Tim: 2 hour pose

Tim by Graham Smith

Wednesdays I go to a Life Drawing Workshop with my friends. The workshop is open to the public, and artists of all skill levels are welcome.

Tim's body type is an ectomorph, meaning he has an extremely low body fat ratio. You can see his every muscle, tendon and sinew, so he was very fun to draw.

Each time I practice drawing, I try to approach the subject a different way, trying to learn something. Because this was a long pose, I drew slowly, taking advantage of the time. I decided to concentrate on the figure only and draw the entire outline as a shape first, taking special care to make sure the negative spaces were spot on, shape wise.

My goal is to complete the initial lay-in during the first 20 minute pose segment, making sure the entire figure is placed on the page in a meaningful way. If I plan poorly, and did not manage fit the subject on the page, I start again.

head detail

During the second 20 minute segment, I refine the internal shapes and continue to adjust the outline. The darkest value landmarks are indicated during this time, like the cast shadow down his chest from his armpit to his leg, the darkness behind the head, ear and lower calf.

hand detail

I further refine the shapes and values, going from big to small, during the 3rd and 4th pose segments, saving the more delicate light and mid-tone finessing for the end. I work on the face hands and feet, adding detail and blocking values. I like to use a wide variety of marks, soft blends, hatch marks that follow the surface contour and outlines that overlap.

foot detail

During the last 20 minutes I punch the darks, so the drawing won't suffer from mid tone mushiness. I try to balance the values in regards to the whole. This usually involves some type of simplification.

This time, I added Indian red to my brown monochrome drawing. Colored pencil on 18 x 24 inch, heavy weight Strathmore paper, 400 series, 100 lb.