Day 209 - Pose for the Pencil

Day 209 - "Pa Pa Power" by Dead Man's Bones

I have attempted numerous times in my life to draw human figures and they always end up looking like blobs or misshaped stick figures. Lately I have been imagining drawing human figures or individual body parts on top of my finished acrylic paintings. I have ventured out and painted an eye on a canvas and I loved the way it brought the piece together. That particular piece had been missing something for years and finally this beautiful eye completed it.

Gorilla House offers drop in figure drawing classes on Thursday nights and this was a great place to begin learning. I packed my pencils and sketch pads that have never been used along with a couple of my girls! We all sat in a circle with our pencils in hand, waiting for the night to begin. I didn't know what to expect from a "figure" drawing class, I had thought it was going to be learning how to draw different body parts. There was a lady without a sketch pad standing at the front of the room in a sarong wrapped around her body. The instructor said "let's begin with a few five minute poses to warm up" and lo and behold the woman dropped her sarong and set her self into a nude pose. In the past I have never signed up for a nude drawing class because I thought I would be too shy to draw ALL of the body parts, especially of someone present! Everyone started drawing as quickly as they could to capture the pose.

After the few five minute warm ups the instructor took a few people aside and gave us a lesson on negative drawing. He said we shouldn't focus on the shape of the object itself, we should focus on the shape of the space around the object. He drew a few examples for us to describe in better detail what he was trying to explain and then sent us back to draw again. The next few poses were twenty minute poses.

I couldn't tell if I was getting better or not but the challenges were great helpful to give my mind and pencil guidance. I drew a few other poses with the negative drawing and realized that I will have to continue practicing that technique to really comprehend that method of capturing an image. I am also thinking that I should begin with more basic images such as inanimate objects (hmm..but no flowers vases or fruit bowls for this girl). Nevertheless when I got home I thought I would try again to draw a figurative pose and this emerged:

I am quite content with my last drawing! I had the calm silence of my home to really concentrate and not feel the time pressure. I learned a lot from all of these sketches and can definitely see what I need to practice. Yay for learning a new skill!

xox