What's New for 2016

Been a while since I updated the blog! I actually have a bunch of half-finished articles I think you'll find really useful, but it's been so busy, I haven't had a chance, and I'm kind of a stickler about making them the best articles I can. But I'm making a point of catching up! Stay tuned for more fun articles to come.

We have a couple of new, fun offerings for 2016:

Single Pose Class We're now presenting a 2 hour long, single pose class. It's a great opportunity to really hunker down and develop your visual acuity and get a very detailed, finished drawing. One nude model in a single pose for two hours (with a break every 20 minutes). We're currently doing it twice a month on Thursdays.

Classes WITH Instruction If you'd like a little formal instruction (or a lot), these classes are great. We have a nude model, and each class begins with some very basic exercises, and tips to help you capture the figure on paper and maybe see a little differently. These classes are usually pretty small, so you can get plenty of individual attention.

Special Events We're planning them now for the warmer weather! I hate to give too many specifics before they're finalized, but most likely you can expect more art sails aboard the Schooner Pioneer, Some unusual art workshops, and some social gatherings. And we;ll continue to list third-party events around town that may be of interest to our meetup members, even the ones that we don't organize.

Old Favorites We're still doing Sunday afternoon sketching featuring a nude model in an academic figure sketching class with both short and long poses, and our ever-popular draw-a-thon Draw-mania! that combines a variety show with a drawing event.

To find out all about these events join our Meetup group http://www.meetup.com/FigureSketching-NYC
It's free to join and will keep you updated with all our fun events.



Is there some kind of art event that you'd like to see us offering? Let us know! If it's possibly of interest to our membership we'd like to know!

Draw-mania! Goes INTERSTATE!

Hi folks!
Sorry I haven't posted anything new in a while. The Summer Sketch group has been going strong, still meeting a couple of Sundays every month (all year long, not just the summer), and attendance has been terrific--enough people to get a fun sense of community but not so many that it becomes awkward or overcrowded.

Draw-mania!, our monthly draw-a-thon and variety show, has really taken off! We're approaching our 15th event, and we're going strong into the coming year. If you've never been to one, just imagine a space filled with over 30 artists of all skill levels, from absolute beginners to seasoned pros, sketching, chatting, and, should they so desire, drinking, as they draw from 6 of the top art models for four hours! There's a break for the models every 20 minutes, and that's when a comedian, storyteller or musician takes the stage for a 10 minute performance. It' a blast!
We've been going strong every last Monday of the month in the East Village, at the possibly legendary and always amazing Otto's Shrunken Head (538 East 14th st.). Well, Starting in March, we're adding a second monthly Draw-mania!, just across the Hudson river, in Hoboken, NJ! If you're not familiar with Hoboken, you should be! It's incredibly close to Manhattan (The Hoboken PATH Train station is about 8 minutes from Manhattan's 14th st. & 6th Ave PATH station), and in the 80s it was where all the artists went after Soho priced them out. Nowadays, it's a cool, cozy neighborhood that features a lot of unpretentious bars and restaurants. We'll be at Teak on the Hudson (16-18 Hudon Place), a rather upscale place with a fun, exotic vibe, great cocktails and food, and an amazing riverfront view! Our first event will be March 6th, 8pm to midnight, and I'm putting together a great lineup of models and performers.

Hope you can make it, it's gonna be a blast!

for more info:
www.draw-mania.com

If you're on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/DrawMania

And if you're on Meetup.com:
http://www.meetup.com/FigureSketching-NYC/
http://www.meetup.com/Figure-Drawing-HOBOKEN-Draw-Mania/

Posemaniac lets you develop rapid sketching on computer or smartphone

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!

New Advice for Models

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

What good is a 30 second pose?!

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

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