More Sketchbook Practice: Figures and Hands
One of my Art Goals for 2007 is to become more comfortable sketching human figures - especially hands. This week I pulled out some reference photos of ballet dancers and magazine advertisements showing hands and just played with them. The hands on the first dancer are so bad that I resketched them at the bottom of the page,
I'm such a novice with watercolors, that I am simultaneously trying to work with skin tones and shading so these sketches in my large watercolor Moleskine serve two purposes. My husband and I watch the Lehrer News Hour each night after I come home from work and that hour was a perfect time for one of these journal pages. I could listen, but not really watch the speakers. And then I had the rest of the evening to hand quilt a wedding quilt that is overdue (My oldest son was married in July 2004)! Too many baby quilts for my grandchildren kept getting in the way and I still have a wedding quilt for my other son who married in Oct 2005 on my list to be quilted.
The background on the pages looks muddier than in real life. I suspect that my scanner is picking up pencil that was used and poorly erased. I am one of the EDM group that does a quick preliminary sketch in pencil. Otherwise I don't think I would be able to make these learning experiences.
Comments
Really well done on these drawings, I like the clean lines and you caught the poses wonderfully too!
Posted by: Mariana | January 26, 2007 12:11 PM
Shirley, these are just excellent. The figures are so well done I didn't even notice the hands. Your other hands are wonderful.
I KNEW you were a woman after my own heart...the wedding was in 2004?!!, lol. I am still hand qulting an old 30;s quilt for three years now. Until art took over my life!
Posted by: TeriC | January 26, 2007 4:04 PM
Hi Shirley,
I tooka a Figure Drawing class last semester, best class I've ever taken. The instructor knew her stuff, and we learned a lot. One thing that really helped me draw hands and feet (the absolute hardest parts of the body to draw!!) was that we had to draw the bones in the feet, and then the muscles. Of course that meant I had to get a good "anatomy" book. Once we had done that, we were required to keep a sketchbook of nothing but drawings of hands and feet. They were to be done in graphite, charcoal, conte, ink... I got so tired of drawing my own hands and feet!! But, I have to admit, after an entire semester of that, I now have a valuable reference book!! Hands and feet in almost any position imaginable! I'll scan a few in and post on my blog in the next couple of days!!
Have fun!
Sherri
Posted by: Sherri | January 29, 2007 1:02 AM
love these bellerinas! the smooth lines really convey the mood of the scene, too. really hit me w/ their gracefulness. great job!
Posted by: jill | February 2, 2007 2:16 PM