For our third class at Developing Drawing we were to concentrate on the observational aspects of drawing, using measurement techniques to create convincing drawings of our life model.
Faced with an A1 paper again (and slowly realising this was my new normal, sizing-wise), I opted for a charcoal drawing as I could easily work from large shapes into more details and not be bogged down on how methodical the end result will be. Charcoal I find, is very forgiving.
I will also ask for forgiveness here as my large drawings get quite wrinkly traveling rolled-up on the tube with me on my way home from drawing class.
While drawing the model, I've spend about 15 minutes on nothing but measurements and shape positioning. I was struggling most with the length of the thighs that were somewhat facing me. If I skipped to foreshorten them, I could end up with odd proportions.
Another struggle was deciding how to tonally shadow the drawing. I've hesitated to get my fingers into the charcoal as I'm still very hung up on the tidiness of everything I do, but with a little push from our tutor, Francesca Corra, I've gotten my fingers gloriously dirty and my drawing gained the volume I wanted.
At moments like this, I remember that my inner designer needs to let go of the reigns when I'm drawing and painting.