Chantelle - Observational Drawing

[Michael Georges]

I am trying to do two of these drawings each week. They are done from photo reference, and are direct observational drawings (i.e., no projection or tracing). I really like this type of drawing as I have more than 3 hours to work and the model does not move.

This is Chantelle, a model from a recent Open Studio session. Done in about 5 hours in Cretacolor sanguine.

[Laurel Alanna McBrine]

Hello Michael,

I just wanted to say that I admire your commitment to artistic growth and mastery of skills.

I don't think any of us can say we have "arrived" and have nowhere to go as far as improving our work, since we have set as our goal one of the most diffiicult tasks possible, and that is what makes it endlessly interesting! Working regularly from life is part of that process for portrait painters. You might also find the Charles Bargue Drawing Course valuable as an adjunct in learning to see.

I am looking forward to seeing your continued progress as we all work on improving as well.

[Michael Georges]

Hello Laurel, thanks for your reply and encouragement! To paraphrase a famous politician "Being a portrait artist is hard work!"

Bill Whitaker says that it is at least as hard as being a concert pianist or a brain surgeon - those folks study for years and years...why shouldn't we be as serious about it?

What we do is often measured in millimeters which means you have got to be accurate - if the left eye is 1/16th of an inch too low or high, left or right, it is going to look wrong.

Hard enough to do just tracing or projecting and then rendering....drawing it all freehand...well...I think I will be still drawing from life 20 years from now and feel there is room for improvement.

I have the Bargue book and have done a skull in that style (thank you Bill Whitaker ). I want to do more and I actually have a space in my shop where I could do a wall mounted cast...how fun that would be!

[Michael Georges]

OMG Sharon, what a neat tool.

Thank you for the kind words. I am determined to shake off this bogeyman of not being able to really draw. Once and for all mano-e-mano it is gonna end! He is goin' down! Uh...sorry. :P

This method has been very valuable to me as I have seen an improvement in my life sessions after doing a few of these - and...one life drawing a week just did not seem enough to make the sorts of improvements I want and need.

So off I go! I have the line drawings of two more up on my blog. Will post them if I don't botch em up!