It's always interesting to draw contrasting body types, and Charlotte is very different from Heather, whom I profiled in my last post. Charlotte has a very sleek, angular body and her poses tend to be equally dynamic and angular, as opposed to the more rhythmic curves in Heather's poses. She must be double jointed as well, as her elbows can bend slightly backwards when her arms are tensed!
Charlotte's also a bit of the goth girl, with several tattoos and a lip piercing. This tends to influence me a lot when I take my more caricatured approach to the longer poses, as I really like to play up her large eyes, high cheekbones and almost "haunted" expression. She's actually a very shy, sweet natured girl, but I like to imagine her as some gothic heroine who would fit right in to a Tim Burton film!
This is Heather, one of the life models we've drawn from often over the last few years at Visual Arts Brampton. I've posted a number of my sketches of her previously on this blog. Heather is a trained dancer who brings a lot of that dancing sensibility to her poses, particularly in the quick gestures. Her body type is soft and curvy, lending a rhythmic flow to her gestures, and always with a strong line of action.
As a lifelong cartoonist, I'm far more comfortable with a pencil in hand, depicting form through outline, varying the line weight with pressure and angle. I also find that I'm happier when I give in to my cartoon sensibilities and caricature the model, as I can capture more inner life and personality that way. Here are some examples of the way I prefer to depict Heather:
Just a reminder to all of my readers who live in the vicinity of Brampton, Ontario, that the open life drawing sessions at Visual Arts Brampton are held every Tuesday evening from 7pm to 9:30pm. Please click on the link listed in the sidebar for more information.
As I mentioned a couple posts ago, most Tuesday evenings I can be found at Visual arts Brampton for the open workshop life drawing sessions. One of our regular models, Heather, has been posing for us both this week and last. Just for a change from the usual life drawing, Heather had brought some costumes that she put on for the longer studies. As Heather has a background in dance, last week she brought along her ballet wear to do her final poses in. Lovely Heather looked like she'd stepped right out of a Degas painting, and I thought I'd post a couple of my sketches here. As I often do, in the second sketch I reverted back to my caricatured style, as I really enjoy capturing the cuteness of our regular models. I've probably made Heather look about 16 here, but I like the more cartooned proportions.
For tonight's session, Heather had brought along a sari to wear for her last couple of poses. Taking a cue from her rather majestic standing pose with the staff, I envisioned her as an exotic high priestess, complete with a serpent head sceptre. (And yes, in both poses I took certain other liberties...) I also took a reference photo with Heather's permission, so that I could later compare the drawing and the pic taken from the same vantage point. In hindsight, I can now see how I've made her head a bit bigger relative to her body, as is my tendency to do, although admittedly not intentionally in this case. I think it's my background as a cartoonist that leads to this slight proportion discrepancy, but I honestly can't see it at the time. Funny thing is, on those occasions when I have drawn the head/body ratio more accurately, it always looks odd to me! Ah well...
Again, just a reminder that the life drawing sessions are every Tuesday evening at Visual Arts Brampton, from 7:00 to 9:30. It's just $10 per session and there's no obligation to sign up for anything - it's just an open workshop without instruction. Please check the VAB website for more information. I hope to see some of my local readers there sometime!
Well, only touching briefly on the subject, to be honest.
I've been associated with Visual Arts Brampton for about 7 years or more now, and I can most often be found there on Tuesday evenings for the open workshops in life drawing. Visual Arts Brampton, or VAB for short, is located on the east side of Hurontario immediately north of Steeles in Brampton Ontario, just a short drive away from where I live in adjacent Mississauga. Keith Moreau runs this art studio that offers art lessons and open drawing sessions to the general public, and I'd like to encourage those in the Brampton area to come out and join us for some life sketching on Tuesday evenings, 7:00 pm to 9:30 pm. It's only $10 per session with no obligation to sign up for anything - just drop by when you're of a mind to. I've posted some of my more caricatured approaches to life drawing previously, which may be found here. I think I may soon be posting more samples, as I've got a ton of them stockpiled. Also, here are a couple of caricatures pictured below I drew of aspiring young artists who have joined us in past sessions.
Something else Keith and I have been starting to venture into is doing some test runs at cartooning tips on video. To be honest, they're pretty rough attempts so far, as nothing has been scripted at all and I have a tendency to ramble a bit in my somewhat awkward stammering way of speaking! But we're just trying out things in the hopes of developing it more down the road. Anyway, here is our first attempt at something pretty much on the fly that Keith's son Nick has videotaped and uploaded to YouTube for now. Funnily enough, although I'm quite comfortable standing up in front of a classroom full of students at Sheridan College, I'm pretty damn self-conscious in front of a rolling camera! No Oscars for acting in my future, I'm afraid...
This is Lana, another one of our regular models at VAB. Lana has the pixieish quality that I just love to draw. Her sparkling blue eyes slant upwards slightly giving her that cute impish look, and when she smiles she has one deep dimple on her right side. Lana is probably the one model I am almost always able to successfully capture the likeness of in most of my sketches because of her distinct features.
Here is a very traditional portrait I drew during a longer 30 minute session. I'm quite pleased with the likeness in this one.
This is a looser treatment, as it was sketched in a 10 minute pose. Again, I think the likeness is pretty good here and the drawing feels spontaneous and fresh.
Though I like the upper torso in this back view, I'm not sure about the attachment of her legs. Something feels odd about it. Since I'm more comfortable with line, I think I tend to get a little heavyhanded when attempting tonal studies. Still, it is just a 10 minute sketch...
Just like Heather, Lana also has musical theatre training and a dance background. So she also gives us poses that show great rhythm and graceful form. Some of her quick gesture poses can get pretty acrobatic too, as you can see by that top one in the middle. I believe that a really good model has to have some artistic sensibilities in order to assume poses that create visual interest for those sketching her. An arch to the back, a twist to the torso, and a rhythmic arrangement of arms and legs are some of the elements that I think constitute an inspiring quick pose. As musical performers used to being onstage, both Lana and Heather understand this and are very self aware of how their poses will read to the audience. Of course, more sedate poses are quite acceptable for the longer studies, as it's hard for the model to hold a complex pose for too long.
Here are several drawings in my caricatured approach. In this first one I added the microphone to the drawing because Lana is also a very accomplished singer. I may have made her a bit too leggy in this pic though!
Both of these final two drawings are the type I usually like to do in my caricature style. I find a medium close-up very satisfying to draw, as I can get some body language while also concentrating on getting a likeness of the model's face. Lana has such well-defined and appealing facial features that I can't help but want to capture as close a likeness as I can achieve. This last one in particular is a favourite of mine. I really think I caught something special in her expression and eye direction. This is one I'm tempted to frame up some day. Anyway, these are just a few of my sketches of Lana, and I'll be putting up more periodically.
Here's a couple of sketches I just did in this evening's life drawing session. Once again our model was pretty little Heather, and these were the final two poses lasting 30 minutes and 20 minutes respectively:
Again, I opted for the slightly caricatured approach, as my three 10 minute more traditional sketches right before these were somewhat disappointing, seeming too stiff for my liking. Once I allow my cartoonist instincts to take hold, I tend to loosen up and produce more appealing results.
By the way, these are just to whet your appetite for the pics of another model I'll be showcasing a few days from now!
Here are some more sketches of Heather, one of our regular life models at Visual Arts Brampton. These are from various sessions over the last couple of years.
Probably because of my interest in caricature and always wanting to obtain a likeness, oftentimes I will concentrate more on drawing the face than I really should in a session. Here's a traditional portrait I drew of Heather during a 30 minute pose.
This is a 10 minute study, so it's a lot less refined. Note the guidelines on her face in order to place the features fairly accurately. (This is something I stress a lot in my Character Design class to my students too!)
Again, I probably spent too much time on her face getting the likeness in this one, when in fact I should have perhaps checked the proportions on her body more closely before finishing. In hindsight, her head seems slightly too big relative to her body. I still like the drawing though.
At some point during the evening, I just can't help but revert back to my cartoonist inclinations and take a more caricatured approach to drawing the model. I love making a cute pose even cuter, looking for ways to idealize the form in order to get as much visual appeal as I can.
This drawing is one of my favourites of Heather. She had a different hairstyle that evening and the added texture and waviness was fun to draw. The lighting was quite dramatic, so I tried putting in some cool blue shadows along with the warm reds. This one may be destined to hang on my den wall sometime soon!
Again, both the dramatic lighting and Heather's pose inspired me to try something unique with this drawing. It suggested a look of cowering in fear, so I adapted her expression to play up the melodrama. The resulting image puts me in mind of the type of illustration you used to see on the covers of dimestore crime novels. I'm tempted to try doing a painted version of this sketch someday, where I can really simulate one of those old pulp fiction covers!
This is Heather, one of the models we have frequently hired to pose in the life drawing sessions every Tuesday evening at Visual Arts Brampton over the last 3 years. She is certainly a favourite of mine, as she has all the feminine appeal of what we cartoonists think of as the "Freddy Moore Girl" (like the bobbysoxers in "Make Mine Music" or the centaurettes in "Fantasia"), in that she has very soft, curvy features.
Heather has a background in dance, both in ballet and in musical theatre. This is quite evident in her choice of poses during the quick gestures stage that we begin each session with. As you can see, there is a graceful, rhythmic flow to her poses that is a delight to capture on paper. (That 4th gesture is a "Fosse" dance pose that I'd requested and Heather was happy to oblige.)
During the longer studies, though I might start out drawing very traditionally, I usually can't help but try a more caricatured approach which I honestly have more fun with. Here's an example of where I have done a pencil portrait of Heather, followed by a quick caricature from the same sitting in the time I had left over.
Here is a pose that has been caricatured to some degree.
In this drawing I have also gone for a caricatured approach, trying to capture all of Heather's youthful beauty with simple, flowing linework. It's also an example of where I have dabbled in colour a bit, using soft Prismacolour pencils. I've tried using pastels in the past, too, but admittedly have been less successful in that medium.
I have much more artwork from life drawing sessions with Heather and other regular models at the Brampton studio, many in my caricatured approach. I will continue to post these up from time to time.
