Life Drawing
On March 1st Dupont art instructor, Caroline Marsland gave us a lecture and demonstration on life drawing.
She started out by advising us that we need to decide at the beginning what we want to say in the picture. We can be accurate, want to accentuate certain features, show certain emotions, etc.
She recommends that we do several quick sketches first before doing a large drawing.
Look at the general shape of the figure. Don’t start with the head. Draw the shape of the back, the shoulder placements along with the hips, and legs. See if you can see shapes in the body. identify points on the body to line them up accurately, look at angles of these shapes.
Perspective is important with accurate drawing. A child’s body if approximately five times the size of it’s head while a man’s is seven times the size of the head. There are three heads size to the waist and hands fall to the thighs. For head measurement, from the palm of your hand to your finger tips are usually the measurement from the chin to just above the eyebrow.
Look at negative shapes to assist with accuracy. Build up shadows for shape. Squint for these shadows. Always step back from your drawing to judge the accuracy.
In order to judge the size, hold your pencil out with a straight arm against the part of the distant body you are drawing and compare it to other parts.
Use any paper which has tooth to it. Charcoal and chalk are dramatic and charcoal and watercolour work well together. She warned us that some of the charcoal sticks available now are quite scratchy. She recommends the Windsor and newton ones give a smooth finish.
This workshop is a precursor to an all day workshop which Caroline will be giving to Dupont members in June, 2017.
