Paper and Threads

Week 1:  We are working through a structured syllabus in my Fashion Application class at Fashion Institute of Technology, and after several weeks of working with "line,"  we worked with depiction of "mass."  Instead of using markers, I chose to work with Nu-Pastels, a completely new medium for me, and these two drawings were very fast poses using only small pieces of pastel chalk.  It would not be my favorite method for figure drawing, but it was a fun challenge to see if I could do it.  The first pose was 2 minutes and the second one was 7-10 minutes, if I remember correctly.  I bought a small set of the Nu Pastels for the class and don't have anything close to a skin color.

Week 2:  These are 5 two minute poses to begin class, and I can still hear our professor saying, "mass only if you want to get all the way down to the feet on the 18" paper."  I still don't have a lighter pink Nu-Pastel, so this skin color was obviously done with the only pink-red in my set.

Posted by Shirley at 6:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I plan to continue my blog posts about my current class at FIT.  This week we focused on mass instead of line, and in the 3 minute warm up model drawings, we had to use color to emphasize some mass, using markers or Nu-Pastels.  Three minute poses were not long enough to complete each drawing, but this is a single 18 X 24" page, and my drawings proceeded from the right to the left  (I'm left-handed).  I tried to color the masses with my Tombow marker.

I never used Nu-Pastels and later in the class she came by to demonstrate, asking permission to draw on my page.  She stressed using the chalk to block out the mass, and not drawing the edges and filling it in coloring book style. 

See her drawing demos  labeled "This" and "Not this."

A 10 minute pose, and as before we were instructed to start our drawing at the top, and to proceed from one side of the face to the other, then the body, etc, in short segments, adding the other objects, the ceramic pumpkin and the chair, only when we drew our lines down to their level in the pose.  

Our last pose was 12 minutes, and included both of the class models.  I can feel myself starting to use her prescribed drawing method, and working very fast to get everything included - two models, a table, chair, and platform!  Fashion illustrations have different body proportions than in real life - tall and skinny, and dramatic and bold.  In this class she said that we will develop our style by the end of the semester, and I'm beginning to see how our classes are leading in that direction. 

Posted by Shirley at 10:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Two drawings among many from my second class about Fashion Applications at FIT:

The goal of this class was to reemphasize line drawings, and to both draw models in an environment,  and draw two models together.  The professor still stressed starting the drawing at the very top - even if it a plant above the model's head - and then drawing from top to bottom, moving from side to side until reaching the bottom.  Lines should be confident and bold.

We had 7 minutes to draw the first model with the poppies, and 10 minutes for the two models together.  In each class she also shows us the work of famous fashion illustrators.  And gave us a link for a website to search and review specific fashion illustrators.

http://www.illustrationdivision.com/ 

These are large drawings that needed to be photographed and not scanned. 

Posted by Shirley at 7:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'm taking another Illustration course this semester at Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT).  Last week was my first class and our professor demonstrated how she draws the models several times during the class.  She instructed us to start at the head and then slowly draw down the body carving out space - moving back and forth from one side to the other.  She stressed the body directions, and specifically the shoulder and hip directions and asked us to make them dramatic.  This was a 3 minute warm up drawing of mine early in the class, and when she came by me she sketched in those direction lines, and suggested that I bend her hips all the way over to the outside line she made for drama.

2.  We had 3 models, each changing clothes multiple times.  This is a later 7 minute pose - as I tried to achieve more drama.

3.  And this was my final pose at the very end of the 3 hour class.  This is definitely going to be fun!

Posted by Shirley at 4:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I love to draw figures and to draw and paint buildings.  But my figures are drawn without context/backgrounds, and my buildings don't have any people in or around them.  It is time for me to address these issues, so I took Suhita Shirodkar's online Craftsy class (Figure Sketching Made Simple) because I love her loose sketches. 

The class was great, but I couldn't get myself to draw any people in the days following the class - a common form of resistance that I can blame on my "inner critic."  I needed a low stakes intervention, and while browsing last Sunday's NY Times T magazine on Mens'Style, I saw the photo included below.  I grabbed a ball point pen, tore some used copy paper into quarters, and worked my way through the ads in the magazine in less than 30 minutes - drawing 16 figures! 

I threw away two that were really awful, and saved these 14.  It was a start!   

I decided to continue this as a low stakes project this month - drawing simple figures from photos - so I made a small folder to keep scrap paper drawings in as I practice. 

Later, I was throwing away a New York City Ballet 2017-18 schedule and couldn't resist a quick sketch of one of the photos. 

I still have to overcome resistance and shut up my inner critic MILDRED so I can practice drawing live moving people!  Onward!

Posted by Shirley at 7:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)