Life drawing, painting and sketching

A male nude, 2 female nudes and a topless female portrait

artforhome — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 19:41:16 +0000

These four drawings of mine are something of a mixture. One of the female nudes is not completely nude, so I suppose I should say it’s a partial nude. For some reason the model was allowed to wear a pair of panties. Even models who were having their period didn’t usually do this, so I wondered whether this particular model, who was a coloured girl, might have been circumcised and didn’t want to show her vagina. Anyway, whatever the reason, here she is:

Partially nude female model lying on mattress. This is a pastel drawing.
The mattress was quite interesting to draw too.

Female nude sitting on high stool. This is in pastel on a dark toned paper.

Female nude portrait. Pencil and soft white pastel on grey paper.
Although the model posed completely naked, I decided only to draw the top half of her.

Nude male seated. This is a sanguine pencil drawing on grey paper.
The gripping fingers were interesting but difficult to draw.

Male and Female Nudes

artforhome — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 00:08:37 +0000

I used to teach life drawing and usually I drew along with the students. They seemed to like that as they could see after the class how I’d treated the subject they were drawing. Many students like to draw on white paper. I used tinted paper for these three figure studies to show that it can produce a more dynamic drawing.

This is a pastel drawing of a seated model who always liked to wear her spectacles while she was posing.
I often used to tease her about this saying that I thought she was shy and didn’t like posing nude.
Actually she was anything but shy. She used to emerge from the changing room nude and stayed that way
until the whole session was over. She even had her coffee break in the nude.

Male models I found rather difficult to find, but occasionally I managed to get one, I should think only about 20% of the time. This one was particularly good and was willing to try some quite difficult and uncomfortable poses when I asked him to do so. The pose below was one of his more comfortable ones. This was because I only gave the class 20 minutes to do the drawing.

Male nude seated. I did this in sanguine pencil on grey paper.

Finally, one of my better female models. She was slim with a very good figure and regularly worked out at the gym. This is one of her relaxed poses leaning against a board covered with drapery.

Rear view of reclining female nude. Sanguine and white pastel on bronze tinted paper.

artforhome — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 22:40:51 +0000

Two rears and a frontal view

artforhome — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 23:47:02 +0000

Generally speaking I think it’s easier to draw rear views of a model than frontal views. This is because a rear view seldom shows any hands or feet and there are no facial details. This is why the 20 minutes sketch of the male model below is reasonably finished in the time of 20 minutes. The only extra work involved in a nude rear male is the detail required in the back muscles.

Rear standing male model. Sanguine crayon

Whereas there is hardly any foreshortening in the male model sketch above, in the nude female rear sketch below there is considerable foreshortening which added some difficulty, hence I took 30 minutes to complete it. I knew I would be using mainly sanguine pastel so I put a suitable coloured watercolour wash on my cartridge paper beforehand to tone in.

Rear of nude female reclining on a bed. Sanguine and brown pastels

The next drawing is also in pastel. I used this model quite a lot and as she was a blonde I seated her on a red support as a contrast to her light coloured skin and hair. I decided against introducing a dark background at the top as this would have clashed with the dark folds of the cloth and would have given the whole drawing a top heavy appearance.

Nude blonde seated on red support. Pastel on grey pastel paper.

Nude slave girl and nude metal-man

artforhome — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 00:04:06 +0000

I expect we all get inspired from time to time by drawings and paintings by other artists, especially those that are famous. I like a lot of Ingres’ work and, having seen his painting “The Source” which shows a nude female with a large pitcher on her shoulder pouring out a never-ending stream of water, I decided to try my hand at something similar. As I had an old copper jug in the studio I asked my model to pose with it on her shoulder. I missed out the pouring water, of course, as not really practical. I decided to use watercolour and you can see the result below.

Nude slave girl in watercolour

As I mentioned in a previous post, I find it a good thing from time to time to do something really unusual, even a bit crazy, just to prevent my work from getting into a rut. One life class session when we had a male model I decided to paint him as though he were made of metal. I wasn’t terribly please with the result but it was a bit of fun.

Nude metal-man in pastel

I generally take about one-and-a-half hours to complete a reasonable life drawing. The time may vary according to the difficulty of the pose and the medium used. But as a half-way house between a finished work and a quick gesture pose I sometimes go for a quicker 30 minute drawing. The reclining female nude below is one of a set of four I drew in a two-hour session.

Reclining female nude in pastel on toned paper

What is your opinion of nude life drawing?

artforhome — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 20:37:18 +0000

As life drawing is a difficult and advanced form of art, I have always thought that not a lot of people would be interested in it and practising it. I’ve been pleasantly surprised therefore to have well over a thousand visitors to this blog in only two months. I imagine quite a number are students in life drawing classes, some perhaps in art schools. If you would like to share your opinions and/or experiences of the art of life drawing, you might like to participate in a poll on the subject.

Just go to: http://www.misterpoll.com/polls/373849 and have you say on the subject. You can also see the results to find out what other people think of life drawing.

Male nude muscle man with weight, and two female nudes

artforhome — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 00:13:57 +0000

After many years of life drawing it’s possible to get into a comfortable rut and produce the same type of drawing day after day. When I feel this sort of thing developing I often do something completely different, sometimes something a bit crazy. I did the male muscle man below on such an occasion. I decided to work on black pastel paper with white chalk and nothing else. It’s particularly difficult doing this as I was working in a sort of negative style; I only drew the highlights and let the viewer’s eye put in the rest of the drawing. Actually there was nothing there except the blank black paper.

Muscle man with weight. White chalk on black paper.

The female nude below was drawn at a life class run by a friend. The model was standing on the floor with her foot resting on a box and her hand on a desk; not terribly inspiring! So I decided to stand her on a a couple of coke cans and let her carry a coke can with her one arm. Well, it’s different isn’t it?

Nude female model standing on coke cans. Pastel on grey paper.

The seated female nude below is fairly normal – an attempt at the classic style. I used red chalk for this on white cartridge paper which I first washed with with a pale red to tone in with the chalk. The flashes of white at the sides in some places are the white cartridge paper showing around the edges.

Female nude seated on box. Red chalk on red toned paper.

Female artist drawing male model

artforhome — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 00:08:55 +0000

When I attended the life class run by an artist friend of mine in a local art department, a number of those attending were students in the college. One evening, when the model failed to turn up, one of the young male students present was asked to be our model. He agreed to pose in his shorts and he made a really good model. As one of the women attending the class was seated just behind him I decided to draw the whole life class scene which you can see below. There was plenty of background junk to draw in the studio, and I love drawing junk.

female student drawing male model – pastel

After many years of drawing and painting, from time to time I like to try something different. On one occasion I decided to try drawing the topless portrait of a female model using beer-mat board. It’s quite a firm support and quite rough but it holds pastel very well. Of course, detailed draughtsmanship is not possible; it has to be a collection of suggestions. Anyway, here is the result as the model was almost dozing off to sleep:

sleepy nude on beermat board

On one occasion, a female model took up our challenge of doing a nude pose standing up for one hour. She held the pose well but in just an hour I didn’t have time to draw her feet. We gave her a board to lean against and which was narrow enough to grasp the edges with her hands thus ensuring that she didn’t move. I decided to use a toned grey board and pencil. This produces a mellow effect but can be quite effective for figure drawing.

nude female model standing – pencil on grey toned board

Male nude, female nudes and some humour

artforhome — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 01:02:12 +0000

There’s a vast difference between drawing male and female nudes. Because the female body has 80% more fat than the male, the muscles are usually hidden and it’s a case of drawing a series of curves, whereas with a male model the muscles are well defined. I love the challenge of drawing muscles so, on the rare occasions I can get a male model, it’s quite a change of technique.

Seated male nude in pastel – 30 minute sketch

I seated the model near a lace-curtained window to get some soft highlights which helped to define his muscles.

Of course it’s not always male models that have muscles to draw; I have one model who keeps herself in good trim with regular visits to the gym. As you can see in the sepia pencil drawing below, she’s quite slim and her abdominal muscles are well in evidence.

20 minutes sepia pencil sketch

One female model was a Russian girl who had trained with a circus and was an expert gymnast. She could hold very difficult poses for lengthy periods. I usually let her choose her own poses as I wouldn’t have asked her to pose for long in some of the positions she chose but she knew her capabilities and was a great model. Below is a 10 minutes pencil sketch I did of her. I shall include others in future posts.

Reclining female nude in pencil on gold toned paper

As I indicated in my last post, I sometimes try to include a little humour in some of my drawings and paintings. The pastel painting below was done some years ago when there was a TV advert showing a young man going into a launderette and stripping down to his boxer shorts in order to wash the rest of his clothes. This was considered very brave and the message was “I bet he drinks Carling Black Label”.

The drawing was a two hour session at a class run by a friend of mine which I attended for a few years. It was held in the art room of a technical college and I’d drawn the same old chairs and stools etc many times. So, on this occasion, I decided to make an advert for Carling Black Label beer. I changed the desk the model was leaning on into a washing machine and drew a can of Carling Black Label beer on top of the machine. I drew the two shocked people behind to add to the effect; there was no one actually sitting there. The model is a great sport and she loved the drawing.

“I bet she drinks Carling Black Label!” Two hour pastel painting
on toned grey pastel paper.

Two nudes in pastel and two pages of sketches

artforhome — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 00:15:23 +0000

I’ve been drawing and painting all my life in one way or another but, over the last 20 years I’ve tended to specialise in life drawing, mainly drawing the nude figure. I think it’s one of the most difficult subjects to attempt. You can get away with drawing landscapes: trees, mountains, rivers and fences etc. After all, nobody knows what a particular scene looks like, so you can get away with it. But, if you draw a human figure incorrectly, everyone knows if it’s not correct, even people who know nothing about art.

I’ve taught many life classes to students who have been beginners and those who have been art graduates. It’s a steep learning curve but, if you stick at it, your drawing skills will improve dramatically, albeit slowly to begin with.

I’ll append a few examples of my work below with just a few words of explanation, and will be doing the same in future posts. I’ll throw in a few items in other categories, such as landscapes, architecture, portraits etc. just for a change, from time to time, but most of the posts will deal with the nude figure.

If I can be of any help to someone who is just starting to study life drawing and might be experiencing difficulties or who is looking for ideas, then please ask.

I’ve chosen the few examples below pretty well at random and there is no theme or connection between any of them.

3 minute gesture sketches

I almost always start my classes with 15 minutes or so of 2 or 3 minute gesture sketches where the model is posed in some action pose. It concentrates the mind and is a “loosener” for the students.

Two more 3 minute sketches

Obviously it’s of no use trying to make a finished drawing of poses such as those above. They are, of necessity, rough and ready but as long as the feel of the pose is captured, you can’t expect much else; sometimes you capture the pose, sometimes you don’t.

Kneeling female nude in pastel

Pastel is a favourite medium of mine; I find it so convenient. When you’ve finished your work you can close your pad and put it away; you don’t have a wet oils canvas or a half-dry watercolour to deal with. But I like pastel for other reasons: the colours are so vibrant (as long as you don’t buy those “cheapies” which are on sale in some shops) and you can also smudge them to get some interesting skin effects. Additionally you can work on a wide variety of coloured papers. I used bronze for the drawing above. Much of the skin colour on the model above is not pastel but the coloured paper showing through. I posed the model on a stool covered with a folded silky material to give me some interesting highlights. It took me about two hours to complete the drawing.

The Avenging Angel

I don’t take my art too seriously; I believe in having a bit of fun from time to time as I will show in future posts. This is another pastel work which I did in an evening life class which was run by a friend of mine. It was actually a straight life drawing pose with the model just sitting on the floor of the studio. I decided to make it a bit more interesting by making her an angel floating on the clouds. I made up the fanciful sword in her hand just to add the “avenging” effect. This is a larger drawing and took about three hours to complete.

If you have any comments or any questions, please feel free! Either use the comments box or email me – see profile for email address.