welcome to hell

So says Farley, the guy who facilitates the figure drawing studio space time continuum at New Zone. He breathes deep and sighs during the drawing sessions (so do I). We've talked a couple of times and agree that doing art isn't always fun (see the Title Subject line) but it's so much better than the alternative (NOT doing art). Farley's ankle screws were coming out so he went to the doctor and had them removed (old skateboarding accident). GNARLY!

I felt more at ease tonight than I have in a group, is that true? I felt different. Maybe it's a function of familiarity - with the space (it's my second time), the exercises, the arc of a drawing session, and making some connections with people in the group. I dialed through all of my usuals with drawing: loosening up, wanting so much to make those gestures look like the ones I see other people do (who have been doing them for years...) and most of the lines just being like so much chicken-scratch; dogged determination; despair; aha! moments; delight in a line or two; then the settling in and studying, finding pockets of aaaaawesome...sometimes I had to seriously suppress my laughter (at what I was drawing) (sometimes laughing because it was so ludicrous -- what's the deal with the gap between what/how I see and what/how I draw? waaaaah! -- and sometimes laughing because I hit something spot on or pulled something off I really dug, in a comic style.....'why so serious, Victoria?').

Tonight we drew a guy! For all the sessions I've attended at three different places, it's been women up the wazoo. Which is good, because I tend to draw males more. I need the practice. But hey. I've never drawn from a live male model. So it was a nice change of scene. The guy's name is Randy, and I'll follow here with a few pics of tonight's efforts before I heave myself into bed (must be bright eyes and bushy-tailed for student orientation tomorrow! woo!).

Here's a few warm-up gestures (click for biggie size)



Yes I have a hard time fitting the whole figure into a frame. Working on that. I think it's pretty common.

And some more loosey goosey wtf am I doing sketches, which I actually had fun with




And then a more finished one (still trying to fit the head in there...)



And this one I like and was laughing at because it actually looks most like Randy...poor guy, I think he was super tired, or maybe the lights were bothering him because he was squinty and droopy. Randy looked at them and said this one didn't look like him. Isn't it interesting how we see differently? And he immediately put his hands on his stomach and rolled his eyes. When I saw him all clothed and standing on the floor (he was elevated), he looked so much smaller and his barrel belly and chest looked REALLY TINY (she says in caps). I've noticed this phenomenon with other models and the way I see them. They look much bigger when they're standing/sitting/posing several paces away from me. When they're clothed, they all look smaller and slimmer, even the very robust model we enjoyed last saturday at UofO.

oh right here's the picture, and then goodnight



I love seeing different body sizes, shapes, and genders. If we all went to figure drawing class and/or modeled for artists, we'd all be a lot saner and healthier about nudity and body confidence/acceptance in general. I'm experiencing what I've heard and read others experience: when you start drawing, and studying the figure (or anything really), it is all so ridiculously beautiful.