Get by with a little help from…
January 29, 2008
The week before last I finally made it back to life-drawing. Long ago I was a “regular” and I had become fairly comfortable with the drawing process. This time I found myself asking, “What the heck am I doing here?!”
Thankfully, a few friendly voices came to the rescue. (No, I don’t normally hear voices!) I heard Cheng-Khee Chee remind me to find the centerline of the subject and make sure I could fit everything I wanted on to the page. Craig Nelson’s voice told me to plot the basic shapes, measure distances and edges while getting the gesture correct. David N. Kitler’s voice reminded me to draw in circles and use his “hands of the clock” metaphor to accurately plot angles. Then I heard a chorus of voices say something about planning my value pattern (James, Mehaffey, Salminen, Das), and finally Jan Kunz reminded me to look for reflected light (thanks, Mom!).
Somewhere in all that I was exaggerating, simplifying and making it my own. For my first effort in a very long time, “we” did pretty well, and I had fun. Did I just hear a collective sigh of relief?
Thanks everyone!
~ Lynn
More from Lynn in the CCP BLOG