Small Figures: Becca

This was on of the best models that we ever worked with. She could hold a pose like a statue, probably because she was a former gymnast. Anyway I tried something different with this pose by trying to work in a little background into the picture, but I think it only distracts from the image. There just aren't enough values to work with using graphite so when I added background I reduced the number of values that I could have in the figure, which in some ways flattened the image.

Becca Sketch

I have dozens of small figure drawings that I did while studying at the New School of Classical Art in Providence. The head instructor of the school was Dana Levin, whose work is pretty fantastic, check out her website if you get a chance (http://danalevin.com/). I plan to highlight each of these small figures individually writing about the process involved and give people insight into the models' lives as well.

Small Figures: Peter

This great model was an off-season body builder. So he had a great deal of girth but not too exaggerated muscles. There was actually a slight disagreement after the model left over his weight. One of the students drew him to look larger, while another student drew him to be thinner. They disagreed on who had the more accurate drawing.

Which brought up an interesting question about drawing from the model. Does an artist simply draw the model as they visibly appear or do you as an artist draw a more exaggerated version of the feeling that you get from a model? In my class we had two students one who saw him skinny and drew him skinny, and the other who saw him as being fatter and drew him fatter. Can either of them be considered wrong if they were drawing the model in the size that they perceived him to be, or are they wrong because it wasn't accurately depicting the model? I won't try to answer these questions on this blog, it's just something to think about.

(By the way, I drew him in-between being too big and too thin, I took the safe road.)

Peter Sketch

I have dozens of small figure drawings that I did while studying at the New School of Classical Art in Providence. The head instructor of the school was Dana Levin, whose work is pretty fantastic, check out her website if you get a chance (http://danalevin.com/). I plan to highlight each of these small figures individually writing about the process involved and give people insight into the models' lives as well.

Small Figures: Ernie

Every so often I like to practice drawing portraits through drawing plaster or plastic skulls. If you've never heard of this before it may seem odd. However, drawing a skull helps to inform an artist about the underlying structures of the human face. It is much easier to see the distinct plane changes on the forehead and cheek bones and to see the subtle movement of the jawbone on a person after you have drawn from a skull. I suggest skull drawing whenever possible.

Ernie Sketch

Small Figures: Heather

Here is a figure drawing that was done at the New School of Classical Art in Providence. It was a two day post which was basically 6 hours of drawing. Done using the Sight-Size method of drawing. I'm sure I'll try to explain that method at some point in detail, but not now.

This model was named Heather and she was one of the best models that we had at the school. Unfortunately she only worked twice. She was formerly a Miss Rhode Island and could always carry a pose with great poise and elegance. Something that can be a rarity among models. We were very luck to work with her.

Heather Sketch

I have dozens of small figure drawings that I did while studying at the New School of Classical Art in Providence. The head instructor of the school was Dana Levin, whose work is pretty fantastic, check out her website if you get a chance (http://danalevin.com/). I plan to highlight each of these small figures individually writing about the process involved and give people insight into the models' lives as well.

Small Figures: Aaron

This was the room mate of a friend of mine who also attended classes with me at the New School. This drawing is also another good example of something drawn only focusing on the shadow shapes, and the edges between the shadows and lights.

Aaron Sketch

I have dozens of small figure drawings that I did while studying at the New School of Classical Art in Providence. The head instructor of the school was Dana Levin, whose work is pretty fantastic, check out her website if you get a chance (http://danalevin.com/). I plan to highlight each of these small figures individually writing about the process involved and give people insight into the models' lives as well.

Small Figures: Miriam

I can use this small figure to talk a little about the technique that governs most of my drawing and painting process.

1. I start by outlining the contour of the figure and blocking in the shadow shapes.

2. Then I fill in the shadow with one to two values keeping them low in contrast to each other. This drawing is only taken this far.

3. The next step that would come after this drawing would be to start turning or rounding the forms away from the shadows.

More step would follow for a completed drawing, but they will be hard to describe by just looking at this particular figure drawing. So I will save them for another post.

Miriam Sketch

I have dozens of small figure drawings that I did while studying at the New School of Classical Art in Providence. The head instructor of the school was Dana Levin, whose work is pretty fantastic, check out her website if you get a chance (http://danalevin.com/). I plan to highlight each of these small figures individually writing about the process involved and give people insight into the models' lives as well.

Small Figures: Frank

This was one of the first portraits that I drew from life for an extended period of time. the model was Frank, and he was really great. He spent a large portion of his modeling time counting in his head. Sometimes without telling him we would vary the number of minutes in the pose and afterwards he would always know how long it had been. I think he is working on a computer science masters degree somewhere.

Frank Sketch - sold

I have dozens of small figure drawings that I did while studying at the New School of Classical Art in Providence. The head instructor of the school was Dana Levin, whose work is pretty fantastic, check out her website if you get a chance (http://danalevin.com/). I plan to highlight each of these small figures individually writing about the process involved and give people insight into the models' lives as well.

Small Figures: Mike

This pose was actually done at the Sprinkler Factory Atelier run by my friends JoEllen and Chris Reinhardt. As a quick plug for them they run a drop-in figure drawing session at their studio on Tuesday nights at the Sprinkler Factory building, in Worcester, MA on Tuesday nights. For more information go to JoEllen's website http://www.joellenreinhardt.com/page9419.htm.

My attempt for this drawing was to work in some cross hatching techniques when I began modeling the form. Let's just say I've at least improved that ability since this drawing.

Mike Sketch

I have dozens of small figure drawings that I did while studying at the New School of Classical Art in Providence. The head instructor of the school was Dana Levin, whose work is pretty fantastic, check out her website if you get a chance (http://danalevin.com/). I plan to highlight each of these small figures individually writing about the process involved and give people insight into the models' lives as well.

Small Figures: Robert

This model was named Robert. I remember working with him because he was practically a statue standing absolutely still. Dana Levin, our instructor, said that everyone had a nice drawing that day because of his strength at posing. Another interesting note about his model is that he as a night shift worker who came to our school after work at 9am and then went home to sleep. We were glad for his dedication to the arts, as well as his killer mustache.

Robert Sketch

I have dozens of small figure drawings that I did while studying at the New School of Classical Art in Providence. The head instructor of the school was Dana Levin, whose work is pretty fantastic, check out her website if you get a chance (http://danalevin.com/). I plan to highlight each of these small figures individually writing about the process involved and give people insight into the models' lives as well.

Small Figures: Catarina

This was a great model that sat for us at the New School. She also sat for a few poses for Dana Levin. The results of those paintings were pretty spectacular. The model had another part time job working with autistic children in Providence. Most models have a part time job on the side, even the famous Ernesto. This drawing is one of the rare times where I added some form modeling in the lights, particularly on the leg.

Catarina Sketch - sold

I have dozens of small figure drawings that I did while studying at the New School of Classical Art in Providence. The head instructor of the school was Dana Levin, whose work is pretty fantastic, check out her website if you get a chance (http://danalevin.com/). I plan to highlight each of these small figures individually writing about the process involved and give people insight into the models' lives as well.

Small Figures: Maya

I have dozens of small figure drawings that I did while studying at the New School of Classical Art in Providence. The head instructor of the school was Dana Levin, whose work is pretty fantastic, check out her website if you get a chance (http://danalevin.com/). I plan to highlight each of these small figures individually writing about the process involved and give people insight into the models' lives as well.

Maya Sketch - sold

This was a small sketch for a larger figure drawing that I did in charcoal. Unfortunately the large version of this images was damaged and is no longer viewable. The model was a great actress and is now currently working as a stunt-woman setting her self on fire.

I usually like to make a smaller sketch before making a large drawing. This is useful for getting a better understanding of the drawing beforehand. The mistakes you make in the small sketch will pop up again in the larger version so it is to the artists benefit to work out all of those drawing problems in the beginning.