Malo

Two to five minutes. Malo is a new model in the LA area and she is amazing. She gives such a coquettish attitude to her poses. It was really fun to draw her tonight.

Cassie, Week 1

Two-and-a-half hours. I'm taking a long pose portrait painting class at LAAFA with Ara Dona, who studied at the Florence Academy of Art, an atelier studio that teaches traditional drawing and painting methods based on the Old Masters of the Renaissance. This is a charcoal line drawing which we'll be transferring over to primed canvas next week for the foundation of a grisaille underpainting that itself will be the basis for a completed full color oil painting. The aim here was to capture accurate shape placement a la Charles Bargue plates. Now I finally understand how those relate to painting!

Sarah

One-and-a-half hours. Lots of corrections were made here, so I never really got too far along in the drawing. I'm still impressed that Sarah can hold a pose like that for so long.

Angela

One hour. I'm taking a head drawing class with Aaron Westerberg this quarter at LAAFA on Mondays.

Robert

Two to five minutes for the quicksketches, two hours for the long pose. Stan helped me clarify the shadow areas on the long pose.

Block-In

Two hours, 12"x16". My landscape painting essentials instructor Robert Watts wanted us to focus on breaking down scenery into simple abstract shapes, using straight lines as much as possible to lay down average lines upon which we can build more complex structures later. We stuck primarily to a monochromatic, two-value system for this exercise.

18 weeks

One hour.

Body Worlds

Twenty and forty minutes on vellum. These sketches were drawn today at the Body Worlds 3 Artists' Night, an after-hours shindig where live nude models would mimic poses struck by their plastinated, splayed counterparts. The event's a terrific way to reinforce one's knowledge of anatomy and certainly a different vibe from the typical life drawing session.

My brother and I will be in attendance next week on Thursday as well.

Hunter

Three hours.

Quick Sketch

Eight minutes. For the final day of our Sketching From Life class, we painted roughly ten to thirty minute studies off of photographs displayed on a widescreen LCD TV. This is the only painting I like enough to post. Having to make snap decisions is something I'm not used to, but I know with time and effort it'll get easier. And I sure hope it does - if I want to be a concept artist I have to get better and faster.

Thanks for everything Nathan - your class was immensely rewarding.

Eaton Canyon

One hour. My Sketching From Life class took a field trip to Eaton Canyon in Pasadena for a landscape painting demo and critique. After our teacher Nathan Fowkes finished up his plein air painting, we scattered to the winds to go try the technique out for ourselves.

As I was sitting down, painting off the beaten path, a little girl (Kate), along with her mother (Sarah) and grandmother (Kathryn), stopped their hike to see what I was doing. I don't think the study is all that spectacular, but Sarah and Kathryn were impressed enough to offer to buy it from me on the spot for twenty dollars. After some reservations, I eventually agreed to, but only if they'd let me finish the painting first. I would then send it off to them in the mail and they in return would mail the payment back.

I guess you can consider this my first sale. I'm just flattered that someone would actually want to buy my stuff.

Sarah

Two-and-a-half hours. Back to painting in oil. I wish I had more time to finesse the edges on this further but I overslept the beginning half of the workshop. I'll be taking a long pose portrait painting workshop this quarter at LAAFA to see help me push my work to the next level.

Yuko

Four hours. This was a difficult pose due to mixed lighting: overhead fluorescent lights from above and a spotlight from the side. My values are all over the place.

KJ

Four hours. This is the last image in my watercolor sketchbook. I'll probably continue to do these studies every now and then, but I think it's time to move back into oils and digital to keep things fresh.

Dick

Five hours. Dick's probably my favorite of the older models here in the Los Angeles area, partly because as solid as a rock during long poses (making him very easy to draw and paint), but mostly because he's such a swell guy. I am immensely happy with how this one turned out. Aside from a few placement issues, it looks just like him. Man, I've come a long way from my first painting of him almost five months ago. I'm so glad to be making such progress!

Jennifer

Four hours. Per Kevin's suggestions, I'm trying to slow down and focus more on shape design and readability, and less on rendering out a full value scale. This doesn't look nearly as finished as earlier attempts, but at the same time it feels more voluminous and daring. I enjoyed designing the folds of the fabric in a manner that will hopefully lead the viewer's eye to the center of interest (the face).

Alma

Three hours. Circular hats are tough to draw because of the ellipse they create in perspective. It was pretty fun to suggest the straw texture though.

Quick Sketches

Fives and tens. I feel as if I'm running in place with regards to quick sketches, or maybe even backpedaing. I've got to get back into a classroom setting soon.

Sarah - Traceover

My Advanced Life Drawing instructor Kevin Chen did a trace-over of the long pose drawing I did of Sarah last week to illustrate how I can simplify my line work and values, while using carefully designed elements to increase readability and control eye flow. He makes it look so easy!

Keith

Two-and-a-half hours.

Daniella

Four hours. During one of the breaks, Daniella said to me, "You sure have an awfully big smile for an Art Center student." I told her I only attend the school part-time at night. She grinned, as if to say, well that explains everything. This got me thinking - does everybody at art school really look so dour and serious? Hell, do I? Sometimes when I'm painting, and particularly when I'm in "the zone", I tend to have a goofy smirk on my face, because I'm having a good time creating the piece. I also generally try my best to stay in a good mood when I'm creating art, because your inner thoughts tend to have a way of externalizing themselves on the page. If I'm frustrated, it'll show up big time; however, if I'm having a blast, that'll manifest itself too. Best to shoot for the latter at all times if possible.

Sarah

Three-and-a-half hours. This was a difficult pose. I don't think I pulled it off as successfully as I would have liked.

Rajiv

Fives and tens.

Yuko

15 minutes.

Eyes, Noses, Mouths

Eye, nose, and mouth studies, from photographs and drawings.