Lots of faffing around, not much getting done art-wise, some drawings of the dog for the man who missed out on my large sheet covered in small drawings. Ages ago now, as part of my ‘self initiated’ for uni I folded a large sheet of paper into 64 rectangles, planning to draw the dog 64 times, she ouzled into neighbouring sites and although I did a lot, there were not 64. With some other drawings (and another folded sheet) they went into windows204. I thought I had sold both of the folded drawings when in fact there was an unfortunate misunderstanding and I had sold the same one twice. So I am trying to do another one. Of course the drawings now are quite different; I cannot do the small quick totally linnear outlines, I seem to have lost the ability to work that simply, perhaps because I am ‘seeing’ her a lot more deeply (for want of a better word). So anyway, when I am feeling particularly unproductive I try to do a quick drawing or two. It has taken a surprisingly long time to fill the page but is getting interesting in that now I am beginning to fill in the spaces other drawings have created; certain contorted positions sometimes fit perfectly into strange gaps. The drawings need to be quickly executed, inspite of being asleep she does not stay in the same pose for long (unless I shout very loudly) . Now that it is getting colder she is much more curled up and snail like. The current drawings are a lot bigger so to an extent the effect is quite different but over all it is a sheet covered with sleeping dogs in every conceivable position. Although she is shown sleeping thereis a wonderful feeling of movement; writhing dogs ‘running’ across the paper.
After a not particularly productive day I went to the evening session of life drawing; I enjoy drawing this model, she is large and strikes lovely proud balletic poses but alas my drawings were just wrong wrong wrong. If there is anyone out there who reads this perhaps they could explain why I can not draw to scale if I go much over A4. I have tried, but I seem unable to see the whole drawing on the paper in front of me; I can see the model but on the larger paper I draw the head, then other bits and they join up in any coherent way. Very disheartening yesterday, I tore everything up.
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Got your link through the DRN and I enjoyed reading your thoughts on drawing. Would like to see more of your drawings, particularly the multiples of the dog, and hear more of your experiences on your course, although I don’t know where you find the time to write it all!
Best
F
Dear Rachel
Read your blog on life drawing….and the comment ‘if there is anyone out there……if i go much over A4’……………..for what it is worth when i did life drawing and scaled up i started measuring again on longer poses to get the scale right (i say this for fear of stating the obvious!)………..measuring by eye with a pencil was a bit time consuming but it set up the drawing quite well for me
like your dog drawing…am i too late to go on this postage drawing project?
best wishes
david
I love your blog, but where are your drawings?!
That’s the bit we all want to see, especially after reading about the trials and tribulations of their creation.
Cx
Very much enjoying your blog. Tried to magnify the drawing images you have included but the link doesnt seem to work.
Which college are you at?
I used to have a similar problem of just not being able to draw much larger than A4. A3 was sometimes not too bad but A1 and A2 drawings were a disaster. In retrospect I think the problem was that I was trying to draw on a large piece of paper in the same way that I drew on a small one i.e using mainly hand and wrist movement rather than the whole arm and even more of the body. Any attempts to use whole-arm movement felt so awkward and looked so bad that I always went back to using “handwriting” type moves and, when possible, small paper sizes. Recently, after doing some drawing with my non-dominant (left) hand, things started to improve. While small drawings were subjectively somewhat “worse” than with my right hand, whole-arm large drawings using either hand were much the same though with a different quality and at least not too discouraging. So having persisted a bit with this I now find my right-hand large drawing is also showing some improvement, particularly for expressing gesture. I also find that drawing this way, preferably standing at an easel, makes it easier to step back and get a better idea of the proportions. One problem that still bugs me with standing poses is fitting the figure comfortably on the paper, while at the same time not making it too small. I often find the feet being cut off or right on the edge. Starting at the centre of the paper and working outwards rather than at the head and working down seems to help.
great to come aceoss a blog on someones drawing pursuits. A strange journey especially if you have embarked on this adventure a bit later in life. Im 53. Started in sept and the course im doing is excellent but very crowded. Ironically it makes the adventure a bit of a solitary pursuit. I have 2 jack russell dogs who sometimes try to draw ut funny it seems t make them very self conscious and they will not hold the same shape for any lenght. Yes would love to see your drawings. Keep at the blogs its great to come across