Last week I went to a figure drawing session for the first time in over a year. I'm definitely out of practice. I decided to take just copy paper and my little bag of pens and pencils. Most of these images were done in 2-5 minutes. I started out (above) with a ball point pen. After doing a couple of those I decided to do some in pencil. Unfortunately, I had nothing softer than an F lead, which led to some pretty light drawings (one of which is the next one).
Then I moved on to my Col-Erase pencils, but due to the limited time and the nature of the tool, I really wasn't able to build up much contrast.
The following images were from the last pose I stayed for. The pencil drawing (which I used Photoshop to bump up the contrast considerably) was a failure in terms of capturing the "gesture" of the model.
In frustration, I turned to my cartooning abilities and turned out this quick drawing which I am much more happy with. The essence of cartooning is being able to distill an image into very simple graphic terms and still get at the truthiness of the subject. In many ways cartooning can be more representative and true than detailed observational, "realistic" drawing. I definitely think that was the case here.
I attended this session with my friend and fellow comic artist, Chris Samnee. He has posted a couple of his sketches from that evening here.
On a side note, I thought our model had a real Terrence Stamp, "Zod" quality about him.
On a side note, I thought our model had a real Terrence Stamp, "Zod" quality about him.
2 comments:
I was placed near you at a convention years ago and the work you are currently doing on the DAMNED is far superior to anything you've done before--not only is the quality of your line work more personal, but you've used the b&w art to your advantage; making interesting layouts by spotting blacks and creating a mood--that is sometimes lost or not possible when your work is colored. Speaking of which, the covers are some of the best on the market--keep taking chances with your color choices. Take care...
Oh, Burt. I have so many goddman drawings of Burt around my parents' house. Sketch pads and sketch pads full of nude, white-haired, tan Burt.
It's kinda creepy when he walks around between sessions and looks at all the drawings.
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