My favorite medium to work with was charcoal. It was easy to manipulate and to orient the lights and shadows of the human figure in a quick amount of time. Once I started twisting and turning the charcoal vine and compressed charcoal I was really starting to capture and define certain areas of the human form. Working with the pressure I applied from the charcoal to my newsprint also helped bring to life the longer poses. My proportions and how I observed the human form really evolved as I payed less attention to what I was drawing and more attention to where I was look; that is when I essentially saw major improvements.
When we went onto working with acrylic paint, I wasn’t as instantly comfortable in trying to capture the movements and positions of the figure model. I noticed that I was holding my brush too tightly and my form was too stiff to function. Once I loosened up and placed my hand towards the end of the brush, I started to see a major difference in the way my paint flowed and in the expression the model was emitting.
I find to today that I am still more comfortable with charcoal only because I feel that I have more control over the medium but I believe that with more practice and less overthinking of where I should place the paint, I will enjoy the process a little more.
session 1:
Session 2
session 3 (absent)
–> open figure drawing session
session 4/5: