Part 4 Project 3 Exercise 2 Essential Elements

Fig. 1

I started out this exercise with very tentative sketches of random models I found on the internet using drawing pencils (Fig. 1 & 2). Although I think I got the proportions right and indicated to some extent the difference in the tonal values, I found them rather dead in character. The seated model has a twist in her pose and is viewed obliquely from above the left shoulder.

Fig. 2

As my initial two sketches did not appeal to me, I spent some time flipping through websites for inspiration. After watching Michelle Whiting's commentary on the work of Averil Wootton in WeAreOCA, 17 May 2016, I felt inspired by her gestural rendering of the woods. Her work has a vitality and freshness about it. I love the descriptive power of her charcoal and paint sketches. This motivated me to continue to push against the super tight style that often locks me in, and to draw my next four sketches on an A2 scale.

I really struggled with the proportions of the male model I selected online. My first sketch started out with a head-size that was too large, resulting in me not being able to fit the full figure in the picture plane. (Fig. 3)

Fig. 3.

My second attempt was better proportioned, but the foreshortened right arm was not wide enough in comparison to the musculature of the left arm.(Fig. 4)

Fig. 4

For the last two sketches in this exercise, I smeared charcoal shavings over the paper and then used the erased highlights as the lightest tones, and worked charcoal and conté to create the darker tones. (Fig.5&6) These drawings felt more dynamic. I did a lot of measuring and checking of the proportions, yet the pose still feels awkward, and the hips seem too small.

Fig. 5.

In the final pose, there was a slight twisting of the upper torso towards the figure’s right, with the bent arm and tilt of the head emphasizing this movement. His hips seemed to be slightly twisted in the opposite direction. I think I manage to get this movement into my sketch.

Fig. 6