Life drawing class portrait
 

Here's my sketch of today's model, Larry. It was done in three 20 minute sessions.

It's on Canson paper and I used a variety of conte crayon and nupastel (and whatever else I had on hand).

Umm, WOW! :D

Julia:

Sorry for the short reply earlier, I was on my way out the door for dinner but just had to say something. Let me say it again - WOW!

For three 20 minute sessions, this is incredible. I love the weight, shadow, and balance of the form - clearly, he was very nicely lit and it shows in your work - he is very dimensional and very "present". The color and expression are great also.

I cannot wait to see more from you - great job! :)

Intimidating
 

Julia,

When I first opened this up I literally froze. I couldn't see his mouth amd It took me a while to find it! What a truly intimidating presence this man has. Now that I realize that he does in fact have a mouth he is still intimidating. Awesome work, I love feeling an emotional zing when I look at artwork.

Jean

Julia,

Very nice. 20 minutes? Wow! You must have been going at the speed of light. I really like the values and contrast but I think maybe the highlights are too pure. But then again, Larry could have a shiny head. :D Great work!

Thanks!
 

Hi everyone and thanks for the input.

The reason I was able to work very quickly is that I held only four colors in my hand the whole time...a sepia conte, a dark umber conte, a light grey nupastel and a off white grumbacher pastel stick.

I do work fast and have been told to by many an instructor to slow down, but when I do, I start to pick at one area and throw the whole thing off. When I work fast I seem to be better able to catch the dynamic quality of a model.

The lighting was actually less than ideal, it was directly overhead which is what put the mouth area in complete shadow.

I go to this life drawing studio ever Tuesday so if I make any more portraits I'll post them, but sometimes I use the long pose to do a full body study.

Thanks again for all the comments. Much appreciated.