Reminiscing

Recently I went through one of my art carrying portfolios, and began reminiscing on some of my older work from college. In art school drawing nude people was easily accessible, plus me being a Fine Artist taking figure drawing classes wasn’t optional. I enjoyed studying the human form and got really good at drawing human anatomy. Actually believe it or not, besides meeting new people, making connections, & building new friendships, drawing people from life whether nude or not is one of the things I miss the most about art school…

When I first began drawing the human form as a freshman in college it was somewhat awkward & surreal to me, sitting there drawing people nude, especially coming straight out of high-school where all day I drew photo reference images, still-life’s, & self portraits. But as an artist as time passed & my artistic abilities grew…I didn’t even think about it anymore. My main concerns were getting my drawings on paper as true to life as possible, having good contour lines, & good proportion. After I graduated from art school, [CCAD] I missed drawing people from life so much, sometimes I go outdoors to different places (such as local parks, etc) just so I can draw the human figure in action. Several months ago I was attending a figure drawing class and really enjoyed it, however later on it ended up conflicting with my schedule, so I stopped attending. There is something so uncanny yet interesting about drawing the human form from life and sketching people nude… certain details you capture that would be made vague drawing from a photo. A photo is flat and two-dimensional, however being face to face in the same room with a model, I am able to focus & observe certain intricate details by creating a composition based off of simplistic gestures, anatomical structure, & movement. Soon enough I plan on consistently attending figure drawing classes again, and taking quality time of my own to draw more including the people in my everyday environment!

BELOW: The first image is of a quick gestural figure drawing watercolor study. The last two images are two portrait drawings, colored pencil on paper. All done from live models.