Sight-size

-
The open figure drawing session I've been attending lately is at a small atelier nearby that teaches the classical methods of drawing and painting. The students I see there are very exact in their work and spend the full two hours mapping out a very simple line drawing of the subject, attempting at exact proportions. I've been quite interested in watching the way they draw--it's very calculated, mathematical--a form of drafting almost. 

I decided last night to try to adopt some of their methods, just to try it out. One thing I've noticed them doing is drawing "sight-size." They line their paper up on the edge of their easel, move their head so the subject is directly behind the edge of the board, and mark the exact places they see certain body landmarks falling (I cropped the edge of my papers, but on the left side of my paper I made a small tic-mark to mark where proportions should fall. Then I lightly brought those lines over to guide where certain body parts should fall on my paper. 

Here was my first attempt. I got a little impatient, and just did my usual thing with the bottom half of her body, which resulted in some extra-large feet, ha :)

In this second attempt, I tried to be more controlled, but became a little too tight, overworking the lines more than I should have, and didn't quite capture the extent of the "lean" I was seeing.

My last attempt was an improvement on the first two, I think. I got a better sense of the proportions, and the posture seems a little more natural. I'm definitely still more sketchy than I'd like to be with my drawing. I love looking at drawings by master artists, where every line seems to have been placed with 100% intention (even if it ended up being the wrong line, and the artist corrected with another line placed near it). It's that confidence of intention that I'm after. I'm sure that the only thing that can bring that sureness of hand is a lot of practice :)



Then I got tired of the sight-size (it was quite a mental workout), and decided to just play for a little while, and this little portrait sketch is what resulted.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

April News

-
Image
I'll admit I've been less than diligent in caring for this blog lately, but it's for good reason--life! Life, for me, is always full of more to do than could ever be done. Maybe I have too many interests. Or maybe I'm too interested in the interests I do have. Whatever the reason, I'm always busy and rarely bored! Anyway, I'm happy to announce a few updates here for my handful of readers ;) 1) I've recently accepted a role as the Utah Ambassador for the Portrait Society of America. It's an organization I absolutely love being a part of. I look forward to becoming more involved with the Portrait Society as I act as liaison for a state full of incredible artists. 2) Although I may have seemed a little quiet in terms of production lately, it's because I've been working on a complex, multifigure commission that won't be released for public view until 2026. So... stay tuned for that one! 3) I'm painting full time now. Side gigs disbanded, I
Read more

Yellow is not a happy color.

-
Image
  6x6, 6x6, and 6x4" I've been trying to paint this poor yellow lily for the past few days--I'm not doing it justice. I've decided that yellow is just the most difficult color to paint. It's the shaded part of the petals that gets me... what  is  that color? Greenish? orangish? brownish? nothing-ish? Whatever that shaded stuff is, I'm not getting it. When you add black to yellow, it turns green. Blue, it turns green. Red, it turns orange/brown. So what is it? Probably something in between (or maybe a little of both). I'd like to figure this out, but today apparently isn't the day ;) On the first two, I had a white background, and on the third one went for a gray for contrast (and actually tried to paint it sight size--teeny tiny--thinking it might help me simplify all that yellow. and maybe it did. but still...). I've read it takes miles of canvas to make a good painter, and I certainly haven't filled miles yet, so it's fine. Mayb
Read more

June

-
Image
June really snuck up on me this year—but I’ve been making the most of the beautiful late spring weather/cooler temperatures to get outside and paint. It’s always a challenge to find the time during the summer months with the kids home from school, but they’re getting old enough to manage themselves for a little while and that’s nice. This lilac study was painted very quickly—I had only been painting 30-40 minutes when the park landscapers informed me they needed to plant a tree right where I was standing :) It’s always an adventure painting outdoors!
Read more