BLOGART Lesson 3

As we get into the next lesson I want to show you a nude study by the 16th Century Baroque artist Carraci. Note the shading of the anatomical form on this delightful sketch. This is what we are aiming at.

We need to look carefully at our grided photo and plot the shadows which are formed by the interplay of light on the body.

Take it square by square and try to arrange the various tones into segments and "islands" of tones.

In the illustration below I have shown the basic tones as plotted. Plotting the underlying shadow construction is a way to resolve uncertainties about smaller details and make the final image look self-consistent.

The use of photographic reference is often criticized or discouraged for its tendency to produce "flat" images that fail to capture the dynamic aspects of the subject. Don't be disheartened as this method will produce a dynamic picture.

Drawing from imagination is often hailed for the expressiveness it encourages, and criticized for the inaccuracies introduced by the artist's lack of knowledge or limited memory in visualizing the human figure. Due to the darker areas of the photograph you will have to make some assumptions. This is where a little knowledge of understanding anatomy and the human proportions is important. In developing the photgraphic image, the artist should focus on the shapes created by the interplay of light and dark values on the surfaces of the body.

Here is a draft drawing that is made in preparation for a planned final image. Studies can be used to determine the appearances of specific parts of the completed image, or for experimenting with the best approach for accomplishing the end goal. However a well-crafted study can be a piece of art in its own right, and many hours of careful work can go into completing a study as in this illustration.

The bath by Edgar Degas is typical of a study which is a work in it's own right.

Remember if you are interested in my classes I am available to give personal instruction in my Prahran studio. You can contact me on 0417 566 276.

BLOGART Lesson 2.

Measuring with a "Grid" and blocking in the drawing is an important step in producing a realistic rendition of the subject. This is similar to comparing the relative sizes of different parts of the subject with each other as you would in a life drawing. When attempting to draw a complicated shape such as a human figure, some artists find it helpful at first to represent the form with a set of shapes, that is some combination of a cube, sphere or cylinder etc. Once these basic shapes have been assembled into a likeness, then the drawing can be refined into a more accurate and polished form. The art of figure drawing relies upon the artist understanding anatomy and the human proportions.

In developing the image, you should focus on the shapes created by the interplay of light and dark values on the surfaces of the body.This is the technique of varying the tonal values on the paper to represent the shadows and their placement on the figure.

Careful attention to reflected light, shadows, and highlights can result in a very realistic rendition of the image. (See this 17th Century Dutch drawing, similar to a Rembrandt, of a sitting woman.)

The figure I have drawn below shows how you can plot the shadows which are formed by the interplay of light on the body.

If you carefully examine the photo of your subject you will note the various light and dark values. Begin to plot them vary much like the contours of a geographical or survey map. Looking down on a body is a bit like looking from an aircraft at the land below. Mountains and valleys are obvious folds in the landscape especially when the sun is low and shadows are formed.

Remember if you are interested in my classes I am available to give personal instruction in my Prahran studio.

You can contact me on 0417 566 276.

BLOGART Lesson 1.

To start this lesson I'm going to enhance the photo so as to highlight it's tones.

This enables you to better see the lights and darks and shades in between.

The next step is a basic one. Used by many Old Masters was the technique of "gridding" the work you wish to copy and transferring the work by grid to your canvass or paper. The grid has to be proportionally correct. If you wish to enlarge the photo to double size then your canvass grid will be double that of the photo.

Old masters used grids to expand their preliminary sketches, known as "cartoons", into finished works. Old masters often had apprentices working in their studios who worked from the gridded cartoons onto finished canvasses. Artists like Raphael, Da Vinci and Titian had teams of young artists working for them replicating the masters sketches.

You will notice that due to the photo's lack of definition I have had to draw in the left hand shape of the figure as well as the legs and crotch.

To transfer the photo's information to your canvas look carefully at each square and reproduce the information within. The more accuracy you can achieve, the better your completed work will be.

Start with the external shape.

Examine carefully where the lines of the figure intersect the grids. Make a judgment based position of the intersection, i.e half way or a third the way down a line, etc. Sometimes the space left over or the space within, I call it the "negative space," is an important clue as to where the lines go.

If you are interested in my classes I am available to give personal instruction in my Prahran studio.

You can contact me on 0417 566 276.