Creative Figure

For my birthday this year, my gift from my husband was Creative Figure lessons at Andy Braitman Studio.  I had very little previous experience in figure drawing, having only attending a few open sessions while i was interning with Emily.  She had advised me that if you learn how to accurately draw the human body, then you will have a sound foundation to draw almost anything.  The proportions of the body repeat themselves everywhere in nature, and the most beautiful classically designed buildings reflect those same proportions.  Likewise, since the body has so many curves and contours there is so much opportunity for an aritst to hone their eye to really 'see' (and hence interpret on paper) the shadows and highlights and learn how to add fullness to a two dimensional rendering.

I was very nervous at the first class, especially since I was joining the class mid-session.  However Andy graciously welcomed me in and quickly gave me an overview of the materials we would be using.  I had seen his work before and I was so intimidated, but he turned out to be the most encouraging, outgoing, thoughtful, organized, friendly artist I have ever learned from.   He certainly has found his calling in teaching, since I feel that many artists may be incredibly talented in the studio, but not nearly gregarious or organized enough to teach a room full of students.

We started each session with quick 1 minute sketches with charcoal to warm up.  Yes, 1 minute.  Meaning you had to work fast before the model changed position.  Here's some of my quick sketches:

Then we increased the poses to 2, 3, 5, 10 minute poses.  You were still working quickly, but you could focus a bit more on the details:

He taught us that we don't have to draw every line we see, and in fact it will make the piece more interesting if you leave out the unimportant lines.  Your eye will connect the meaningful marks that are there, and in a sense 'fill-in' the missing lines.

The models' bodies and poses were so beautiful.  I credit so much of the beauty in these sketches simply to their interesting, thoughtful poses.

Someone recently told me that doctors and nurses are great at figure drawing, since they are so knowledgeable about the human body.  I can see how knowing what's underneath the skin would prove helpful!

We ended each session (which was 2 1/2 hours long) with a long pose, generally 45 minutes or so.  These we did in oil paint, which I had never used before.  Boy, it is different from what I am used to.  I have so much to learn!  I am not going to share the painting from my first class (it was not worth sharing), but I will share the others in chronological order.  Hopefully you can tell I am getting a little better each week:

The class has ended until the fall, and I already miss it.  Andy said that if we don't have any willing models, that in the meantime we can use pears since they are round, and contoured like the human body. I know we have been compared to many things . . . but pears???  I had to laugh about that.


Thanks for reading.  Have a great week!

Bronwyn