A study in form

[Michele Rushworth]

I used to think I could draw well. Now I know that I still need tons more practice. A humbling realization.

Jeff, I admire your determination. Since I signed up for a Tony Ryder painting workshop in December I decided to buy his book and work through the drawing exercises in it between now and then (not much time, I know!)

He asserts that practicing his drawing methodology (especially using the concept he calls "the envelope") for one year will save you ten years time in learning to draw well using any other method. Quite a statement! But after admiring his breath-taking figure drawings I think he's probably on to something.

Good luck with whatever path you choose!

[Steven Sweeney]

Post duplicated from elsewhere on similar topic:

A person unknown to me but apparently the recipient of emails from this site via a link has asked me to please inform members that the Asaro Planes of the Head model is not being produced and is not available for purchase. The correspondent's email address is <[email protected]>, so please don't contact this person for information (at her request). Thank you.

[Patricia Joyce]

Reading this thread, I thought it might be a good place to ask a drawing question. The life drawing class I have been attending is starting up again tonight after a summer hiatus. The two hours usually include several sixty-second gestures, several two-minute poses, some 5 - 10 minutes and usually only one twenty-minute pose at the end of the class. While I really enjoy drawing the whole figure I am frustrated in not having a portrait drawing class available until the end of October.

My question is, would I be better off concentrating on the head alone, or continuing studies of the whole figure, as far as developing my drawing skills? I usually only get a contour drawing with little form development/shading and then only in the twenty-minute pose.

Jeff, I really love your cat portrait of Smudge! I hope you put it in the show. I also really admire the time you put into drawing. About how many hours would you say you spend on drawing and, if you work full time, how do you squeeze it in?

Much of the time I feel frustrated in trying to study drawing alone. I really need direction and can't find any in Cleveland. I know, hard to believe, it's not like I live in a small town.

Pat Joyce (Meyers)

[Jeff Fuchs]

[Patricia Joyce]

Jeff,
Now that the days are growing shorter my time drawing after hours is getting shorter. All summer I have been on my balconey basking in the great light. I have been experimenting with setting up good artifical lighting to work from and get so frustrated. Any suggestions. What is your set-up like?

1/2 glass of wine puts me to sleep and my head falls into the graphite - not a good thing!! So I wait until I've left the drawing board!!

[Michele Rushworth]

I used to attend a life drawing group that had poses shorter than I liked, too. You could ask the group if they'd like to have longer poses or, as my group did, have one class out of every four with a very long pose. They met weekly and the last session of every month would be one long pose for the full three hours (with breaks for the model every twenty minutes, of course). These would be simple seated poses that were easy for him or her to hold.

During the short poses you could concentrate on a detail, just a hand or just an ear, for example, instead of doing lots of five to ten minute sketches of the whole figure.

As for artificial lighting, it's very easy to set up for drawing practice. You're not worried about color temperature so it takes that issue out of the equation. I sometimes put a bunch of objects on the coffee table in the family room while my husband watches TV in the evenings. The only light source is a table lamp off to the side of my "still life," about seven feet away from it and slightly behind me.

[Patricia Joyce]

That's a great idea Michele, I will talk to the instructor in the life drawing class tonight and see if she would be willing to do one class a month with longer poses or the same pose the whole class. The class size is about 15 and usually the same people come, perhaps if we are democratic I might find others would enjoy this arrangement as well.

Focusing on just a part of the figure makes sense to me too. I think I will try that tonight after completed a few quick gestures of the whole figure.

I have terrible eyesight, and am always complaining about light source casting a shadow of my hand over my drawing. I purchased an Ott table lamp, gooseneck, but I think I need something that shines directly in front of me, onto the drawing board...

[John Zeissig]

Patricia,

Your drawing sessions sound a lot like the one I attend. I usually concentrate on just the head and shoulders when the pose allows for it. Unfortunately, a lot of the longer poses are reclining poses: kind of hard to do a portrait study when the model is supine at an odd angle! But the others at the session are usually agreeable if I ask for a ten minute pose with the model seated facing the artists.

Like others, I've been investigating Tony Ryder's drawing methods. His "envelope, contour, inside" method is designed for producing beautiful finished drawings. In his book he mentions that he spends an average of 36 hours on a drawing of high quality. I find that I can't get an "envelope" completed accurately in 5-10 min.

I've been using forum member Lon Haverly's "Line First" technique, which was designed for rapid rendering of the subject. It gives you a disciplined way of proceeding, so, for starters, you don't waste any time wondering how to begin. Check out the posts on this topic on the forum, or get his book, which is a lot of fun in any case.

One of the participants in our sessions has started doing outline drawings and very lightly indicating shadow contours. Then during model breaks she washes in the shadowing with sepia. She does the outlines with a water soluble pencil that is a close match to the sepia. The sepia wash goes on very fast, and the results are impressive. I'm thinking of trying it myself. I hope some of this helps.

John

[Patricia Joyce]

Your "Lon Haverly" drawings are great and look like allot of fun to do. Lon's ability to make every line count is superb! I think of him every time I am at the local mall and see an empty kiosk and think of the crowds of people that pass by...especially at Christmas...his hand must cramp!

I just ordered Anthony Ryder's Figure Drawing book, today, because I think I will be attending his workshop in January at the West Palm Beach Armory Art Center. It will be my first workshop so I am very excited and happy that it is a graphite/portrait workshop since this is where I am in my development. And, heck, being in W.Palm in January sounds pretty good to me, being from Cleveland, Ohio! I have read threads here about the "envelope" method and am eager to get the book, also seems some artists here have grown with the aid of his books.

Yes, the models' long poses in my class are often laying down, or if they are sitting up they start to relax and droop their head and shoulders. Perhaps if he/she knows it would be a pose specifically for portrait sketch they would hold better. I feel very fortunate that these are professional models who work for the Cleve Institute of Art - they are good at holding a pose. And the other artists in the class are pretty serious, so the class flies by.

[Michele Rushworth]

Patricia, I'm taking Tony Ryder's two week painting workshop in Seattle in December. I'll let you know how it goes. I'm also studying his book in the mean time.