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Figure Drawing in Battery Park, New York City

The Battery Park Conservancy sponsors a free figure drawing session each week May through September.  They provide the supplies and the model and we all gather in the park next to the South Cove (weather permitting).

I really liked the model last Wednesday, and sketched multiple figures on each sheet of paper.  Some of them were sketched with General's Sketch and Wash pencil and then brushed with my Niji waterbrush.

Here are 10 One Minute Drawings:  I don't even breath during these!!

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These are 4 of the Two minute poses.  The other one is on the right side of the next page:

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There are 4 five minute sketches on the left and the remaining two minute sketch on the right:

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We had 2 ten minute poses:

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I am trying to "draw" figures with my paintbrush and watercolor paint.  I posted several drawn this way in the past - but they were from photos.  This is my second watercolor drawing from a live model.  PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE!!

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My big sheets of paper needed to be photographed, not scanned.  I try to get rid of the blue tinged background in Photoshop using the threshold settings, but can't get back to white!  Any suggestions? 

Comments

Very nice once again!

As far as the blue tinge, you might try a couple of things:

You could use a Levels adjustment layer to change it to black and white.
You could use the menu at the top Image > Adjustments > and put a check in the box that says neutralize. From there you use the Fade slider to fine tune.
You could use a Levels adjustment layer. And select Levels...then click on the third eye dropper and click in the bluish area in the photo. You usually need to follow by clicking on the first eye dropper and click on the very darkest black in your photo.

I've arranged these in the order of what works best for me. Hope you find this helpful,

xoxo

Golly, I sure wouldn't worry about the blue tinge. It adds to the spur of the moment feeling. You are getting so good at figure drawing! You are so inspiring. My figure drawing begins at the end of this month. Yeah.

I absolutely love seeing these types of sketches. This is a great exercise I learned in a drawing class but I forgot all about it. Thanks for reminding me of it again.
Emie

Shirley,

I am not kidding. You have improved so much over the years. Just looking at your one minute drawings tell it all!

Dali

Wow, you are really capturing the pose. These are terrific!!

Great sketches Shirley!

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