Part 4 Project 2 Ex 2 A longer study

A longer study

I've had to wait for my Friday Figure Drawing Group before I could do this hour long pose.  I was supposed to concentrate on proportion and check my work constantly.  The problem I find is that I get too carried away and forget to check as I should.  The pose was a challenge because of the foreshortening of the legs and the twist of the torso but I think they turned out OK.  I had some trouble getting the position of the head right and I have to work on hands before I can draw them competently.

Pencil study of Sto - a little short of an hour

Sto was very relaxed during this pose and I think I have captured that.  In the end I found that it was very important to get the head/arms/hands right. They are the most crucial part of the drawing to capture the relaxation of the pose.

The body generally looks fairly solid and believable but the curled up pose was hard to draw.  I'm not sure whether I've been able to convince the viewer that she is sitting.  I think the lower part of the body looks a bit flat.

The proportions are passable but I need to get into (and maintain) the habit of checking all the time.  I also think I need to use guide marks much more in the initial stages of the drawing so that things are where they should be.

I didn't fill my page and I know I should have done.


Research Point 

I laid on the bed in front of a long mirror and looked at the foreshortening.  I take such views as normal but when you really, really look it's very strange.  My feet were the same size as my head and my arms almost disappear.  As I drew them my toes looked impossibly large. Everything looks squashed except my feet and my head.

Laying on the bed

If I lay flatter on the bed my feet looked looked bigger as my body disappeared. I sat up a bit and tried to draw but found it very uncomfortable so I took a photo.

I have found some pieces of art that use foreshortening very purposefully.

The Mourning over the  Dead Christ - Andrea Mantegna (1475) (1)

Compared to what I drew Christ's feet look very small and his head large.  I think the artist may have done this on purpose as Christ's head could be said to be more "holy" than his feet.

Lush - Duarte Vitori (2)

This looks so awkward and the feet are just HUGE.  I think the artist intended us to be taken aback.

I used foreshortening on of my early figures at the group.  I didn't find this difficult as long as I drew what I saw and not what I thought was there.

The models bottom looks proportionally larger because it is nearer to me.



(1) http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/213452/foreshortening

(2) https://www.pinterest.com/pin/244461085999041896/