As I mentioned in a previous Status Update, I’m trying to get back to draw as my back issues recede. Plus, my friend Nitin helped me figure out a drawing setup that doesn’t require me to hunch over my iPad, so I’ve been drawing again.
I don’t know yet if I can draw on paper again – I’ll have to set up the boards and see if I can fix it up at the correct angle. But in the meantime, I’m just happy to be drawing again.
So here’s my first week of drawings for Liltober. I know I’m technically two weeks behind as I post this, but I don’t honestly care – it’s not about finishing 31 drawings in 31 days for me. It’s just about drawing.
Prompt 1: Nudo Disteso. I built this up in two layers – I did a gesture in red charcoal, then defined the figure in pen (this is one of Wendy Xu’s great pen brushes – she posts them for free, but I encourage you to pay for them if you can), and then carved out the brighter spots from the original gesture. I’m quite happy with the result, though I can see that the left hand is a bit small in proportion to the figure, and my pen shading could use some more intentionality.
Prompt 2: Le Merle. I wanted to continue this theme from Prompt 1 of carving out light from darkness. So this time, I used the pen to define areas of light, and left everything else in charcoal. I did do a draft of pen shading over this, but it felt like I was overegging the pudding.
One decision I’ve made for this month of drawing is to keep the faces minimal. I’ve found in previous drawing sessions that I end up spending far too much time on the faces, and they never turn out as well as I’d like anyway. In the long term, that’s something I need to work on, but for now, if my focus is on the figure, I need to stop thinking about the details and let the figures breathe.
Prompt 3: The Birth of Venus. You need to turn this sideways to look at it, but I felt like the two pictures made a good combination of shapes in space. Not much to say about this. The pose was so lovely that once I’d laid down the figure in charcoal pencil, I didn’t feel the need to add anything.
Prompt 4: Girl with a Bowl of Fruits. Continues the trend of working in just one layer. I’m quite happy with the neck shadow and the way it merges with her hair, and you can see that I made an attempt to define her face but decided against it. Good choice, I think. I could’ve done much better with her left hand and the fruits, though.
Prompt 5: Study of an Egyptian Girl. Between this and Prompt 7, I’m quite enjoying playing with shadows. It always feels like a little bit of an achievement to define a shape with minimal rendering.
Prompt 6: A Beauty. For some reason, I vividly remember that I was listening to the podcast Who Is Aldrich Kemp? while drawing this. I wanted to pull back further, just define the figure with a pen (another one of Wendy Xu’s), and with as few lines as possible. But once I was done, I felt like creating this frame using blue watercolour and then defining her swimsuit with pink made for a better composition.
Prompt 7: To Bed. Probably the drawing I’m happiest with in this whole sequence. The moment I saw the pose reference, I knew exactly what I wanted to do – to define a source of light by drawing only the shadows. I think I did a fine job. I was listening to the Once Upon a Time in Hollywood audiobook while drawing this, and I was on the chapter where Cliff adopts his dog Brandy.