TSJ Workshop: Melissa Day 5

pencil on paper, 12 x 18 inches, detail
Day 5

See earlier stages of this drawing here

Next week is short because of the holiday, so I'll only have two more days on this pose. I think I am done with this drawing, so I may start a new one just of her head and maybe her right hand near her face. It would be fun to try the face larger and with more detail. Not often I get an angle like this to work from.

Ted's comments are that I am making things "too straight" (like the shadow on the thigh, or the top edge of the calf). Which makes sense, because I have been practicing a straight-line block-in all year!

But I can see that Ted is right - the body feels more real, specific, organic and yes, organized, when all the compound curves are articulated: muscles wrap around bone, the bone itself is thick and thin and twisted, irregular wedges notch into asymmetrical arches; nothing is constant or machined.

On the other hand, it's very hard to get accurate proportion without focusing a good amount of time and attention on a straight-line block-in at the beginning. I would say it's impossible. After this year's training, I can always tell if someone is NOT using a block-in.

My idea is melding the two approaches. Blocking-in with straight lines to get all the tilts and distances to be accurate. Then using Ted's way of seeing to express the myriad organic structures that make up the whole form.

TSJ Workshop: Melissa Day 3

pencil on paper, 12 x 18 inches, detail
Day 3

This is the drawing I am working on right now during Ted Seth Jacobs' 6-week figure drawing workshop. This is day 3 of a 10-day pose. You can see earlier stages of the drawing here.

I have blocked in the general proportions, refined the contour, and lightly sketched the main shadows. Now I am trying to create the smaller forms according to the philosophy Ted has been teaching us.

In the mornings, Ted draws from the model for us and demonstrates all the forms and sub-forms he sees on the model. He shows us how everything fits together, interlocks, and how the individual forms describe pathways along the body to create a network of structure.

I am trying to do the same in my drawing. Ted is teaching me how to see how gravity and pressure affect the masses of the body, and it is giving the figure more weight and substance. I think you can see the difference in my earlier drawing of Melissa I did last March.

Obviously the earlier drawing is of a very different pose, but you can see the forms are more simplified and generalized; less specific, and more "floaty".

In contrast, I feel like the models' legs in this drawing are pressing on the surface and on each other.

Seven more days drawing this pose, stay tuned :)

TSJ Workshop: Melissa, Day 1 and Day 2

pencil on paper, 12 x 18 inches, detail
Day 2

Block-in stage
Day 1

This is the drawing I am working on in Ted Seth Jacobs' workshop. This will be a 2-week pose, so I am trying to take my time. After I refined the block-in, I focused mainly on the feet. I'll move to other areas each day.

(You can see Ted's sketches of the structure of the foot and head in the top image, which he drew for me when he came around to critique my drawing.)

I have lots of notes from the last few days, will write them up soon!

American Artist Drawing Magazine

The Fall 2007 issue of American Artist: Drawing magazine has a twelve page article all about BACAA, and my artwork is featured in the article! There are photos of me working on my cast drawing, and my drawing of Caroline is published as well. I am also quoted throughout the article.

The print magazine is available at art supply stores and large bookstores, and you can read the full article online here!

TSJ on "Structure"

graphite on paper (detail)

18 x 24 inches, graphite on paper

Ted lectures in the mornings, and in the afternoons we draw from the model.

Below I've summarized some of his concepts and diagrammed my drawing to show how I am attempting to apply his techniques:

Contours, (the visible "lines"), are affected by the bulges and masses which make up the structure of the body. There are NO concave lines, because the human body is full and has volume. Even very slender people have substantial mass and volume. A concave contour is actually made up of a series of small convex forms.

I've traced the contour lines I drew as they enter the body and correspond to interior structural masses.

These contour lines are arranged, visibly or invisibly, along the body. The structural masses are arranged along these pathways, making a basketweave pattern throughout the form (under and over, in a network).

Structures of the body are arranged in "families" of forms. Each structure has a rounded shape, growing darker as it turns away from the light.

The darkest edge of a form usually ends just before the lightest edge of the next structure, creating a layering of forms and sub-forms.

Ted on Organization of the Body:

The hallmark of the classical approach to drawing is that nature is organized.

Everything is designed with an economy of space, form, and function.

Features of the body are never like snowballs thrown on randomly.

See every point in relationship to the whole; nothing is in the right place until everything is.


Ted on "Structural Pathways"

All the forms of the body are arranged on curving pathways, never straight or angular.

These pathways create a network, like a hairnet.

Pathways exist in 3 dimensions like a basketweave - sometimes on the surface, sometimes burrowing underneath.

Pathways exist in two sets of arches, some arching up and some arching down.

Ted on Structural Forms:

Structure is a vocabulary of forms.

Shapes grow on the body outwards: ample, convex, superimposed, smaller in top of each other.

Universal structural shapes are modified by gesture: squashed, stretched, twisted.

Sometimes forms are so modified they are unrecognizable.

See how these structures are perceived through the actions of light.

Forms are layered - every form can be reduced to its underlying mass.

The body is not a smooth surface, it is made up of specific shapes, it is "particulate".

Train your eye to see the "specialness" of each individual shape.

Continuity - everything in the body connects in a fluid, continuous manner.

Contour reflects the 3-dimensional structure of the form.

Ted on Perception:

Monocular vision (like a camera, or closing one eye) has less perception of form - two eyes "wrap" around the form.

Don't use tools like plumb lines and measuring rods - make yourself the measuring instrument.

Only one point of your subject is NOT foreshortened, the point directly in line from your eye. All other points on the subject are forshortened to a greater or lesser degree.

Drawing is all about recording what you see without being distracted by the symbolic, verbal, abstract symbols of what you are seeing (like the almond/dot egyptian symbol for "eye", which has nothing to do with what a real eye looks like).

My current favorite quote from Ted:
"Drawing is an exercise in human fallibility - it shows how wrong we can be."

Pewter on Plastic

9 x 12 inches, graphite pencil on paper

The scan does not capture the subtlety of the graphite, but you get the general idea.

My goal with this still life drawing was to make a more dramatic composition and attain a sense of depth. Compared to my previous attempts (scroll down to see my other recent still life drawings) I think I did a better job of making an engaging image. But still not quite there yet.

I also experimented with making fine white marks with the eraser into the graphite, and alternating those marks with layers of crosshatching, to create a more interesting and complex surface. You can see it especially on the main body of the pewter pitcher, which I built up with layers of knitted marks.

After Michaelangelo's Sibyl

Sketch after Michaelangelo's Study for the Libyan Sibyl
12 x 16 inches, graphite pencil on paper

Last month on my trip to New York I was able to see the original of this drawing in the study room of the Met. The mere 40 minutes I was able to look at the original drawing (and the fact that I was a bit overwhelmed being in the presence of it) made it impossible to do a satisfactory study of it.

So I bought a reproduction at the Met gift shop, and this week I did this study of it. I spent about 8 hours on this.

I am so amazed by the organized matrix of systems that make up a human being. I say "matrix" because every part is interrelated to every other part, like a grid. To put any landmark in the wrong position skews every other landmark in the drawing.

And of course Michaelangelo designs his drawing to illustrate these relationships. Copying his drawing is like watching a chess player think.

For fun I've diagrammed some of the relationships I found:

If I draw lines following the axis of each hand, as if she is balancing rods across the heels of each palm, you can see that these two lines can be repeated all over the body, connecting everything in a system:

Another thing I look for is verticals. When we draw, we tend to put things where we think they are. The twisted position in this drawing makes it even more complicated to capture the gesture, because we tend to want to exaggerate the twist, or "untwist" the form while we draw:

To fight against this habit of untwisting or over-twisting, I drop vertical imaginary plumb lines and keep them in mind for lining up landmarks. Glancing at this image quickly, I never would have guessed that the ear is directly over the top left corner of the pelvis, or that the back contour of the back is almost a perfect vertical.

This is the sketch I did at the Met in front of the original drawing. Although it looks clunky and angular, I used the same method for both drawings. I don't draw any curves, I just keep segmenting the straight lines.

I wanted to see how I did on the fast drawing in the Met, so I colored it red and superimposed it over my longer study. I did pretty well in the fast sketch after all. In fact, I made the same mistake twice, but corrected it in the longer sketch!

You can see how the fast sketch (in red) has the left arm too far over to the left. I did the same thing on the longer sketch, but later realized my mistake and adjusted it back over to the right, fairly far into the drawing.

I think I did that twice because I see the head as positioned between the two hands, so I unconsciously tried to center it between the two hands. In reality, it is much closer to the left hand.

Self Portrait Sketch

9 x 12 inches, graphite pencil on paper

I haven't done a self portrait in about 15 years. That's almost half my lifetime ago. But it was a nice challenging exercise, and the model is very obliging (and cheap), so I'll probably do another one, maybe even within 15 years.

Pewter Pitcher and Grapes Drawing

8 x 10, graphite pencil on paper

earlier block-in stage of the same drawing

My conflict recently is whether to spend my time on exercises and studies, or to try to create finished paintings to the best of my current ability.

The conflict is that working on exercises makes me feel like time is rushing by me while I piddle around and have little to show or sell. But then, painting "finished" pieces always makes me realize how much better I would be if I had spent more time studying drawing, or value, or color, or form as a discrete problems instead of tackling everything at once in a painting.

I have a feeling this is something I will struggle with my whole life.

Thought I would share my latest version of my still-life setup, which has evolved to be somewhat elaborate recently:

I want a more direct, artificial light to fall on my still life so I can see stronger shadows. So I tacked a big piece of white foamcore to hang down from my skylight. The white, general light still falls on my easel, while the the still life is shaded from the skylight, and lit by a little incandescent light on a flexible arm.

I also was struggling to hold up a cardboard viewfinder while I am blocking in the composition. So I set up an extra easel and clamped my viewfinder to it. If I position everything perfectly, I can see my still life setup framed perfectly in the viewfinder, and without turning my head significantly I can also see my easel, and even reach it with my pencil if I am lucky.

It takes a lot of shifting around to get the right position of the viewer, the easel, and my own head, but once it's set up it makes everything so much easier.

Peeled Lemon II

8 x 10 inches, graphite pencil on paper

earlier stage of the same drawing

After seeing all those Dutch paintings this summer I feel strangely tempted to tackle dewy fruit and reflective goblets and glass flutes and heavy satin cloth....

I have cut up and peeled nearly a dozen lemons to get the perfect twisted peel and correct lemon shape for these two drawings. The fruit flies are loving my studio these days.

Peeled Lemon 1

8 x 10 inches, graphite pencil on paper

earlier stage of the same drawing

Inspired by the lemons often present in Dutch still lifes, I decided to try my own. Problem is, the lemon peel dries out after just a day or two, so I haven't gotten as far painting them yet.

Drawing at the Met

Sketch after Michaelangelo

Sketch after Leonardo

At the Metropolitan Museum of Art you can make an appointment at the Drawing Study Room, which is like a library, and they will pull any drawing you want to see from their collection and put it on a stand on the table in front of you. Wow... so I went and did this today, and of course had to choose their two most famous drawings, Michaelangelo's Study for the Libyan Sibyl and Leonardo's Head of the Virgin. I only had a short time with each, and I was pretty overwhelmed with being in the presence of a 499 year old drawing, but I enjoyed the chance to get a good look at them. I'm also inspired to do more master copies from reproductions at home.

Today I also visited Grand Central Academy of Art today. Dan Thompson teaches there and he was kind enough to give me a tour. The school is set up in four huge old classrooms on the 6th floor of a midtown building. Each room is dedicated to a single pursuit: figure study, cast drawings, sculpture for painters, etc, and they have arranged the lighting and painted the walls to be perfect for each pursuit. The school is gathering an amazing collection of casts, and everywhere you see statues set up with lights, stacked in corners, tacked to walls, with students busily working away on detailed pencil drawings.

I've now visited Studio Incamminati, Gage Academy, and Barnstone Studios - between all these, I have certainly had a great little tour of the "American atelier movement" these last few weeks.

Frick Frack etc...

Sketches from the Frick

I spent a couple hours at the Frick Collection today. It wasn't very busy so I could stand and draw without being jostled by throngs. I sketched a Rembrandt self-portrait from 1658, and the lady from Vermeer's "Mistress & Maid" - the mistress is receiving an apparently unexpected letter from her maid, thus the gesture of surprise.

Front steps of the Frick Collection

I also visited 4 galleries today, but I was only really excited by two of them:

Forum Gallery
A works on paper exhibit with some good Modern and contemporary specimens. Got to see my first Stephen Assael up close and in person. He seems to scrape away a lot with a knife of some sort, so he layers lots of dark marks with graphite and charcoal, and then white marks with the scraping. The show as a whole seemed a bit jumbled though, with only the fact that the work was on paper holding it all together.

Hirschle & Adler
A great show of still lifes by Paul Rahilly. His color technique is very impressive - he uses tons of color but manages to keep a compelling value range as well. The gallery was also showing selections from the permanent collection, including these "Allegorical Figures in Blue/Pink" which were just luscious to see up close.

New York is of course all about walking.... and walking.... and taking the subway. I quickly gave up on trying to wear even semi-attractive shoes and have been comfortably clomping around in my San Francisco standard-issue chartreuse green Keens. (I just try to stay out of the way of the many model-types who seem to glide effortlessly down the street in their white headbands, huge sunglasses, and smart little pumps.)

The heat hasn't been record-breaking, just high 80's, but being from San Francisco even 80's is shockingly warm, and the subway platforms are just about unbearable. It's supposed to rain Friday so maybe the heat will break soon. Ah, September in NY!

Drawing Marathon

Pencil on paper, 18 x 24 inches

Charcoal on paper, 18 x 24 inches

On Sunday I attended Bay Area Model's Guild Drawing Marathon, which is an all-day drawing event held quarterly. They have a room full of models working all day, with different lengths of poses. I worked at the long-pose model stand, so each of these two drawings was 3-hour session.

Drapery and Pitcher

8.5 x 11 inches, graphite pencil on paper

I decided to work on a drapery study while I have been waiting for my paints to be shipped back from Seattle.

Cast Drawing, Sessions VIII and IX

Vine charcoal on Canson paper, 18 x 24 inches

It's done! It took nine sessions for a total of 36 hours. You can see the last session, and every previous stage, by clicking back through the previous posts.

Friday Cast Drawing - Sessions VI & VII

Vine charcoal on Canson paper, approx 18 x 24 inches

This is the result of the 6th and 7th sessions, see the 5th session.

I think I have just one more 4-hour session on this drawing to complete it - I plan to develop the fabric of her dress and her hair a bit more.

Drawing with Dad - Final

This is the 4th and final session drawing my Victoire de Samothrace statue with Dad (see the third session). The detail in her draperies could take weeks longer to finish, but we decided to move on to something new.

­Friday Cast Drawing - Session V

Vine charcoal on Canson paper, approx 18 x 24 inches

This is the fifth session on this drawing - you can see the 4th session here.

I worked a lot on the face - if you toggle back and forth between the two you can see the difference. I was unhappy with how "old" the drawing was looking, and I realized I had made an error which was elongating the face.

So I ended up redrawing the mouth significantly higher, as well as raising the bottom of the nose a bit. I also slimmed down the sides of her face and arched the eyebrows a bit more, and so now she is starting to look as youthful as the sculpture.

How much longer - so far this is a 20-hour drawing. I think I need to spend at least 3 more sessions, or 12 more hours.

Painting News
I have officially forgotten how to pant. At least, I've forgotten how to paint alla prima - single-session wet-on-wet paintings. I just keep making mud. I even switched to watercolor, hoping a change in medium would shake things up a bit, but no luck; nothing worth showing here is coming out of my brush these days. Maybe it's all these 20-hour drawings? My brain is just so slowed down and paying attention to details that I can't seem to capture anything quickly. I keep trying though. All these drawings I've been doing are just exercises to become a better painter, so hopefully the painting skills kick in again soon.

Art Shed News
The final day of construction on Le Shed was TODAY. In fact, the last worker stayed late and just left at 9pm tonight. I have the painter coming tomorrow (I negotiated and got a major break on the price I was complaining about last week). So the art studio should be done NEXT WEEK. Only several weeks behind schedule...

­Drawing with Dad - Session III

This is the third session, see the second session here.

Announcement #1
So as I've mentioned, my Dad has been going to art school at Academy of Art University after retiring from a very successful career as a software engineer. But he has been really excited about the classical method I have been teaching him recently, and last week he decided to take a year off of art school and join me in classes and workshops at Bay Area Classical Artist Atelier. I am thrilled!

Announcement #2
The BACAA website has been redesigned.... by me! The goal was to make it easier to see the classes and workshops offered, and make it easier to sign up for them, but also create a beautiful "Renaissance" feel - check out the new look at www.bacaa.org