Schedule 9B

Yeap. Thinking about the four hour drawing (second picture), I think I won't have enough room to draw the fourth girl. You see, that's her leg coming out of the second girl's shoulder, which will put her head clear off the paper.

Schedule 9A

And we continue the long studies: Modeled Drawing in Ink. The second one is actually a four part study, ideally taking me four hours to draw. So, I picked out an image with four girls with one (more or less) being drawn each day. Curiously, I am drawing with a purple gel pen, because it draws easier than most of the pens I own, not that you can tell with the grayscale scan.

Schedule 8E

Only one, today (the rest were gestures--1.5 hours of gestures): a modeled drawing of the face. It took me more than an hour to do this. Which surprised me a little. The left eye, nose, and area around them I spent the most of my effort on. They were also the last things I spent my effort on. After the right eye got cockeyed, and the lips fell too far from the cheek, I spent the rest of my effort on the parts I hadn't botched as much.

Schedule 8D

8D


23, 23, 23, 22

Schedule 8C

Exercise 23: Ten Minute Form Studies

"TRY TO GET THE DISPLACEMENT OF THAT WEIGHT IN SPACE."

Mr. Nicolaides, it is my pleasure.

Really, though, it was. This is one of the first exercises where it took me longer than the allotted time--and I wanted to draw more. This is a good thing. I especially like the third one. I think I'd like to do that one better, some day.

These Exercise 22's are a little creepy. They kind of remind me of those Gray's Anatomy pictures--especially the ones with the little meat hooks.

Schedule 8B

Quick Contour, ditto, ditto, Modeled Drawing (specifically, Exercise 22: Part of the Form).

In an interesting turn of events, my drawings actually got better as I went along. That's been kind of rare up till now. Maybe it's because the first ones very persistently suggested that I laugh a lot. Things are certainly more enjoyable (though not necessarily easier to do) with a smile on.

Did you notice the first one has three eyes?

I saved the nose--the second hard copy I've saved since I started this.

I'm still laughing at that second one.

Schedule 8A

No, these aren't contours. Just when I was getting in the groove, again. Oh well. More modeled drawings. The first one I used a block-ish piece of graphite for. Which I thought would be fun, and was, but was difficult, because it was hard to lay down more graphite. It also made the page really smooth and glossy. And my fingertips very gray. The second I did with another pencil I've had for ages that I've never used before--Layout/Ebony. It draws a lot darker than the ol' 2B. Has this drag to it, but not as much as charcoal. Yes, I did spend the most effort on the arm pit.


Just so you know I still do gestures. I get to do these with every schedule. Honestly, the ones I did this morning were (for the most part) much better, but I didn't date them, and I didn't feel like making the dates up. Even though it wouldn't have been too hard since I did them immediately before the modeled drawing. But tough, I'm not doing it. I've scanned what I've scanned and that's that. Yehaw.

Schedule 7E

Quick. Quick. Quick. Slower.

I'm actually feeling pretty good about these. The first one, believe it or not, actually feels the most accurate. I also have to wonder if the middle two look that silly because I also kind of feel that way about them. Boy, drawing's expressive, isn't it?

Schedule 7D

Quick. Quick. Not quick.

Next to the watercolors, I think these contours are my favorite things to post. Gestures, least favorite. While they're generally fun to draw, I don't get a whole lot out of looking at them.

By the way, while I'm not convinced it's come out in my drawing yet, I can feel myself observing better. There are things I notice now on these pictures that I didn't notice before, and that counts for something.

Along the same way, I'm canning the long contour study. I put it off for two months because I wasn't feeling up to it, and after completing sixty percent of it, my apathy has not changed. I will finish out the exercises in this schedule without this one.

Isn't self-education fun?

Schedule 7C

Focus on the face.

Seems the next three schedules all require face study in the exercise. Which is fine with me, since it's something I've had little practice with (even avoided doing when I was younger). Kimon says:

"Don't think of the head or the face as something different from any other part of the body. Draw it as you would draw a hand or an elbow or a knee."

Sounds theoretically sound, so I'll go with it.


Gestures of the face.


Quick contours of the face. That first one's kind of having an out-of-body experience. I kind of like it though. The second (and third) one is also pretty amusing. Amusing also, because it is the same girl from two different pictures. You see, where, arguably, her right eye is supposed to be, I contoured her face, first. Seeing I had plenty of room (it was a small picture), I decided to just move over a little. And now it kind of looks like I did it on purpose.


Contour of a face. Really. When I look down and see it's that out of whack, I don't have the strongest desire to complete it. Funny how taking longer doesn't seem to make it better.


Yeah, right. I shall continue this long study, but on a different sheet of paper.

Schedule 7B

Baby, I need your lovin'. Got! to have all your lovin'.


"Every step in this book is founded on your willingness to look at the model."

No doubt. Look is a curious word, though. If I look at a woman the way I've been looking at my guitar head, she might get the wrong idea.

Or maybe the right one.

Moving on.


Quick contours. Funny, because, by his definition, I've been doing that all along. Now what do I call what I've been calling quick contours? Really quick contours, I guess. The first one almost looks recognizable. The second... The third one I didn't even show.


I got the idea to change color each "hour" (which has been thirty minutes, so far) I drew to show *progress*. The two major difficulties I've been having are,

One, I tend to look ahead. All the time. In most everything I do. Whether with my eyes, or with my mind in anticipation. And contour is all about the moment, the instant. A good lesson to learn, really. And,

Two, I have a large field of vision. I'm paying attention to everything around me instead of that single point. Crippling myself won't help in the long run, so I'm just going to have to learn to focus my powers. Boy, didn't that sound spiffy.

Schedule 7A

Return to contour.

DEVELOPING THE LONG STUDIES.

"You have been rushed through a number of exercises in what may seem a very short time."

Not if you take as long as I did between the exercises.

"But it is necessary in the beginning to avoid the great danger of monotony."

Too late.

"When you attempted your fist contour drawing, you started with a blank."

Actually, I start all of my exercises like that.

"Now you start with all the accumulated knowledge and ability which you have gained from weeks of hard work."

"All" is a small word.

"Previously I have not asked you to devote more than an hour to one drawing, partly because I realised that your knowledge of the figure was limited and that you might not see enough to occupy you for a grater length of time. You will now be able to spend hours instead of minutes on a drawing before you have exhausted the sensation of touching the contours."

Which brings us to Exercise 17: The Five-Hour Contour. !!!!!!!! Yikes. I haven't been able to spend an hour yet on a contour, and now I'm asked to spend five days (an hour a day) on a single pose.

"If, after drawing the outside and inside contours, you find you still have time left, draw the important cross contours in their proper places on the figure."

Personally, I think this is going to look like a mess. A real whodiditandran.

"In a way this drawing will be a test of how much you have learned."

No doubt.

"Every step in this book is founded on your willingness to look at the model."

Ah, the killer words: your willingness. Kimon emphasized look, but that's really secondary.

I'm going to start on this five hour thing next session (Guess I'll be working on it two hours one day). As for the rest of the exercises...


Gesture of the day. It's the back of a woman with her head resting on her right knee. Can't you tell?


Supposed to be a cross contour exercise. Since it's been so long since I've did a contour, I decided to do a few small ones first. And yeap.


The DC. My sister and I cornered our friend Jason--who's very ticklish--in the kitchen and proceeded to attack him. That's him on the counter knocking things over attempting to defend himself.

Schedule 6E

This time it was some guy named Bryan. I saw his picture and I immediately thought, "I like this dude." And after reading what he had to say about himself, I'm quite sure I like this dude. I ran out of light green half-ishway into it and I didn't feel like mixing any more. I have this frugal mindset--for whatever reason--even though I got this set of water colors for free from my buddy Matt. Yes, Matt, this full set of Sakura special water colors in tubes 18 colors in plastic tray with transparent cover made in Japan non-toxic which you put into a box to be trashed when you moved. You know, just like your Playstation 2. Hmm. $10.25 on the back of the box. Okay, not *quite* a full set--four of them were dried up and I unintentionally mashed Yellow Ochre. Oops. Anyway, I think I should mix double what I expect to use from now on.


Daily Composition: Sitting in my sister's room while she tries (unsuccessfully) to persuade me to get a "pretty" haircut.

"Josh, you could be pretty!"

You know, this daily composition exercise is pretty fun. I get to backflash through my entire day, looking for an interesting scene to draw. If anything, it's a good memory exercise.

Schedule 6D

I have been scanning these modeled drawings in grayscale, since the purpose wasn't a coloring exercise, but a modeling one. That, and the orange and brown colors (close to the colors Kimon suggested) I was using weren't very attractive. Since my orange (pale orange) supply was getting pretty low, I decided to go with yellow and red. Which, well, I liked. Probably because I like fire. Those were the colored pencils that used to get the most use. Anyway, I included the color scan this time because, well, it amused me. Still does.

Bodybuilding.com is a great place to find models, by the way; this particular one was Aubrie Richeson.


Daily Composition: My sister. On my hammock. Really.

Schedule 6C

I wish I hadn't started outlining him. Oh well.

Exercise 16: Right-Angle Study

"During the first half of the pose, draw, not what you see, but what you think you would see if you were sitting at the left side of the model instead of in front of him. [...] Of course you will not always have a front view of the model for this exercise [...] but the principle remains the same."

This one was pretty fun. Reminded me of Exercise 11: Reverse Poses.


Original (colored) pictures copyright Posemaniacs.com.

Schedule 6B