Rebecca_2

Pen & Ink live drawing nude figure from Life Drawing session. 13 minutes time limit.

Wrenfy October 21, 2021 12:02pm

Nice work! Pen and ink is an unforgiving medium, and you've done really well to define the body. I especially enjoy the more knobbly bits of this drawing, her knees, ankles, hips and elbows - you've captured them very nicely. I think you could improve with some hand (and maybe feet) study as these are the weaker parts of the drawing - her right fingers lack dimensionality and feel a bit flat, and her left hand, though it has more form, seems to be lost a little bit amongst the excess lines. Overall this piece reads well.

It's defintely a challenge and a skill to express hands quickly and accurately, especially in pen, but if it's a medium you are keen on, you may enjoy spending some time drawing some knobbly hands. Good luck!

Tx Williep October 21, 2021 9:24pm

Wrenfy, thank you for critiquing my drawing. You are very correct about pen & ink being an unforgiving medium. In the same session as this drawing was done, I gave another member of the group drawing an ink pen (Staedtler 0.5 waterproof). I warned him about being careful about the lines he put down because once put down he will be stuck with them. This pose lasted 13 minutes. I have done 31 volumes (175 drawings average per sketchbook or over 5000 drawings over the last 6 years, all pen & ink). I believe that practice makes better. One thing I have been trying to do in this current volume (31) is to simplify things. If you checkout Rebecca_1 (5 minutes in duration), you will see unbroken lines used in the drawing. The hands could have been done better.

Again, I thank you. I will try to do better.

Wrenfy October 22, 2021 6:21am

although it's difficult to summise much about an artist's body of work from one example, I did feel that this piece showed accomplishment in rendering form and use of the pen, and I'm not suprised hear you have a lot of experience in the medium. Artists can make rapid improvement from iteration, but I hope your goals are specific and not too vague - rather than just thinking "I need to do better" (which I am sure you will!) consider what you find challenging to render and seek it out! :))

Tx Williep October 22, 2021 9:18pm

Wrenfy, you need to look at all my l-o-a sketchbook. There are 59 works presented (ignore the hand photo-I am planning to put an instructional item on how to draw hands in). As I think is necessary, I will exaggerate things (mostly hands that are close to the viewer). If hands, feet or legs are closer to the viewer, they will appear larger and I will exaggerate them- perspective). You might say doing that will not be true to making things presented accurately. I say I do not care. I will draw the exaggeration. Also, when drawing a figure live in a life drawing session of 2 minutes or 5 minutes, you do not have time to fool around. You have to get with it and get it done. You have to make a command decision on what to include and not to include.

Satchstratus October 21, 2021 2:42pm

I think this is a good effort - I see that you have been faithful in trying to accurately draw the figure to scale, with detail (hands and feet especially) and shading. The main issue I would concentrate on is using a more fluid line, currently it is a connection of short strokes that lose some of the continuity. This is a process, keep drawing and your comfort with drawing the contours that support the gesture and pose will continue to improve.

Tx Williep October 22, 2021 12:49am

Satchstratus thanks for critiquing my drawing. It is from a life drawing session and the time limit was 13 minutes. One of the things I am trying to do is simplify things. If you look at Rebecca_1 you will see I used mostly long pen strokes and shading is at a minimum, The hands could have been better but drawing in pen & ink once you commit to the lines you put down, you can not erase and start over. Rebecca_1 (5 minutes) was done during the same session as Rebecca_2. I will agree with you that practice will result in improvement. Also, look at my other items. I will try to do better.