: Alcatraz disappears in a finger of mist as John adds a couple more double sawbucks to the fat roll in his money clip. The wind picks up a few knots and the foghorns on the Golden Gate Bridge start to blast. The crowd

Mike McCarty · 08-19-2003, 09:58 PM

Can you still see Sausalito through that finger of mist? I hope I get to see it again.

I like your sketches. Careful, you'll be heading to Palm Springs like Lon.

John Zeissig · 08-20-2003, 12:38 AM

Mike,

No, the finger of mist would obscure Sausalito from where I believe Steven placed me. But I see it all the time, so I know it

Steven Sweeney · 08-20-2003, 08:55 AM

Sorry, John, I didn't realize you were one of those offshore offload citizens. Maybe you could put your easel on a floating dock shaded with a castoff parasail, which would be sufficiently provocative to get clients to row out in your "Portraits in Ten" dinghy.

I have the shirt from Sausalito (yacht harbor, actually -- I'm one of those who messes around in boats, but Customs does permit me to make landfall, or at least daisy up with others on a hook not far from shore), but what I remember most is the incredible art galleries (though from what you've heard, they may all be Kinkade galleries now). Whatever. Out of my league but fun to wander through.

By the way, regarding smudging as opposed to hatchmarks, you might think of keeping a couple of kneaded erasers handy, one molded to a point and the other to a ridge, so that you can "lift out" a bit from the smudges to create variation in the value shapes, kind of negative hatchmarking. I often put in the hatchmarks and then smudge them together for the effects I want, sort of an opposite tack that leads to the same mark.