Wednesday, March 19, 2014

:momentum:

So soon after last Sunday's figure drawing session, I went to another one this past Friday night. Why not. Best to keep in practice, plus I really need to hang out with more artists.

This one was at Uforge Gallery in Jamaica Plain, which is also where I have a photo up in the current show, so I got to toot my horn about that briefly. The model went by the name of Porcelain Dalya, she bills herself as a "mermaid" for the local band Walter Sickert & the Army of Broken Toys. We have some interesting folk here.

This session was clothed, but that just makes you pay more attention to clothing and how they drape around a figure.




I also got some more leeway on the monthly art project. There is no good excuse for why I can't complete it this month. I don't know why I'm dragging working on it, other than perhaps because they are somebody else's characters and I want to to them justice (Cochlea & Eustachia, to refresh your memory). It also reminds me that I couldn't work in comics, because other than the grueling schedule, I don't know how comfortable I'd be working on somebody else's creations. 

It's also a bit...weird, and while I got rid of my self-censorship quite some time ago (there are things in my sketchbooks that NO ONE will ever see), I still fear people may judge me on certain subject matter. I've often felt that I could sell-out and make money by going all porny, but that just feels like appealing to the lowest common denominator and no real challenge. I feel the same way with my photography.


I didn't really care for the arms on the left figure, so I had to do some revisions. I should have more progressions for next week.


Wednesday, March 12, 2014

:that figures:

I returned to the local Dr. Sketchy's session this past weekend, hopefully I can add it to my monthly goals, although some months it simply isn't feasible if something else comes up that day. For those unaware, it's by definition a figure drawing class, but it takes place (at least in Boston) in a willing bar, and the models are not your typical models. In this case they're mostly from the local burlesque scene, which often means inventive clothing that eventually becomes less clothing, although, also because this is Boston, never less than pasties by the end of it.

Like regular figure drawing sessions, they start out with short poses, 1 to 2 minute ones, leading to 5 and 10 and sometimes up to half an hour. Our model this time, Brandy Wine, was quite expressive with her face and tried to hold it for as long as possible or at least for the last 30 seconds. For the short poses she started out as a beauty contest contestant whose wardrobe malfunctions got progressively more disastrous.

I like that I managed to capture her facial expressions with so few lines and such limited time in this case.


She went through two other outfits; here's drawings from the last one that she had on.



I didn't overdo the shading like I tend to; maybe because I wanted make sure I rendered those stripes correctly! 

I've made some progress on my monthly art project, not enough worthy of showing yet, but I am confident if I keep at it that I'll finish before the last day this time.

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

:weather beaten:

This seemingly endless Winter continues to crush my head and sometimes my will along with it, and I'm not alone in this it seems. I don't get it really; I've lived in the New England area all my life but for some reason the winters are getting more and more unbearable as time goes on. Oh the first snow is still beautiful, but well before New Year's I'm ready for it to GTFO.

So naturally this can affect my creativity. Ideally I should relish the idea of being inside and working more, but I get cabin fever, and again my living situation is not the most ideal, though I am always working to find a way around that. So at the very least I try to get out and play with the camera some more, although in keeping with our theme this week, the cold drove me back inside of my car before too long.

I ended up by the ocean as I often do.

I liked the way the water was totally still in these shots.



Playing around with depth of field.



Not a terribly interesting shot but I like the echoing shapes of the streetlights. 




Yeah, Spring can't get here soon enough.