Life Drawing: Heather

This is Heather, one of the life models we've drawn from often over the last few years at Visual Arts Brampton. I've posted a number of my sketches of her previously on this blog. Heather is a trained dancer who brings a lot of that dancing sensibility to her poses, particularly in the quick gestures. Her body type is soft and curvy, lending a rhythmic flow to her gestures, and always with a strong line of action.




I've never been that proficient with longer studies, I'm afraid. Part of this I attribute to not feeling completely in control when using a stick of conté. I often marvel at the sketches pinned up in the display cases at Sheridan, as the Animation students are far better versed on showing solid form through use of conté than I am. Anyway, here are some studies that I am reasonably happy with:




As a lifelong cartoonist, I'm far more comfortable with a pencil in hand, depicting form through outline, varying the line weight with pressure and angle. I also find that I'm happier when I give in to my cartoon sensibilities and caricature the model, as I can capture more inner life and personality that way. Here are some examples of the way I prefer to depict Heather:






Just a reminder to all of my readers who live in the vicinity of Brampton, Ontario, that the open life drawing sessions at Visual Arts Brampton are held every Tuesday evening from 7pm to 9:30pm. Please click on the link listed in the sidebar for more information.

Costumed Model Sketches

As I mentioned a couple posts ago, most Tuesday evenings I can be found at Visual arts Brampton for the open workshop life drawing sessions. One of our regular models, Heather, has been posing for us both this week and last. Just for a change from the usual life drawing, Heather had brought some costumes that she put on for the longer studies. As Heather has a background in dance, last week she brought along her ballet wear to do her final poses in. Lovely Heather looked like she'd stepped right out of a Degas painting, and I thought I'd post a couple of my sketches here. As I often do, in the second sketch I reverted back to my caricatured style, as I really enjoy capturing the cuteness of our regular models. I've probably made Heather look about 16 here, but I like the more cartooned proportions.




For tonight's session, Heather had brought along a sari to wear for her last couple of poses. Taking a cue from her rather majestic standing pose with the staff, I envisioned her as an exotic high priestess, complete with a serpent head sceptre. (And yes, in both poses I took certain other liberties...) I also took a reference photo with Heather's permission, so that I could later compare the drawing and the pic taken from the same vantage point. In hindsight, I can now see how I've made her head a bit bigger relative to her body, as is my tendency to do, although admittedly not intentionally in this case. I think it's my background as a cartoonist that leads to this slight proportion discrepancy, but I honestly can't see it at the time. Funny thing is, on those occasions when I have drawn the head/body ratio more accurately, it always looks odd to me! Ah well...





Again, just a reminder that the life drawing sessions are every Tuesday evening at Visual Arts Brampton, from 7:00 to 9:30. It's just $10 per session and there's no obligation to sign up for anything - it's just an open workshop without instruction. Please check the VAB website for more information. I hope to see some of my local readers there sometime!

Hot Off The Drawing Board!

Here's a couple of sketches I just did in this evening's life drawing session. Once again our model was pretty little Heather, and these were the final two poses lasting 30 minutes and 20 minutes respectively:


Again, I opted for the slightly caricatured approach, as my three 10 minute more traditional sketches right before these were somewhat disappointing, seeming too stiff for my liking. Once I allow my cartoonist instincts to take hold, I tend to loosen up and produce more appealing results.

By the way, these are just to whet your appetite for the pics of another model I'll be showcasing a few days from now!

More Heather Sketches

Here are some more sketches of Heather, one of our regular life models at Visual Arts Brampton. These are from various sessions over the last couple of years.

Probably because of my interest in caricature and always wanting to obtain a likeness, oftentimes I will concentrate more on drawing the face than I really should in a session. Here's a traditional portrait I drew of Heather during a 30 minute pose.

This is a 10 minute study, so it's a lot less refined. Note the guidelines on her face in order to place the features fairly accurately. (This is something I stress a lot in my Character Design class to my students too!)

Again, I probably spent too much time on her face getting the likeness in this one, when in fact I should have perhaps checked the proportions on her body more closely before finishing. In hindsight, her head seems slightly too big relative to her body. I still like the drawing though.

At some point during the evening, I just can't help but revert back to my cartoonist inclinations and take a more caricatured approach to drawing the model. I love making a cute pose even cuter, looking for ways to idealize the form in order to get as much visual appeal as I can.

This drawing is one of my favourites of Heather. She had a different hairstyle that evening and the added texture and waviness was fun to draw. The lighting was quite dramatic, so I tried putting in some cool blue shadows along with the warm reds. This one may be destined to hang on my den wall sometime soon!

Again, both the dramatic lighting and Heather's pose inspired me to try something unique with this drawing. It suggested a look of cowering in fear, so I adapted her expression to play up the melodrama. The resulting image puts me in mind of the type of illustration you used to see on the covers of dimestore crime novels. I'm tempted to try doing a painted version of this sketch someday, where I can really simulate one of those old pulp fiction covers!

Heather

This is Heather, one of the models we have frequently hired to pose in the life drawing sessions every Tuesday evening at Visual Arts Brampton over the last 3 years. She is certainly a favourite of mine, as she has all the feminine appeal of what we cartoonists think of as the "Freddy Moore Girl" (like the bobbysoxers in "Make Mine Music" or the centaurettes in "Fantasia"), in that she has very soft, curvy features.

Heather has a background in dance, both in ballet and in musical theatre. This is quite evident in her choice of poses during the quick gestures stage that we begin each session with. As you can see, there is a graceful, rhythmic flow to her poses that is a delight to capture on paper. (That 4th gesture is a "Fosse" dance pose that I'd requested and Heather was happy to oblige.)

During the longer studies, though I might start out drawing very traditionally, I usually can't help but try a more caricatured approach which I honestly have more fun with. Here's an example of where I have done a pencil portrait of Heather, followed by a quick caricature from the same sitting in the time I had left over.

Here is a pose that has been caricatured to some degree.

In this drawing I have also gone for a caricatured approach, trying to capture all of Heather's youthful beauty with simple, flowing linework. It's also an example of where I have dabbled in colour a bit, using soft Prismacolour pencils. I've tried using pastels in the past, too, but admittedly have been less successful in that medium.

I have much more artwork from life drawing sessions with Heather and other regular models at the Brampton studio, many in my caricatured approach. I will continue to post these up from time to time.