Malo

Man, it has been a long time. Our drawing room is kind of small and I hate drawing on a bench but, I gotta "man up" and get back to drawing from the model more regular like.

Leaving China

James McMullan has written and illustrated a memoir. A review here in the New York Times and an interview here.

Figure Drawing, Andy, 2012, #6

Figure Drawing, 2001

Jeffrey Smith Figure Drawing 2000

Jeffrey Smith Figure Drawing 1998

Jeffrey Smith Figure Drawing 2003

jeffrey smith figure drawing 2002

I used to teach in James McMullan's High Focus Drawing program at the School of Visual Arts. I was a member of the original faculty, from 1985 until 1993, when I left to relocate to the west coast.  Jim's teaching had a profound effect on my approach to drawing the figure, and he gave me a point of view which continues to be unique at the Art Center College of Design where I have taught since 1994.

Don't use a lay-in. Don't set the drawing up with a light drawing. In this approach to drawing the human figure, I start in the middle of the figure and then draw up to the head, and down to the feet. The idea here is to start at a point that makes sense. But also, it is a great way to express the balance, energy, and gesture of the human body.

Week Three

I've downloaded the Blogger app to my iPad and I'm using the iPad's camera to shoot the drawings. Quality isn't perfect but, neither are the drawings.

Week three... I'm starting to get comfortable in the drawing studio we've set up in our new building. It's a smaller space and at times I feel like I'm sitting right on top of the model. Everyone likes to listen to music while we draw so as the lone guy who prefers silence, I've got to learn to deal.

Great model. I didn't get her name but, I understand she's booked to return in the new year.

Week One

We've got models coming in to the office on Wednesdays at noon. I'm trying to get back into the groove. First experience drawing from a model in her third trimester. She was a terrific model. I loved the sort of firm robust quality of her body and the evident strength of her poses. Unfortunately I got a bit lost in it all and don't have much to share.

Week one... I'll take a mulligan.

12/16/11 Florence

Continuing in the spirit of the conversation between John and I in the last post, I really attempted in these drawings to NOT focus on the idea of beauty. Instead, I made a specific point to try to clearly understand where the model’s feet are and what role they play in setting up the rest of the pose. As you can see I’ve drawn and redrawn
different part of these poses (especially the feet), in order to try to make sense of what was happening in each pose.

November 13, 2011

20 minutes

10 minutes

5 minutes

2 minutes

2 minutes

While I am motivated by the character of the pose, I can see my drawings are more about the forces and physical mechanics of the model's body. I like to draw what the model is doing and how he accomplishes the pose. Even when I approach the model's face, it most often has to do with the role the face plays in the direction and power of the forces operating through the entire pose. Looking at Rob's drawings from his previous post, I think he is responding to a delicacy in Jess's expression and how that delicacy manifests throughout the pose. My first response to the top drawing was "it's beautiful and captures a softness that I never seem to get but, I wish he had drawn her feet." 

I say this, not as criticism but, as an effort to identify my own shortcomings (or reliance on my own comforts) and to challenge myself to reach further into the meaning of the pose as Rob has done.

These drawings are from a workshop at CalArts lead by Phil Rynda. Watching Phil draw and hearing him talk about his effort to find the emotional center of the pose by first and foremost establishing the model's face as the foundation from which the entire pose is motivated, coupled with Rob's drawings, has me reevaluating my own approach. 

Nov. 2011 Jess

October 30, 2011

a 10, a 7 and some 2's of Aichel.