On Drawing and Nude Models...


This post includes a small amount of graphic nudity, proceed with your own voyeuristic inquisitiveness.

As I said last week, we've been doing some fairly boring stuff in Drawing class. It starts that way every term, we have to work on the fundamentals first before moving on to more interesting projects. But, for lack of anything else to post, I'll show what we've been doing.

First is an architecture project, a charcoal drawing in two-point perspective. It had to be a location on campus, so this is the inside of Chilton Hall as seen from the railing of the third floor. We had to include an indication of "deep space," so that's why I chose this location where you could see the lower floor through the railing.


Chilton Hall

Next, live models. Anyone who might happen to read my blog may as well expect to see quite a bit of nude art for the next few terms at least, since this class will cover nude modeling (no pun intended) for several weeks, then next term I'll have Intermediate Figure Drawing, and after that Advanced Figure Drawing and Figure Painting.

Anyway, like I said we're starting with boring stuff, mostly line work. These next two are examples of "modulated contour" lines. They were drawn very quickly with a light vine charcoal and Sharpie marker, and to me they're rather messy. But, maybe the messiness adds to it. I keep telling myself things don't have to be perfect, messy is okay.

So far we've had 4 models (much much better than my class at TCC which only had ONE model for the entire term! I came to know her body better than my own, lol.) Two were 20-something year old girls, with fairly "classic" looking average bodies. Then we had a late-20's guy, again with a classic Greek-god type of body. This week we had a, umm, less than idealistic figure. I'm not sure how old this gentleman is, but he had a full silvery beard and matching silver hair that strung out crazily in every which direction giving him a helter-skelter look. And what he made up for in weight, he was lacking in, umm, other certain areas. Or maybe the room was just cold, I dunno. But I couldn't help but smile while I was drawing, wondering if this was the inspiration for the "Ugly Naked Guy" character on Friends.

That being said, I have to admit these are braver people than me, so regardless of their body types I am more than appreciative for the service they provide to us being our models. There's no way I would have the guts to undress in front of a bunch of people and pose while they ogle and measure each proportion with their eyes, all for a mere $17-18 an hour. Not that anyone would want to draw my skinny frame anyway, but still... I'm not sure there's enough margaritas that would get me drunk enough to model nude.

By the way, I had one of the hardest views in the class with the above pic. There's not much room in our classroom with all the easels set up, so I didn't have much choice on this pose. It's a difficult position to draw, due to having to show the foreshortening of the legs. Most students had a side view, much easier to draw. But then most of the other students are young girls, so they were probably relieved that they didn't have to draw this view! I have no problem with it though. Heck, I've been married long enough that I have no modesty when it comes to drawing male body parts. While I am too modest to model myself, I'm not at all bashful when drawing someone else. I may as well be drawing a bowl of fruit for all I care about nudity in that respect.

Alright, that's all I have to say about that for now. I'm supposed to be writing a Chemistry essay, not writing about nudity on my blog. Have a nice week to all.