Sunday, Benita and I had a lovely day. After eating breakfast, we spent a few hours at the Indianapolis Art Center. Benita brought her spinning wheel, and I brought my watercolors, and we enjoyed the beautiful light and moderate temperature in the formal gardens out back. The feelings of peace and wellbeing were wonderful, I must say!

I didn’t get to finish my watercolor, but I included the “in-progress” piece with a photo of the structure I was painting. Clearly I have many more hours of practice ahead of me, but that’s OK: I simply enjoy the act of painting in watercolors, so a long learning period is just fine with me.

This last piece, which is not representative of my normal style, is something I drew in open studio later that afternoon. I kind of like it, to be honest. It’s a bit surreal, but that’s a nice departure for me.

Hi, Folks:

As many of you know, I’m a big supporter of life drawing as a way to improve your drawing ability. Drawing from anatomy books and photos has its place, but nothing is as good as having a live model holding a pose for you while you draw or paint. Maybe it’s so much better because that’s a real person in front of you, one who is making an effort to hold a pose. Maybe it’s because the person exists in 3D space, and is not flattened into a 2D graphic. Whatever the reason, life drawing is the way to go.

After a few years at this, usually every Sunday at the Indianapolis Art Center, I know there are a few ways to make the most out of life drawing.

1) Most sessions open up with gesture drawings, yet many students fail to understand what is expected. The model does warm-up poses, often for about two-minutes or less each. This is your chance to loosen up your arm, draw in big sweeping motions, and get the primary action line and rough placement of anatomy. It is not time for you to start a large, finished drawing that fills up a whole sheet of paper and gets truncated after two minutes.

2) If you start to get bored, or it becomes ho-hum, change mediums. I have used graphite, pen & ink, watercolor, colored pencils, ink washes, and even (ugh!) pastels. As soon as I feel things are getting stale, I try a new medium. Today, I started using chalk pencils on toned paper.
3) Go into each session with a goal. For example, focus on proportion, or musculature, or dynamics, or skin tones, or whatever you feel you need to work on. You need to develop a critical eye for your own work, and always be striving to improve on your artistic weak points.
4) If the class monitor says it’s OK, rearrange the spot lights for interesting lighting. This is not always encouraged, but it’s cool when you can do it. Try multiple light sources. Try colored lamps. Get some contrast going.
5) Props may enliven the session. Sure, the model is probably going to use chairs, stools, pillows, and the like. But, how about a walking stick? A cane? A Grecian urn? The possibilities are endless here.
6) Study proportion. Also, use your pencil held out in front of you to divide the model into equidistant areas. Familiarize yourself with human proportion based on the head’s dimensions. Find parallel landmarks on the model to better line elements up.
7) Fill your paper. Don’t be timid and draw on the corner of a piece of paper.
Remember, the model’s exterior outline is more important than his/her interior details.

Most colleges and universities have figure drawing sessions open to the public (for a fee, of course). You may have to call around, but chances are that there is a figure drawing open studio near you. If you have to drive a long way, it’s worth it. I knew one avid figure artist who drove almost three hours each way for his open studio. He wanted it, and knew it was imperative to his growth as an artist, so that was that.

Scott

When my visualization abilities are at full charge, I tend to go right to the art board and draw the pictures there directly, skipping thumbnails altogether.  At all other times, I draw the picture on a separate piece of paper, make changes in the computer, and trace it onto the art board.  I wish my visualization abilities were always at full charge, but stress or illness or fatigue can sideline them.

When I mention life drawing from reference pictures in my mind’s eye, I mean that I am using the same skills that I would use to draw a live models, props, or settings. Visualization and concentration are among the artist’s most powerful tools.

I have changed paper, inking supplies, pencils, and other tools often over the years.  Sometimes I’ll hand draw backgrounds, sometimes I’ll use Sketchup to build the background.  At one point, I cut and formatted all my own art boards, but now I use Blueline Pro paper exclusively.  When it comes to inking, the mix of brush, crow quill, fountain pen, and technical markers in my art has changed regularly.  These changes are based on my mood, but no one has ever noticed or pointed out the change, because my art looks like my art no matter how I did it.  (It’s the artist, not the tools!) For years I drew with 4H pencils in lead holders, and now I’m partial to 3B in lead holders and draftsman’s mechanical pencils.  I should be more consistent, but it’s the mood I’m in, and the availability of tools, and the tooth of the paper that makes up my mind more often than not.

I used to collect toys for reference.  I have a drawer full of realistic looking squirt guns, for example, that have shown up as real guns in the comic again and again.  If I am having trouble drawing a character from a sharp angle, I will often use my Art S. Buck plastic models posed correctly, or perhaps my old GI Joes.  The older, large GI Joes are fantastic models, because they are well jointed and capable of almost any pose.  I also have tons of vinyl animals, and lots of vinyl dinosaurs, but the latter rarely get used as art models, primarily because no dinosaurs have shown up in the comic.  I love drawing and painting dinosaurs, so maybe it’s time for a Jurassic invasion of Spire City.

When drawing or inking, I am often in “the Zone” for hours on end, a higher state of consciousness when the pencil seems to guide itself, everything I do is gold, and I feel and overwhelming sense of joy.  This is really a wonderful state, and the brain releases endorphins like crazy when I’m there.  Like my visualization abilities, illness, emotional turmoil, and fatigue all have the ability to keep me out of the zone.  I wish I could bottle this state, and take a swig whenever I needed it, but I cannot.

Despite have drawn tons of stuff over the last fifteen years, I feel confident in stating that life drawing at the Indianapolis Art Center’s open studios has increased my ability, and my visualization powers, by ten-fold.

When I revisit this subject, I will go into some detail on how to develop and make use of visualization in art.

Scott.