NY Figure Drawing (Summer Sketch)

The Devil really is in the details!

2011-11-05T23:44:00.000-07:00

ROME (Reuters) - Art restorers have discovered the figure of a devil hidden in the clouds of one of the most famous frescos by Giotto in the Basilica of St Francis in Assisi, church officials said on Saturday.

The devil was hidden in the details of clouds at the top of fresco number 20 in the cycle of the scenes in the life and death of St Francis painted by Giotto in the 13th century.

The discovery was made by Italian art historian Chiara Frugone. It shows a profile of a figure with a hooked nose, a sly smile, and dark horns hidden among the clouds in the panel of the scene depicting the death of St Francis.

To read the rest of this article, click on the Yahoo link:

Drawing in 3D VIDEO!

2011-10-31T00:40:00.000-07:00

The Drawing in 3D article has been converted into a brief video. This covers the very basic basics of shading to create a sense of depth. Have a look! Share it with anyone you know who may like it, and please do leave feedback!

What materials should I bring for my first figure drawing class?

2011-10-24T03:31:00.001-07:00

This is a question that comes up often, and different schools and different teachers might have specific requirements for their students. Since the Summer Sketch Group is a casual, uninstructed drawing session, there are no requirements, but I'll offer you some good basics to start with, and explain why I recommend them. You'll find that these are also the same items that are most commonly suggested to beginners in many schools.

Paper (to draw on, of course)
There are many different kinds of paper, but hands down, the most popular kind for beginners is rough newsprint. Newsprint is basically the stuff they print newspapers on. It's cheaply made of recycled paper and wood pulp and it's very inexpensive, so you can go through a lot of it without spending a lot of money. Rough Newsprint also has a rough texture, and a kind of softness, which makes it excellent for use with softer drawing materials like charcoal, drawing chalk, dry pastels and crayons. In fact, many of the top anatomy and drawing teachers absolutely love drawing on newsprint for its particular feel when drawing. You might too.

The biggest drawback of newsprint is that it's not made to last. It has an acidic nature and eventually turns brown and crumbly, just like an old newspaper. It also tends to be unsized, which means that it's absorbent, and so not great for paint or markers. Still, it's great to start with and fun to draw on.

The next most common type of paper is called Sketch Paper. The companies that make sketch paper typically also make Drawing paper, and the sketch paper is usually just a thinner version of the drawing paper, and typically somewhat less expensive than the drawing paper. These papers are bright white, "acid free" so they won't turn yellow and crumbly, and are "sized" which means they've been treated with a starch solution to make them less absorbent so they're good to use with paints, ink and markers. Sketch paper is more expensive than newsprint.

What Size paper to bring?
Good question! Most of us feel comfortable with notebooks that are 8 1/2" x 11" in size, but art schools usually ask students to buy pads that are much bigger. Why is that?

The bigger the paper, the more detail you can put in your drawings! And the more details you put in your drawings, the more you train your eyes to see detail the details.

At the same time, it doesn't do you any good if you're still doing little drawings swimming on a giant page. I generally recommend getting the biggest pad you can comfortably carry under your arm, usually about 11 x 14" or 12 x 18." These pads also work well if propped up against a chair, while the bigger pads sometimes need an easel, or an additional back board to support them and keep them from flopping around. But remember, there is no "right" or "wrong" in art. If you want to use bigger pads, do it! They're sitting on the art store shelves for you.

Drawing Materials

Charcoal is probably the most classic of all drawing materials, and certainly one of the first. Cavemen used it! Charcoal is simply burnt wood. It comes in a variety of different types and is also inexpensive. Here are the most common types:

Vine Charcoal
These thin strips of charcoal are actually what is left behind when vines are baked in a kiln. The remnants are light and brittle, and they leave a light, delicate line on the paper which can be brushed off of some papers easily. It's popularly used for the underdrawings of paintings. Some people really like the texture of it.

Willow Charcoal
Is very similar to vine charcoal. sticks of willow wood are baked in kiln until only charcoal is left. It has the delicate properties of vine charcoal, but the pieces are bigger and stringer and sometimes produce a darker line.

Compressed Charcoal
Think of this as charcoal compressed into sticks that are square or round in cross-section. In actual fact, the charcoal is usually ground to a fine powder and mixed with a binding agent, and sometimes clay or other ingredients to give it a smoother texture to draw with and better adherence to the paper. Compressed charcoal is heavier than the others, and also offers a broader tonal range that the unprocessed charcoals, which is to say you can get much darker shadows and lines that with the others. Compressed charcoal usually comes is different degrees of hardness. The softer it is,the easier it is to smudge and blend, and also the softer ones will let you make darker marks on the paper.

All of the above charcoals can be used to draw thin lines with the point, like a pencil, or you can use the side of the charcoal to get a broad sweep of color onto your paper.

Charcoal Pencils
Compressed charcoal in a pencil! You can't put down broad sweeps of color the way you can with a charcoal stick, but you can get more accurate lines and sharpen it like a pencil, and it's less messy.

For bigger pads, above 11 x 14" I do NOT recommend pencils, simply because it takes too long to fill in large areas, and you can get hung up in little details and lose sight of the whole drawing.

Other fun materials:
There are many other materials that you can use in a figure drawing class. many of them come in a stick or block shape similar to compressed charcoal.

Graphite Sticks
Graphite, the same stuff in your pencil, can be got in big crayon-like sticks. Actually the "lead" in you pencil is a combination of graphite powder, wax and sometimes other ingredients (but no lead!). Graphite sticks are sometimes rated in hardness scares just like pencils or compressed charcoal.

Dry Pastels (Drawing chalk)
Dry pastels are made of finely powdered artist's pigments mixed with a binder exactly like the kind used in the making of compressed charcoal. They are fun to use and come in a huge variety of colors. Traditionally, carbon black, sepia, sienna and umbar (all shades of brown, except for the black, of course) are sued for figure drawing, but you can choose any color you like! Some popular brands include Conte Crayons, Neupastels, Koh-I-Noor, and Alphacolor.

Oil Pastels
These are a kind of crayon made of finely powdered pigment combined with an oil. Pastels for kids, like Cray-pas brand, are combined with mineral oil. They never dry up and are fairly easy to wash off hands with soap and water. Artists' pastels are combined with an oil medium which will eventually dry, making your drawings permanent. Oil pastels have a rich texture when going on the paper, are easy to blend and come in many colors.

Oil Bars
Are very similar to oil pastels--big bars of color, comprised of pigment, wax and an oil that eventually dries. These are bigger than pastels and offer the opportunity for bigger art works and more painterly effects. Two popular brands are from Shiva and Windsor Newton.

Crayons
Yeah, I'm thinking of Crayolas! Cheap and easy to come by, good quality crayons offer a great range of colors and very little mess. Actually, many different art supply manufacturers make wax crayons, and some offer excellent quality. Some are even water-soluble, and can be gone over with a wet paintbrush for more effects. Some good brands are Crayola, Prang, and Caran D'ache.

Markers
Broad markers can be fun to draw with. You can fill big areas of color fast, the marker are inexpensive and the felt tips can be very expressive. The drawbacks of markers are that some use smelly solvents (alcohol or other solvents), and the ink gets absorbed into the paper more easily than most other drawing mediums, so the lines might "bleed" and get fuzzy on some papers.

Brush and Ink or Paint
A watercolor brush with flexible bristles is great for sketching with! Watercolor brushes typically come to a fine point, and also spread, so with a little careful handling, you can get a great variety of line-width. You can also use water "washes" to get a big tonal range. Some people use a bottle of ink, and put a few drops of it in a little dish, or right from the bottle (illustrators like to use permanent link, or "India Ink" which becomes waterproof when it dries, but fountain pen ink, which is water-soluble, also works well). Both kinds of ink come in many colors.

You can also use watercolor paints in a similar way you'd use ink. Watercolors come in a solid cake which you can just stroke a wet brush over, and also as a paste in tubes. Watercolor is always water-soluble.

In addition to watercolor brushes, Asian (Chinese & Japanese) calligraphy brushes are a good choice. The usually have excellent points and nice responsiveness, and there are many inexpensive ones that work well. These brushes have either brown bristles, which are very much like sable brushes and create a sharp, clean line, or white bristles, which are more flexible and create a softer mark.

Asian calligraphy inks are also a great choice. They come in bottles and sticks. The sticks have to be ground on a special stone palette, but the bottled ink can be used just like any other bottled ink. Asian inks are made from pine soot and produce a very dark black which can be diluted for a very broad range of tones.

Hope that gives you enough to get started with! Find the ones that appeals to you, and get comfortable using them. After that, if you like, try some of the others. Art is all about experimenting and developing your skill. Practice and have fun.

All images are public domain, courtesy Wikimedia Commons http://commons.wikimedia.org/

Draw-Mania! THREE Thursday, Sept 22, 8pm

2011-09-20T01:12:00.000-07:00

First off, a big apology for not posting about this to the blog earlier. I've been trying all kinds of different avenues to get the word out about this, and it looks like I overlooked the one right under my nose!

Well, here's the skinny: This Thursday, Sept 22 at the Bento Burger Lounge (101 East 2nd st., upstairs). The Bento Burger is part of the Lucky Cheng's Arts Complex, so to speak.

As with all the others we're offering the talents of some of New York's best and most popular art models, male and female, in an assortment of poses. We also have DJ Shred, a well-known DJ specializing in 80s and Depeche Mode in particular (but not exclusively), some terrific musicians and comedians, raffle prizes and drink specials!

It runs 8pm till midnight and you get it all for a scant $15 smackers.

And I promise to post more frequently about it!

for all the information go to the website: http://www.draw-mania.com

DRAW-MANIA Draw-a-thon-- Sunday, July 17th!!

2011-07-06T02:07:00.000-07:00

Grab your pad and pencils and head over to the Fortune Cookie Lounge for a night of inspired drawing, comedy and music, draw-a-thon-style!
The Draw-mania draw-a-thon is a figure drawing party for artists. We feature some of New York’s top art models in a variety of poses to inspire your creativity in the East Village’s funkiest out-of-the-way lounge! (bring your own drawing materials)

Want more?—Some of the East Village’s hottest new comics! Music! Raffle Prizes! Drink Specials! (Drink specials, for god’s sake!)

All levels of artistic ability, and all kinds of reasonable drawing and painting materials are welcome, but NO PHOTOGRAPHY!
$15 at the door. 8pm. to midnight. Doors open at 7pm.
Fortune Cookie Lounge
24 First Ave. Betw. 1st & 2nd street, downstairs
(a block from the F Train, 2nd ave. station)

For latest news and list of performers, and other fun stuff, go to the website: www.draw-mania.com

Email: info@draw-mania.com

Until July 8th you can buy advance tickets for only $10 either through the Summer Sketch Meetup group (on Meetup.com) or via the Draw-mania page at indiegogo.com.
(you can find direct links to both on the web page www.draw-mania.com)

RIP Jeff Catherine Jones

2011-06-02T00:24:00.000-07:00

I just discovered that one of my favorite artists/illustrators died about two weeks ago--Jeff Jones, later to become Jeff Catherine Jones.

Frank Frazetta referred to Jones as "the greatest living painter. Jones' paintings combine a poetic, fairytale feel reticent of the great illustrators of the early 20th century with a dynamic, loose and sensuous brushwork and use of color.

His/her paintings graced innumerable paperback covers during what might have been the golden age of paperbacks, around the 1970s, but it was the fun and masterful pen drawings that won me. I first saw his "I'm Age" strips in Heavy Metal Magazine in the 1980s, and the easy, sensuous, unselfconscious lines and painterly use of shadow and texture were something that made a huge impression on me. The silly humor and fascination with the inevitably under-dressed Vermeerish female figures also won me over.

But what I really wanted to share with you guys was this wonderful remembrance by George Pratt, a friend and student of Jones. It is also chock-full of priceless how-to information for artists. Please read & enjoy:
http://georgepratt.wordpress.com/2011/05/24/jeff-jones-1944-2011/

Illustration by Jeff Jones, collection of George Pratt

Posemaniac lets you develop rapid sketching on computer or smartphone

2011-03-10T01:52:00.001-08:00

This is soooo cool!
http://www.posemaniacs.com/thirtysecond

Anyone who's taken a drawing class with me knows that I love 30 second poses. There's even an article on this blog about why 30 second poses are so good for you when they seem so frustrating at first. They have a lot of benefits, but I'll recap the most important in a nutshell: Quick sketches internalize the form into your mind faster. Working that quickly, you can't get hung up on the details, just the "gesture" (or motion of the figure) and the proportions. And after you do these for a while, the "feel" for the figure becomes ingrained and instinctive.

And besides, once you start to get 'em, quick sketching is REALLY fun!

So what do you do if you can't make it to my sketch group? Go to http://www.posemaniacs.com/thirtysecond

There, on your screen, you'll have 30 second poses generated for you to draw. you can actually set it for different intervals, and in fairness, the figures are computer-generated and can be a little hard to "get" for the first 5 minutes or so. It also offers you odd angles that you'd rarely get to see a live model from, like form underfoot, and even a very useful "negative space option."

You can select specific poses from the pose files, and many can be rotated too, and you can also bring up a grid to make it easy to reproduce the proportions accurately.

Stick with this program and you'll find your mastery of the figure increasing quickly and dramatically.

The site also offers other links for specific anatomical part & details, but you may have to engage your browser's Japanese translation in order to get the most out of it. (the Google toolbar offer a really good one, but there are others, too).

Special thanks to Jim Fleming for letting me know about this!

Audrey Munson, America's biggest art star

2011-02-15T10:54:00.000-08:00

She was the American Venus, Miss Manhattan. She was the inspiration to the tops artists, sculptors and architechs of her day, then went on to becoming one of the worlds first movie stars, and the first to do a tasteful nude scene--in 1915!!

As if that wasn't enough, she rubbed elbows with the elite, found herself at the center of a love & murder scandal, and lived to 104.

After her "discovery" on a street corner by a prominent photographer of her day, she went on to inspire sculptures that can be found literally all over New York City, from the Strauss Memorial at 106 street & West End Ave., to the Brooklyn Bridge, on the dimes & half dollars of her day, and on fountains and buildings all across the country.

Check out her biography http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audrey_Munson, and this terrific little video about how she graces our fair city:

And this axcellent little blog:
THE BLUE LANTERN: Audrey Munson: Her Brilliant Career

Pencils! What'll they think of next? (Unusual Art Material)

2010-12-07T00:18:00.000-08:00

OK, maybe pencils have been around for a while, maybe you've even used one before.

I don't have to tell you that pencils are usually made of graphite, and come in all sorts of "grades," from the very hard pencils that maintain a sharp point for a long time (but don't apply a very dark line), to the very soft pencils that glide sensuously across the paper and can put down very dark tones (but don't hold a point for long).

And you probably also know that the each specific degree of hardness or softness is indicated on a scale that runs from "H" for Hard to "B" for black (the ones with the soft lead), with an "F", for fine point, right in the middle of the scale. And since people like variety, the scale is also subdivided further with numbers for a scale that usually runs about 8H all the way to 8B.

Hard pencils are popular with draughtsmen because they offer consistently fine lines, but for the artists, it's the soft pencils that are the most popular. the softer the pencil, the more tonal range it offers from light shading all the way to a very dark tone for really deep shadows. And the soft ones blend more easily. And the softest pencil known to man is the 9B pencil.

Until now, that is!

The Mitsu-Bishi pencil company of Japan offers a 10B pencil!! (Here's the line in the sand: a lot of you will be saying "Who gives a ******?!", but there are a few of you jumping out of your chairs, pulling your coats over your pajamas and exclaiming "10B Pencils?! I need them now!!" You know who you are).

It's extremely soft and smooth writing, and provides a wide range of tone, although you need a light touch to maintain a light tone. It smudges fairly easily, which can be good news or bad, depending on your style.

I found mine at Kinokuniya bookstore in NYC, a bit pricey at $2.60, but it's a well made piece of drawing equipment. I'd bet they can be found at other stores that offer Japanese stationary and art supplies. They can also be found on-line. Do a search for Hi-Uni 10B, and then do a little comparison shopping.

And if you just love reading everything about pencils (again, you know who you are), check this out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pencils.

Drawing in 3D

2010-11-29T21:55:00.000-08:00

Here’s a quick primer about shading, and the way to create a sense of depth to make your drawings look more “three dimensional.” This is going to be pretty basic and simple, so you’ll be able to start using it immediately.

But first, what is this image a picture of?

Is it a figure? A woman? A statue? The girl who invented cheese?

It’s a picture of a piece of paper with light and dark chalk rubbed on it! That’s all it really is, however, that chalk has been put on the paper in a particular, precise pattern so that your eye recognizes that pattern as a human figure. But it’s still a piece of paper, just like your drawings. Now, the pattern in which the chalk was put down on the paper was done in a very precise way, so precise that it can encode very specific structural details that a viewer’s mind can instantly understand to represent a figure when they look at it. If you look at the drawing closely, you can see how expertly the artist has captured on paper the texture, form, hair, musculature under the skin, shadows, etc. (This drawing is by Pierre-Paul Prud'hon, possibly one of the greatest figure-sketch artists of all time, and a favorite of Marie Antionette).

A computer, at its most basic level, processes everything, whether text documents, pictures or video, as a series of 1s and 0s which are called “bits” of information, and this is known as the “binary” numerical system. Similarly, all visual information can be broken down into 2 bits of information: light and shadow (use of color puts an added spin on the art, but when you understand light and dark first, color becomes much easier and more meaningful to work with).

Most of the time, if you’re drawing, you’re going to be using white or light-colored paper, and the substance you’re going to be drawing with, whether pencil, pen or crayon, is going to be darker.

A “contour drawing” is a line drawing where the line follows the contours, which is to say the edges and details, of the subject of the drawing.

Contour drawings can be great, and convey a lot of detail, but they can also look a little bit flat, since they only convey detail about the edges of what you’re drawing and not about the depth.
Now, when your eye perceives a three dimensional object, what it actually sees is the light reflecting off of that object and into your eye. Because the object is three dimensional, some parts of that object are closer to you than others, and are likely to reflect more light, and the parts farther away from you are more likely to be in shadow. If you’re only using absolute light and dark then the parts of a thing closer to you would be white, and the parts farther away would be black. Like this:

It creates a very bold image, doesn’t it? It’s powerful, but also a little bit cold and if it’s very detailed, it can be confusing.

Notice the transition between light and dark is very intense, “all or nothing,” and the edges all seem very sharp, don’t they? By adding a third, transitional value, we can modulate the intensity of the light and shadow, and create softer, rounder transitions.

The middle tone is half dark and half light—50% of each. And each tone represents how far away from you the object is. This is basic “shading.”
Now we have a lot to work with!

Try playing with this for a while in your drawings and see how many ways you can use this. Your darkest tone is going to be the farthest away, lightest tone is closest, and middle tone is in-between. From here it makes sense that you can continue to split the tones for greater detail as you need them.

Going further—styles of drawing
There are a few other ways of suggesting depth by way of light and shadow, the most common are:

Line weight: Darker, heavier line suggests darkness and depth. It’s an effect that’s used a great deal in cartoons and comics and also in some styles of Asian brush art. It’s also sometimes used in technical illustration.

Cross hatching: Etchings, line drawing and pen-and-ink art typically utilize only solid lines. In that case, the half-tone can be approximated by increasing the density of the lines or "cross hatching." By applying more lines in a particular area, it blocks out a certain amount of the light reflecting back to the viewer’s eye, say, 50% of the reflected light, which is the same thing that the 50% (solid grey) half-tone did earlier.

There are many ways to imply shading with line alone: cross hatching, stippling (little dots), and other textures you can make up yourself. Notice that they all suggest different surface textures to the viewer.

Look at all the textures the famous illustrator, Harry Clarke, used in this illustration for Poe's "Tales of Mystery and Imagination."

If you’re just starting out, you can take for granted that the brightest part of the image will be closest to you, in the way we’ve been discussing. But after you begin to get some familiarity with the ins and outs of shading, you’ll begin to notice that sometimes the light may not be closest to you.

Other Traditions
Also, be aware that that in different cultures, different rules may apply. In Asian Painting, for example, closer objects are often darker, while distant objects may be lighter, as if disappearing into a fog.

Further Reading:
Guptill, Arthur L.-- Rendering in Pen and Ink: The Classic Book on Pen and Ink Techniques for Artists, Illustrators, Architects, and Designers

Eisner, Will-- Graphic Storytelling and Visual Narrative

Simmons, Gary-- The Technical Pen

Now go and have fun with this stuff!

(c) 2010 Jeff Sauber

Harry Clarke illustration from http://www.grandmasgraphics.com/index.php

The CIA?! Too strange NOT to be true!!

2010-11-11T00:48:00.000-08:00

The cold war was a funny time. The US & USSR were locked in a life or death struggle over ideals, and no weapon was too extreme or too exotic. Anything that could demonstrate the superiority of Democracy over Communism was fair game, and the guys at the CIA were no dummies. What better way to show that America was home to all kinds of thought than by supporting arts that no one seemed to quite understand! Apparently, they used their influence, to the consternation of much of the rest of the government, by getting modern art into the public eye in any way necessary. But it seems they had as much resistance at home as they did from the Russians..

Read all about it here:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/modern-art-was-cia-weapon-1578808.html

Holding Still

2010-07-16T23:17:00.000-07:00

Ever wonder what it's like to start posing nude? Here's a great article by a terrific model in Montanna...

http://artmodelbrookelynne.blogspot.com/2010/03/holding-still.html

Not in New York? (Class listings all over the place)

2010-07-16T22:56:00.000-07:00

You know figurative artists are obsessive about honing their skills, and artists in New York are lucky in that there are so many places they can go. What if you're not in New York/ What if you're new and can't find a place to go?

Here's a great site that lists figure drawing sessions all over the nation!

http://www.artmodelbook.com/figure-drawing-directory.htm

A commercial for the Summer Sketch group?

2010-05-29T01:45:00.001-07:00

Yeah! Well, kinda. Meetup has recently added the ability to mount a video on the homepage, and I had to give it a try. Have a look and tell me what you think of it. Art by the sketch group members (Jim Fleming, Bunham Yu, and Whitney Turkanis), voice over, such as it is, by yours truly.

Crazy For Good Art?

2010-05-28T21:45:00.000-07:00

Michelangelo's David, regarded as the world's most beautiful statue, can trigger mental imbalances in overly sensitive and cultivated onlookers, says a top psychiatrist in Florence.

Dr Graziella Magherini reported the preliminary findings of a year-long study at a symposium at the Galleria dell'Accademia in Florence, where the naked marble man attracts 1.2 million visitors a year.

She says David can have a particular emotional impact on a certain kind of visitor.

"I've called it the David Syndrome. It causes mind-bending symptoms and affects mostly those travelling on their own or in couples," says Magherini, who is president of Italy's Art and Psychology Association...

Read the whole article here: http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/health/HealthRepublish_1512809.htm

Thanks to Art New Blog (http://www.artnewsblog.com/) and Pearl Paint for this!

New Advice for Models

2010-03-27T12:08:00.000-07:00

I've been getting a lot of contact from people looking for work as art models. It's getting so frequent that I thought I'd put the info up here for ease of access.

If you're "cold calling", which is to say, sending out an email to someone you haven't spoken to before, present yourself in a professional manner. Modeling is a kind of performance, and performers send a note of introduction that includes their skills, contact information, and a photo. A model is no less a performer. Offering complete information up front projects an air of confidence and experience. Be aware that a photo has 1000 times the impact of an email alone. Even if the recipient isn't hiring immediately, a picture is more likely to stick in the mind and result in a future job. It doesn't have to be a nude or modelling pic, just a nice, simple photo that clearly depicts your face and shoulders is fine. If you have some really unusual image that might help you stand out consider including that if you think it's appropriate, just be careful of the audience you're sending to. An art school might have more conservative tastes than an independent arts group.
Don't forget your contact information!!

The idea is that you're offering something (your unique skills) not asking for something (work). This resonates better on a subconscious level, and makes you seem more valuable.

Be persistent, not insistent!
Do follow up every couple of weeks, even if they don't hire you immediately. A gently reminder that you're available might keep you in mind when something does open up. Don't call too often, though--it comes across as needy and gets irritating, and will work against you.

Specifically for male models: It is unquestionable harder for you guys! Don't take it personally. Experienced artists are comfortable with models of any gender, but less experienced artists may be uncomfortable with male models. You might expect inexperienced guys in a class to be a little put off, but inexperienced girls can also feel intimidated. Don't take it personally, it's not you. Many women who pose have dancing experience, and pose well. It's much less common to find a male model who can pose well, and that's a highly desired talent, much more so than a good physique (the artist can always draw in extra muscles if he really wants to). If you have some unique physical training, do mention it up front, and maybe include a picture of yourself in action doing it.

Also check out my earlier post--some advice for a new model: http://nyfiguredrawing.blogspot.com/2009/02/tips-for-art-models.html

I have a list of all the walk-in classes that I know of in the NYC area (as of about a year ago). It's called Classes about Town, feel free to download it and use it for leads. There are also new classes springing up on Meet up.com all the time.
You can download the list here: http://www.meetup.com/FigureSketching-NYC/files/

Regarding my Summer Sketch Group: I only have 2-3 sessions per month, and I usually hire models I've worked with before, so I don't have too many openings, but I do keep contact info on file, since occasional openings DO come up.

Best of luck,
Jeff

The faults lie not in ourselves, but in our stars...

2009-09-14T23:30:00.000-07:00

Well, the bartender explained that with Mercury retrograde, something like this was bound to happen...
I arrived at our usual location to discover a small-cask beer festival in full swing. The stage where the model usually poses was crowded with casks, and the room crowded with beer aficionados.

"Use the dining room!" the bartender suggested, "We don't start serving dinner till six." With some of you coming all the way from Connecticut and farthest Jersey, I didn't want to cancel the session, so dining room it was, even though it's open on two sides and people have to travel through it to get to the bathroom & the kitchen.

The model was new to NYC, and so, apparently, was the cab driver who brought her, since he thought 43 East 7th ought to be on 43rd street and Seventh ave. So we got started rather late. Nevertheless we soldiered on, the model opting to work nude (I left it to her discretion) despite the open environment, and despite the occasional beer-dazzled ogler leering through the doorway, she posed brilliantly, with poses both graceful and romantic, and despite the celestial wackiness, I think we all went home with drawings that were sure to appease the angry spirits.

Please don't be dissapointed if future sessions aren't anywhere near as complicated..

Dali-Disney

2009-07-08T13:08:00.000-07:00

Got this amazing link from a friend a la Facebook.

"In 1946 legendary surrealist Salvador Dali formed an unlikely friendship with Walt Disney, and they spent some time collaborating on a short film called Destino..."

Go to:
http://www.monstersandrockets.com/2009/07/dali-and-disneys-destino-completed-sort.html

Dates for July sessions

2009-06-29T00:01:00.001-07:00

Hi Folks!

We're on for July 26, Sunday, 3-6pm. The usual place. Additionally, on July 18th, several bars, Jimmy's included, will be hosting Drawing Day as part of Good Beer Month, which will include some fun artist-oriented festivities in addition to some really good beers! More info to follow.

Talk to ya soon!
--Jeff

New dates for the next two months

2009-04-24T23:38:00.000-07:00

These are the dates for the upcoming sessions:

May
5/17
5/31
(No session 5/3!)

June
6/14
6/28

Same time (3-6pm) Same place.
Please refer to the meetup page for more info.
See ya there!
--J.

Looking at "lively" art

2009-04-07T16:25:00.000-07:00

During our last session, we got to talking about what puts the "life" is a figure sketch. I mean, some drawings might be the loosest, roughest drawings, but they look like they want to leap off the page, and other drawings, though technically perfect, seem somehow flat.

I proposed the feeling of "life" in a drawing is what's often called the "gesture," which is a well defined vector, or line of motion. Take a look at the sports pictures in the back of the newspaper. Whether its football, basketball or baseball, even a horse race, if the picture has a dynamic quality, you can probably trace it back to a clearly defined line of action in the image.

Perhaps you’re seeing a football player slamming against an opponent, a basketball player springing for the hoop, or a baseball player twisting into the follow through of his swing, or that horse rocketing towards the finish, just a nose ahead of the competition. You could even take a pencil, if you wanted to, and go through the paper, drawing arrows where you see a line of action.

Short-poses of 30 seconds to 5 minutes are great for capturing the gesture. One of the pitfalls of longer drawings is that you can get too tied up in the details of each particular area of the drawing, and it comes out “overworked.” What that usually means is that different areas of the picture are directed in different directions, and that it what makes it “flat." If you start your sketch class out with short poses, it warms up your eye & you tend to see the figure in its entirety for the longer poses.

Some of the artists we discussed:

Be aware that the action doesn’t have to be dramatic or intense. Vermeer painted some of the “quietest” paintings ever, loving, placid, candid, moments caught like butterflies, but they are FULL of action. In the famous “Girl with the Pearl Earring,” you might see a simple portrait, but it’s not. It has a quality of life that’s captivating. What’s happening on that canvas? She’s not just posing for her year book, she’s turning to look—at you. The twist in her neck tells you she just noticed you, and the slight rise of her head signals recognition—she’s looking at you and she knows you (and I think she likes you, too).

And look at “The Lacemaker.” Or rather, look at what the lacemaker is looking at. You can see her total focus on her work. If you look at this painting for more than a few minutes, you may even hear the rustle of her clothes against the table, Maybe marvel that she’s so focused on her work that she hasn’t even noticed you watching her.

You may notice that in both examples, it’s the direction of the glance, and by extension, the head, that defines the line of motion. I won’t say much more about that, but do go ahead and experiment with it. Notice it in people around you or in pictures, and try it out in your drawings. (anyone with experience in Judo, Aikido or wrestling knows that the opponent’s body follows whatever direction his head moves, especially if you’re moving it for him).

One other thing worth thinking about, but maybe a little beyond the scope of this article, is that in a truly great image, the composition is arranged to highlight and work with the motion. It’s possible for the line of action to be overwhelmed by other elements in the picture. The masters, from Rembrandt to Weegee, were also master stage-designers, in that the entire canvas and everything in it was designed to highlight the action.

Take a look at the way Alphonse Mucha captures motion in his lines. Notice the way the lines he draws all compliment the motion of the figure—no lines ever cut across the direction of the motion, but rather, all flow with it. You might also be aware of the abstract, yet tombstone-like composition of most of his backgrounds, and how that highlights the dynamism of the figure. Mucha was one of the most famous artist of the Art Noveau period.

Hokusai, the Japanese artist, famous for, amongst other works, “100 views of Mt. Fuji” is equally famous for his “manga” which were printed collections of figure sketches, many of which have an amazing sense of both motion and humor. (for references, I particularly recommend Michner’s “The Hokusai Sketchbooks,” Tuttle, 1958)

His famous quote (taken from Wikipedia):
The next period, beginning in 1834, saw Hokusai working under the name "Gakyō Rōjin Manji" (The Old Man Mad About Art).In the postscript to this work (100 Views of Mt. Fuji), Hokusai writes:[1]
“ From around the age of six, I had the habit of sketching from life. I became an artist, and from fifty on began producing works that won some reputation, but nothing I did before the age of seventy was worthy of attention. At seventy-three, I began to grasp the structures of birds and beasts, insects and fish, and of the way plants grow. If I go on trying, I will surely understand them still better by the time I am eighty-six, so that by ninety I will have penetrated to their essential nature. At one hundred, I may well have a positively divine understanding of them, while at one hundred and thirty, forty, or more I will have reached the stage where every dot and every stroke I paint will be alive. May Heaven, that grants long life, give me the chance to prove that this is no lie.

A useful but somewhat cryptical resource for sketching, from an Asian perspective, is the Chinese classic on drawing “The Mustard Seed Garden.” Through a series of illustrations, the book presents some very useful examples of proportion, composition and line-character. Obviously, it’s a very culturally-specific book, since it’s seen through the lens of Chinese art. It’s also important to be aware that a lot of the book requires much deeper explanation, or a lot of practice and personal exploration. Implicit in the illustrations are lessons about line quality and character.

For a more thorough and straightforward explanation of the Chinese approach, there’s a great series of four books written by I-Hsiung-Ju, one for each of the “four gentlemen” of Chinese painting (The Book of Bamboo, The Book of Orchid, The Book of Chrysanthemum The Book of Plum) published by the Art Farm of Virginia, 1988. Each of the “gentlemen” embodies a particular kind of line character, and a particular kind of aesthetic, and each gentleman teaches skills built on the skills of the previous. For example, the first gentleman, bamboo, teaches how to put develop strength in lines, and composition using straight lines, and how they break up the space. The second gentlemen, Orchid, uses long lines, like bamboo, but they are more fluid and graceful. This builds on the concepts and strength developed from the previous gentleman.

For a modern American approach, check out books by Burne Hogarth, Frank Frazetta, and George Bridgeman. These are easy to find, and fun to look at and learn from.

It’s definitely worth looking at drawings from all sorts of different artists. Don’t be shy about keeping postcards & Xeroxes on file, and definitely draw your own copies. That’s how the masters learned!
©Jeff Sauber 2009
http://nyfiguredrawing.blogspot.com/

Further advice for models

2009-04-06T14:40:00.000-07:00

I get a fair number of emails from people looking for modelling jobs. I wish I had more oportunities to offer, but I do try to keep every model's info on file, and use 'em if I can.
One thing I'd like to point out to anyone who's looking for this kind of work: include a picture!!

I generally use models I've worked with before, but I do consider anyone who's available, particularly in the summer, when some of the models are out of town. But it's uncomfortable to hire someone sight unseen. If nothing else, it helps a lot for us visual people to have a face we can associate to the number.

It's pretty standard for actors & other kinds of models to attach a pic of some sort, and nothing speaks for you like a visual image. It needn't be a professionally shot portrait, or a nude pic, either, just a good looking snapshot to stick in the memory.

The first sessions of this year...

2009-04-06T14:31:00.000-07:00

We've had the first two sessions of the year, and I think they went off very well! It's a funny phenomenon of groups that work through Meetup.com that the number of people who RSVP never match the nuber who actually show, and this year has been no exception. We've had a consistent 18+ people RSVP and about a dozen show up. So there's always room for a few more people (if you didn't sign up, but you wanted to, chances are there will be room anyway).

On our first session, the space had been left a little dishevled by the Improv show that was there the night before, everyone showed up half an hour late and the model got a leg cramp during the last pose. Not an auspicious way to start, neccessarily, but it means we got all the germlins out of the way, and I expect the rest of the season to be smooth sailing!

Our second session seems to be supporting that assumption.

In both sessions the models were inspiring and the energy of the group was good & keeps gettign better!

Can't wait to see what the rest of the summer has in store!

Dates for the summer sketch group

2009-03-04T09:31:00.000-08:00

The formal schedule will be up in a day or so, but here are the particulars:

The next four sessions will be
March 22
March 29
April 19
April 26

Sundays, from 3pm-6pm in the theater at Jimmy's #43 at 43 East 7th st. Downstairs.
You may use any media and equipment that doesn't do property damage or inconvenience other people in the room (excepting photography, of course).

Poses will range from 30 second to 20 minutes.

The food and beverages at jimmy's are excellent!

I'm just resolving some tiny details, and then I'll send out the invitations via Meetup.com.

You're really going to enjoy this group!!

Cheers,
Jeff

What good is a 30 second pose?!

2009-03-02T21:49:00.000-08:00

I occasionally help run sketch classes in a couple of schools around the city. I often end up with the dubious moniker of "30-second man." Despite what some of my ex-intimates may say, I earned that name because, when I run a class, I like to start out with ten 30-second poses. Now, most sketch classes will start out with one minute poses, so why cut that in half? As it stands, a one-minute pose is so fast...

When I was first introduced to 30-second poses, it took me a while to get to like them. I'd already been drawing nudes for a long time, years in fact, and never did anything shorter than a one-minute pose. It was in Nathan Cabot Hale's class at the Art Student's League in the 80s that I was first exposed to the 30-second pose. Hale, a relative of the famous ASL instructor Robert Beverly Hale, was a sculptor and an anatomist with a fierce demeanor and a good sense of humor. He felt 30 second poses were good for you, and since he knew his business, I thought I should give it a try. Besides, some of the other students would just sit out the short poses without even trying, and I didn't want to give up like that. I rarely refuse a challenge. I rapidly learned to love the 30-second because of how quickly my drawing improved. Why? Here's why:

--You just barely have enough time to capture the gesture, the movement & feeling of the pose. You can't get hung up on any of the details. This is more important than it seems at first. One of the problems a lot of people have is that their drawings seem stiff and woody. The drawing doesn't have the spark of life to it. It may even seem overworked. In 30 seconds, if you get much, it will mostly be that spark.

--You just have enough time to draw the whole figure. Which means you just have enough time to see the whole figure. Getting the parts of the figure all in proportion to each other can be a very difficult thing, and the trouble is that as we draw, our attention gets hung up in the details, as whatever part of the body we spend more time on can come out bigger on paper (usually the head or hands). You can even see this happen on drawings by some of the great artists, even Prud'hon.

--You begin to perceive the figure as a whole in your mind, and this lets you work more quickly.

--You begin to remember more with each glance.

--An inspired model can strike short poses that they could never hold for longer.

--After doing a few 30-second poses, the one minute pose seems like its five times as long, and you'll get so much more out of it.

Sounds like they're worth giving a try, now, right? After all, 10 poses in five minutes..it's a little investment with a big return!

Tips for art models

2009-02-23T18:42:00.000-08:00

For the first substantive post to this blog, I expected I'd post information about some upcoming classes, or pontificate about the changing face of the drawing scene, or a nerdly article on pen points.

Saturday night, I got home from one of Michael Alan's looney Draw-a-thons in the wee hours, and chanced to check my email. There was one from a girl who was asking me if I could give her some tips on breaking into nude (art!) modelling. I spilled out my thoughts, and decided this was a sign... And so my fist post ! Mind you, I've never modeled, but I know what inspires me, and I know what I look for when I hire a model. I'd really love input from some models who know the other side of the pencil.

Hi,

Best way to start, attend a couple of different classes, see how the models do and see how the artists respond. first off, you'll get an idea of what is expected of the models, and you'll also get to see what makes a good model, and what doesn't (as with any other profession, some people do their job better than others).

For artist's models, looks aren't necessarily important. Being able to come up with interesting poses, and being able to hold them, are the top skills.

Holding the pose is really important, since it gets very frustrating when you're 20 minutes into a drawing, and the model is slowly twisting into a different position. Not moving means not moving anything, including your eyes. Of course, your body follows where your eyes go, so if you fix your eyes to one point, you should be ok. Bored, maybe, but OK.

For sketch classes like mine, I don't do a pose longer than 20 minutes, but if you're posing for a painting class or a sculpture class, it can go on for a week or more (boring, I guess, but regular work!). In that case, the pose is typically broken up into 20-25 minute sessions, with a 5 minute break. At the end of the first 20 minutes, the monitor will usually put tape on the places where your feet are to help you find your place again. Being able to hold a pose is a highly regarded skill!

Being able to offer interesting poses will make you a desirable model! The best models have a good sense of motion in their poses, and that makes for exciting drawings. This is where dancers & yoga practitioners have an advantage. If you're familiar with ballet, think Jose Limon over Martha Graham. If that doesn't mean anything to you, one good way to create a sense of motion is to be asymmetrical, or slightly off balance. Or use the poses to act out a story, or express your inner demons.

Having fun will make posing, or any job, more easier.

Just remember that you'll be going for hours, so pace yourself, too.

As far as working conditions, most of the people you'll be working with will be pretty cool. Sketch classes traditionally have been quiet, meditative places, but there are a new breed, like Michael Alan's Sketch-a-thon, and Dr. Sketchy's in Brooklyn. These are more like performance art and/or burlesque, and usually have costumes, themes and music.

Hope that's good for a start!

If you go to the "files" section of the Meetup group, you'll find a PDF I created called "Classes around town." It lists all the classes I know of in the area. That ought to be a good start. Also try colleges with art departments (Hunter, CCNY, NYU, etc).

Good luck!

Cheers,
Jeff

Welcome To NY Figure Drawing

2009-02-22T12:02:00.000-08:00

Life drawing, ie., drawing the nude figure from a live model

Some of you may already know me! I've been running a life drawing group in the summers here in Manhattan, on and off, for something like ten years. A few years ago, I brought the group to Meetup.com. That helped reach a lot of new people, and it helped to streamline the process of scheduling the sessions. The meetup site interface isn't really a great place for interacting, however. there's a lot more I want to share, and a blog seemed like a better place to offer suggestions and to get feedback. I'm going to try to keep this site filled with new and useful content, including information on:

Materials and techniques
Beginner's suggestions
Info on my group and all the others in NYC that I know about
Info on running a sketch group
Info for models and artists
And of course a little blog-worthy pontification
Art (of course)

Is there something else that you would you like to see on this site? Let me know!

--Jeff