Monday, February 16, 2015

Sketching People in Motion--a beginning

Recently I enrolled in the online course, Sketching People in Motion with Marc Taro Holmes, on the Craftsy web site. I was looking for some ways to improve my drawing of people on location. My previous experience had been drawing a posed model. Usually the same pose was held for the entire drawing session. After completing Liz Steel's course, I thought that I was ready for the challenge of drawing people in action.

This past weekend I had the opportunity to sketch a partially clothed model who moved in slow motion as part of an uninstructed drawing session at a local art center. The room was darkened, the spotlight used a red filter. I had watched the first 3 videos of Marc's course and learned some excellent techniques to try out. Needless to say, it was a very challenging afternoon.

My main focus was just trying to capture a pose that lasted only about 5 seconds--it forced me to keep my drawn line loose and fluid. I really did not have time to think about applying any new knowledge, so what emerged was an almost instinctual line. The last pose was held for about 5 minutes, so I was able to capture more detail and use some color. I tried to preserve some whites.

Materials: A bamboo pen with a large nib, Noodler's brown ink that I am trying to use up, Sumi-e black ink and a wash of both inks on newsprint paper were used in the early sketches. Lyra watercolor crayons on Cartieri-Magnani Velata paper were used in the final sketch. The Velata paper is meant for dry media, so I was pushing its limits, and mine!

I'm including only a few of the sketches that I made. My photography skills are minimal, but I did do some editing in iPhoto. Click on image to enlarge it.

Image #1 Ink on newsprint paper

Image #2 Ink on newsprint paper

Image #3 Ink on newsprint paper

Image #4 Lyra Watercolor crayons

Image #5 (detail) Lyra Watercolor crayons

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