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the pencil test the pencil test figure drawing tuesday 23 june 2020 the truth is in the gesture success at the gestural first stage of the drawing is critical for how the drawing develops in the later stages this is the point where not only things like rough proportion need to be decided on but it s also where we make the big decisions for the story of the pose it s much easier to make adjustments at this stage than to try and fix or adjust things down the line there is a bit of an oxymoron going on here because while we re making all these important decisions that will affect the drawings later development it s also the stage that should feel spontaneous and free where we bring life to the pose good gesture is an art in it s own right and with practice we can learn how to strike that balance by richard smitheman no comments monday 22 june 2020 drawing from memory sometimes when drawing time is limited i ll do a quick exercise from memory maybe 10 20 mins in length i ll just work through an idea in this case a leg study but it could be anything really it s a great way to gauge how well you know a subject and helps keep the tools sharp it feels similar and i think has similar rewards to doing scales or exercises on a musical instrument by richard smitheman no comments saturday 20 june 2020 gesture study by richard smitheman no comments friday 19 june 2020 drawing with intention i think it s really useful to go into a drawing with intention before starting a drawing ask yourself what it is you want to say what speaks to you about the pose and what s the story you want to tell it s so easy to go into autopilot and just copy what s in front of you give yourself that moment to gather your thoughts then draw by richard smitheman no comments thursday 18 june 2020 time management in drawing knowing how long a pose will be and knowing what i can accomplish within a particular time frame is really important for how i approach drawing with a live model for example let s say it s a five minute pose i think it s reasonable to say that i probably won t get into a fully rendered light and shadow drawing in that amount time but what about a fifteen or twenty minute pose suddenly that question gets harder to answer i ve seen students in class do a lovely line drawing and then with two minutes left on the clock start to add lights and shadow ultimately the drawing looks unfinished by the end of the pose whereas two minutes earlier they had a perfectly fine finished line drawing ask yourself before you go to the next stage of developing the drawing if you ll even have time to get down what you need to before the end of the pose in the example above with two minutes left on the clock i might quickly shadow map so i can finish the drawing at a later time or get my tools ready for the next pose as you gain experience your intuition for what you can get done in a given time frame will be refined i d suggest timing the pose yourself and not just relying on the tutor or the model to run the clock try and be mindful of the time and what you ll be able to do with it i ve more to say on this subject but that s for another time by richard smitheman no comments wednesday 17 june 2020 sometimes less is more shorter poses give us the opportunity to get right to the point without getting too fussy or obsessing over the details when working on shorter poses ask yourself what s absolutely necessary to tell the story everything else is a bonus 10 min charcoal on newsprint by richard smitheman no comments tuesday 16 june 2020 drawing from reference when i can t get in front of a live model i practice from photo reference or from memory it doesn t replace working with a live model but if you can resist the temptation of just copying a series of shapes and think about the form in three dimensional space photo s can be a very useful tool for us to keep our skills sharp it s also useful for working with poses that a model typically wouldn t be able to hold by richard smitheman no comments monday 15 june 2020 squint and simplify i m always looking for opportunities to simplify the tonal structures and relationships between light and shadow if we try to capture everything we see we inevitably end up with too much noise simplicity is usually the key squinting is a great way to get rid of a lot of the noise and to find the major transitions just remember to stop squinting before you start drawing by richard smitheman no comments sunday 14 june 2020 back study in charcoal by richard smitheman no comments saturday 13 june 2020 push those proportions in figure drawing one of the keys to maintaining vitality and life in a drawing is down to how you handle exaggeration i always try to push a pose 10 further than what s in front of me that way when the drawing settles down you still have something with life and not a stiff facsimile this can also apply to proportion i find it s a good exercise to push proportion till it almost breaks sometimes you go too far but but that s half the fun of it by richard smitheman no comments friday 12 june 2020 figure drawing time to get this old blog back up going to post mainly figurative work here for the time being here s a recent morning warm up study try to do these daily to keep the tools sharp by richard smitheman no comments recent study from reference by richard smitheman no comments friday 6 september 2013 the blog is down for the time being for more information please go to my site at www richardsmitheman com by richard smitheman no comments home subscribe to posts atom richard smitheman london united kingdom view my complete profile links website instagram page youtube channel etsy store for more information about my work please visit my website all images on this blog are copyright richard smitheman 2020 and may not be reproduced in any form without written consent powered by blogger