I was really very nervous all day about going to my first Life Drawing class tonight. I ate a meal in the canteen at lunchtime and then worked late this evening and had my sandwiches for heading to the Oxford & Cherwell College on the other side of the city. Simon, was the first of my fellow my classmates that I met, in the queue at reception to find out where our class – room K219 – was. We arrived to find a few people already there amongst easils around an old old mattress on the floor. And we kept on ariving. Eventually our teacher, Jane turns up and outlines the course before tonight’s model arrives.
And then it’s straight down to business: pencils at the ready, and the first of three ten minute poses. Then a series of difficult one minute poses, and a break before a half hour pose. The verdict? Not bad, for my first attempt. And I enjoyed the class, which is the main thing.
Standing poses, 10 minutes, 1 and 2
Sitting pose, 10 minutes
1 minute sketches, #1-4
1 minute sketches, #5-6
A half hour sketch
PS. Megan, I’d appreciate any advice you choose to offer…! ^__^
these are great! you should be so proud. i think by the end of the course you’ll be turning out stunning stuff. you already seem to be really good at drawing what you see.
i’d make an effort to go back and forth over your lines less — it loses the spontanaeity. try to draw your lines deftly in single strokes rather than stopping half-way and picking up the line again or going over and over them.
Well the last one is not bad. Though she appears to be leaning back a bit too much – I think that is mostly because the legs are wrong – which I think is in turn because I ran out of room for the right foot so couldn’t get it right. But the face is pretty good, and even the hand! Not too fish-fingery!!
The one minute poses were a nightmare though. I wandered round the class and saw some of the other series of sketches that had been done and they were much better.
I think you’re right though. I need to be bolder with my first lines, and don’t block in the lines.