The trouble these days is that I'm either too reluctant to request feedback from others, or that folks are simply too polite to give me the occasional smackdown/tough love.
What bugs me about my lifedrawing stuff is the same thing that bugs me about all art I produce. There's a timidity and lack of punchy contrast, with many little areas I know I'm flubbing, but don't actually call myself on or even attempt to remedy. Part of it can be chalked up to time limit and the fact I'm working in an un-erasable medium (I don't want to give myself the added freedom to noodle and correct, yet I sometimes build my foundations too dark and can't work over them without grinding into the page -- trouble!), but most of it is just inexcusable laziness and blindess to the facts (and the order of their importance as it pertains to the picture). If you can't relay the truth that's right in front of you, what hope do you have to conjure it from nothing?
I have to keep honest about where I'm at, and that means putting it all out there : the good, the bad, the ugly. You got any pointers? Cuz I'm all ears.
4 comments:
Yeah, a couple of comments. First, you should ditch blogger. Use Wordpress, it's better for your art presentation and there is no content warning.
As for the art, the most striking contrast between what you draw from your head and the life drawing you do is emotive. There is no passion in the linework. As if you are bored with the whole idea of lifedrawing. but then again, why do you draw from life? I always did it to learn, not to show to others, really. Occasionally, I get a great pic and I'd show it but other than that, they'd be filed away.
Lastly, you are an amazing artist and I love your work. Just wish you'd post more.
I'm compelled to keep an indexed record for myself, as I'm unlikely to ruffle through stacks of newsprint to retrace past steps. I do lifedrawing to learn, and because it's hard. It's not about creating works to frame and hang, but rather to hone my image creation skills and better understand the body. It's a shame that my excitement doesn't show. Results will definitely be tailored more to that end. Feedback appreciated!
I think those drawing are excellent. Its very difficult to add life and emotion if the pose is lazy and static-and I think youve added about as much passion as I ever see in life drawing.
Its a fine line between just drawing exactly what you see (which is usually boring) and pushing things so much that it just becomes a cartoon. Youre walking the line about as well as anyone.
I agree with Mr. George. Your naturally expressive stylization of the human form is much more exciting than a well rendered and photographically captured turning of basic forms. As I've thought about my own artistic education, these types of questions have been ever more prevalent. These tools of life drawings, doodles, color studies, ect., are disposable learning aids to be erased from our artistic egos as soon as their lessons are learned, just as chalk is erased from a classroom blackboard.
I think it might be a more beneficial, and artistically uplifting exercise, if you took all the well done pieces of life drawing work you do, and redo them in your own style, as you've done in your retention post, correcting and adding those lessons you've absorbed from the charcoal dust on newsprint. Thereby, you could profit much more personally from the very formal live model environment.
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