Bill started the class with a 40 minute demo, after which I began drawing this portrait. This sketch is about 2.5 hours of effort. In a sketch like this I'm aiming to make as complete a statement as I can (because after all, drawing is about communicating an idea,) but the time really seems to fly when I'm concentrating as intently as I do when drawing. Often times during a drawing I will talk to myself. Bystanders might think I'm mentally unstable or the obsessive artist type, but in reality it keeps me focused on solving visual problems. The dialogue during a drawing might go something like this:
Ok, I want to focus on the left eye first. I'll start with the pupil and upper eyelid shape. They connect there...ok, there's a dark underneath with two thin lines. That shadow shape of the eye socket connects to the eyebrow... is the right eye higher or lower than the left... higher, ok. How far is it from the left eye...let me measure that... it's a little over one eye length away. Does her right eyelashes look like a thick or a thin line? Does it go thick to thin?
People think drawing is about being loose and just scribbling, but it really is a deliberate effort of focus. It isn't mentally taxing the way writing a dissertation might be, but it is highly engaging work on multiple levels. What I just described above is simply the effort required to record the visual facts of the model. The true aim of art is creating a statement or recording a impression that a camera cannot. For example, in this drawing, I tried to capture her intense eyes and the wonderfully rich dark of her hair. I was trying to emphasize what time hasn't taken away, as the wrinkles reveal she isn't in the prime of her life. A camera cannot selectively emphasize or study a person like an artist can.
Lanna was a wonderful model from the Ukraine. She had a rather sweet disposition, but I didn't pick up on that until talking with her at the end of the session. From the beginning on she struck me as a rather serious person and I think you see that in this drawing. I absolutely loved Bill's drawing of her as even her eyes were smiling. She seemed like a gentle angel in his drawing. She's modeled for him extensively, so I think he knew that side of her better than I did.
Bill has been such an excellent instructor for me that I've decided to take another class he has in January called "The Really Useful Drawing Class." He and I can have wonderfully insightful discussion about my drawing. He helps me to correct proportions and see the true visual impression my eyes are receiving. The challenge in drawing accurately is drawing what you really see, not what you think you see. Bill has been instrumental in helping me to do that and I want to continue studying with him. This class has been one of the highlights of my whole life up to this point and I want to keep this feeling going. I just love to draw.
damn, son! this is straight ill..
ReplyDeletein the good way..
it's crazy to see how product designers look at the face as a set of surfaces adjacent to each other reflecting and shadowing light.. good stuff man