Success at the gestural (first) stage of the drawing is critical for how the drawing develops in the later stages. This is the point where not only things like rough proportion need to be decided on but it's also where we make the big decisions for the story of the pose. It's much easier to make adjustments at this stage than to try and fix or adjust things down the line. There is a bit of an oxymoron going on here because while we're making all these important decisions that will affect the drawings later development it's also the stage that should feel spontaneous and free, where we bring 'life' to the pose. Good gesture is an art in it's own right and with practice we can learn how to strike that balance.
Time management in drawing
Knowing how long a pose will be and knowing what I can accomplish within a particular time frame is really important for how I approach drawing with a live model.
For example, let's say it's a five minute pose, I think it's reasonable to say that I probably won't get into a fully rendered light and shadow drawing in that amount time, but what about a fifteen or twenty minute pose? Suddenly that question gets harder to answer. I've seen students in class do a lovely line drawing and then with two minutes left on the clock start to add lights and shadow. Ultimately the drawing looks unfinished by the end of the pose whereas two minutes earlier they had a perfectly fine, finished drawing. Ask yourself before you go to the next stage of developing the drawing if you'll have time to get down what you need to before the end of the pose. In the example above with two minutes left on the clock I might quickly 'shadow map' so I can finish the drawing at a later time, or get my tools ready for the next pose.
As you gain experience your intuition for what you can get done in a given time frame will get more refined. I'd suggest timing the pose yourself and not just relying on the tutor or the model to run the clock.
Try and be mindful of the time and what you'll be able to do with it.
I've more to say on this subject but that's for another time!
Sometimes, less is more!
Shorter poses give us the opportunity to get right to the point without getting too fussy or obsessing over the details. When working on shorter poses ask yourself, what's absolutely necessary to tell the story? Everything else is a bonus. 10 min, charcoal on newsprint.
Gesture Drawing
5 min Gesture from this last week at one of the few sessions where I get to just sit down and draw! Getting those large ideas down quickly gives us a chance to see where we need to adjust before moving further into the drawing. My Life Drawing Bootcamp starts this Tuesday! 3 Tuesday evenings in Covent Garden, should be fun!
