Drawing

Figures in Graphite

| cathmary1030

I’m taking an online class (more precisely, watching streaming demos online) by Peggi Kroll-Roberts who is particularly known for her beach photos of human figures. The class is about value structures to show the form of the human figure: the lights and darks.

Effectively, this is a notan. You start with 2 values and then move to 2 darks, 1 light or 2 lights, 1 dark. And then you move to color.

My next step here would be to paint in black and white, then to move to 3 values, and finally to color — using colors mapped to the values.

In fact, Laurel Hart, in her 2007 book Putting People in your Paintings (on p. 23) even suggests you even go ahead and paint over your penciled-in shadows if you prefer. You can erase the pencil later.

Model in Charcoal

| cathmary1030

Today I was actually painting from a demo painting of martinis in How to Paint Fast Loose & Bold by Patti Mollica. But I don’t want to risk copyright issues so I’m not posting it. (Besides, you can check out the real deal in the book, which I can assure you is much better than my effort, lol!)

So I’m posting a charcoal drawing I did last year while I get to painting based on my own stuff.

Wandering… Part 2

| cathmary1030

Earlier this year I came across on YouTube a recommendation for a video by Karen Campell. I liked her verve and bubbly “can do” spirit. I drew a couple of faces, but in all honesty, the drawing lessons there are not really what I’m looking for at this time.

The drawing on the left was done using regular graphite; on the right, I used the water-soluble graphite (Staedtler), applied a wash, and then colored her eyes with the Arteza Real Brush in cocoa, I think it was.