*content warning - which is probably too late - anyways there’s drawn nudity here, so probably nsfw unless your boss is really cool or, you know, you are the boss
It’s been fun to get out to Art of Modeling drop-in figure drawing in North Boulder this year. I haven’t had much of a chance to work with live models in the past few years, and I took about 6 years off of figure drawing. My last drawing of a live model before these was made in 2017. It wasn’t much of an intentional break, I think I just had a lot going on with career stuff, covid, and eventually having a baby too. Many - if not most - of my drawings and paintings these days are done outside the studio environment, where my toddler can’t reach them (yet).
So, it’s been great to get back to a real studio environment and sketch figuratively again.
For all of the figure drawings shown here, I used a Kuretake No. 55 Double-sided brush pen. This is a useful pen for quick sketching because it has a fine point on one side for working on details, and it has a broad point on the other side for laying down dark areas very quickly. In addition to using ink, I also use a Chromatek water brush pen. I have a set of 6 of them and I use one with a more pointed tip, rather than the square tip ends. To get a good shadow going either on or behind a figure, I give the water brush pen a good squeeze while running it along a line made by the Kuretake No. 55. Usually, even if the ink of the Kuretake has been dry for a bit, it will fan out and spread if it is touched by the water brush pen. This lets me lay down quite a few shadows and values very quickly. Even so, it seems like the 10 and 20 minute poses pass in the blink of an eye.
The paper used here is a medium-sized SOHO sketchbook. I really like the tooth and thickness on this paper. It works well for the water medium I am using - there’s been no sinking through. In lowlight photos like the photos above, the tooth really appears in a beautiful way.
Something that surprised me about the figure drawings I did lately was that I really enjoyed drawing the model’s tattoos. It felt like a kind of meta game somehow. A drawing of a drawing. I realized that getting the tattoos right was a big deal.
Check out what The Art of Modeling has to offer - especially if you’re in Colorado or visiting. The Art of Modeling website is here and you can check them out on instagram .