Life drawing

I'm doing something new, and loving it!

"Figure drawing, also called Life Drawing, is drawing the naked human form. Figure drawing has always been the cornerstone of artistic training, but is also popular with amateur as well as professional artists. The figure presents many technical problems - form, structure, foreshortening and so on - so is wonderful training, and also allows the artist to display their skill. But the nude figure also allows the artist to express a great deal about human nature.

Stripped of the cultural baggage of clothing, the nude figure can express every aspect of humanity, from the heroic to the pathetic. So, when you attend a life drawing class, you are participating in a centuries-old artistic tradition. "

I think I was more nervous about what to bring, and what would be provided more than anything. In the end I choose a medium size sketch pad, my set of Stabillo pastel pencils, an eraser and a bottle of water. Packed my nerves along with my kit and drove off to mingle among the "real" artists and do a live nude study. 

The first poses were considered warm-ups and they were 3 minute poses. I remember doing this in college (the last time I drew a nude in class) so this didn't bother me, although I would have preferred to skip the warm up and go straight into a longer sketching session because I rarely warm up, but then maybe I should do that more often?

Next we settled into a 2, 30 minute poses and here I was happiest, getting a chance to add a little more detail. I did notice that when the model changed position, some of the artists moved their postions also to get better angles. Me? I stay right where I am regardless of the angle being good or not, I figure I'll learn more if I draw whatever I am given.
foreshortening : portray or show (an object or view) as closer than it is or as having less depth or distance, as an effect of perspective or the angle of vision

I was very happy to have my different colors with me so that I could use the colors to add depth and interest to my drawing. She is actually sitting in a chair with one foot propped up on an ottoman, but I didn't have time to draw everything in.

Then we switched to 2 20 minute poses...frankly I would have preferred a longer pose of 40 minutes, to really focus on details. We all had smiles on our faces during this set as the model was falling asleep.

The last pose, I see my fingers are covered with pastel dust, and I need to add wipes of some sort to my arsenal of supplies if I decide to use them again, which I sure I will.  I really enjoyed using the pencils, but next week I am contemplating black markers for contrast. I think I might work on a different medium each week to see how well they work out. Right now I can say I like the softness of the pastel and being able to smudge for shadowing. 

Drawing the nude bodies doesn't embarrass me, I was more worried about how the other artists would accept me and whether my sketches would be good enough for me to be accepted into their group. After all they all know each other and I was the outsider. I think it went OK, no one shunned or snubbed me, lol