Drawing Abigail on March 26th

Today's session includes four drawings of the same pose from different positions in the studio, plus three quick 5-8 minute poses. I really enjoyed it and felt exhausted and fulfilled at the end.

'trying out some new Derwent tinted charcoal blocks'



The following drawings all use a combination of: a) whetted tissue dipped in charcoal powder, b) a short length of 6mm willow charcoal, and c) some compressed charcoal to give a dense black mark.  



'some emphasis placed on the face, shoulder and hands with a different mark-making technique, to the rest of the drawing' 





'here I used a damp tissue dipped in charcoal powder to map out the sweeping curves of the pose and then used a willow charcoal stick and some compressed charcoal to develop the drawing. I re-emphasised the darker tonal areas with further damp tissue technique''





'two 5 minute poses'





'a three minute drawing (loved the mark-making on this one)'





'another three minute drawing'





'this in fact was the first drawing of the day which I carried out having reminded myself of last week's learning in drawing from the same location, and simply outlining the main composition with a damp tissue dipped in charcoal powder quickly followed with some compressed charcoal'



Drawing Penny on 12/10/2010

Three warm-up drawings, 8 to 10 minutes each.Another look at the pose we had last week also. A1, charcoal, compressed charcoal and pastel.

For the next drawing I decided to introduce hatching in combination with my other mark techniques.

The following three drawings were completed after lunch. Again they are quick, 8 to 10 minute drawings, on A2 paper. I have cropped the first one as the proportions of the pose suggested to me that a square presentation would be appropriate.

The main drawing of the afternoon session concentrates on a variety of marks which were built upon each other in a deliberate order. These were:

a) a search for the basic form with a lightly applied HB pencil,

b) initial blocking in with willow charcoal of the dark tone areas,

c) these were then pushed right back using a small paint brush,

d) the darkest tone areas were then emphasised with a black compressed charcoal stick,

e) hatching was then introduced which was supplemented where necessary with an additional application of willow charcoal usually rubbed down with the finger. Hatching both with a graphite pencil and a charcoal pencil seemed also to help soften the edges of the earlier blocks of dark tone,

f) finally, a white pastel was a used in a limited way to bring out the highlights. In places an eraser also helped to bring out the highlights in places where for example the brush had taken charcoal across them.

I am very pleased with this last drawing, although the hand is rather clumsily drawn and is certainly not the graceful hand of a female, I have achieved a sculptural form by utilising a variety of mark techniques.