Life Drawing - John

Last night's Life Drawing class began with several gestural drawings of 20 second poses. John, the model, was long and lean in physique with long red hair which he put up in a pony tail after the first several 20 second renderings. I found the longer body a bit easier to draw than last week's petite Caroline, though she was an excellent model too. These first two drawings of John were shadows only. They are not complete drawings, but only drawings of the contouring shadows on him. I think my first, partly due to the pose, was the more successful of the two. In the first one, though, you'll notice the left shoulder has an added shoulder off to the left...this is from a previous drawing and isn't a part of this one. The line for the left buttock I think was the instructor's pencil line to determine where it should be...it was bathed in light from my vantage point, therefore not to be drawn. It was interesting to see everyone's final drawings of 'shadow only'. Some obeyed, some did not, but all were fine work. It was difficult, but a worthwhile exercise.


















Hmmm. I thought this (below) was my best drawing, but now that I see it from this vantage point I can see all the flaws...not the least of which is John's small feet (not in real life, folks!), the oddly configured spade, and his less than accurate right calf. This was the end of the night, a 25 minute pose. Late in the session the instructor discussed proportion with me and suggested some changes. The torso was elongated and the legs were too short. He was not deformed, my drawing is. Why did I like it last night? I was very tired! My excuse for you tonight is that due to these changes, I didn't get everything corrected? Side note...John jokingly said he always does his farming in the nude.