We had a wonderful Osher class today with model Emily! We began the class with five two-minute gesture poses, and I encouraged my students to draw rapidly, capturing interior structures as well as exterior contours. Emily gave us active, elegant poses to study.
We moved on to drawing the face using shadows primarily. David set the camera to transmit a black-and-white image, and we started the first two minutes of the fifteen-minute pose with the camera de-focused. After two minutes, we sharpened the image a little, and after two more minutes, we sharpened the image to tack-sharp.
This approach allowed us to really see the shadow shapes without getting caught up in trying to draw features, and it forced a technique artists often use in the studio in real life, intentionally blurring their vision.
We finished up with an hour-long pose (with breaks for Emily!). Some students focused just on the portrait, and others drew the entire foreshortened pose.
Many thanks to model Emily for her elegant poses and rock-solid stillness!
