grandmothers and knights

There is obviously a little skip in my clothed figure drawing timeline, but these are about 5 weeks in. By this time I had realized by watching another student who does amazing work that I could quickly lay down some values by using a conte pressed charcoal on its side. So I began exploring what I could do with that and how I could shade with that as well.

newsprint, charcoal

This class was one of my favorite classes because it was one of the first times a model had brought their own costume and props. Plus the model was just plain adorable! She made very themed poses that went along with her props. Some were very challenging and some were fairly straight forward but all of them were interesting. These are my earliest attempts at using the conte pressed charcoal.

newsprint, charcoal

newsprint, charcoal

newsprint, charcoal

newsprint, charcoal

In my next workshop we had this biker looking guy come in and put on a very makeshift knight outfit with a crocheted "chainmail" hat that stood off the top of his head... Even with it's strangeness it was still very fun. I didn't realize until my instructor pointed it out but I was quite lazy with the crosses. Darn angular patterns!

newsprint, charcoal

newsprint, charcoal

This is what I wound up turning in for my homework that week. My instructor loved it except for the guy's beer gut... By these drawings I had started a method of taking time to draw the face first and once satisfied with that getting the body down. For some reason that is what usually helps me keep the proportions right. My instructor doesn't like this method though. When he notices me doing it he critiques me for taking too long on the face. Oh well...

newsprint, charcoal

I still hadn't gotten the idea down here that I needed to push the difference in values. I tried to make the pants slightly darker but it didn't show. On the other hand I was getting used to using the conte shading method and growing quite fond of it. And I was alot more comfortable with the 20 minute time period by now than I was originally.