Project: Proportions - The Longer Pose

I had a willing nude model for this exercise. I started with two five minute sketches to 'warm up'.

5 minutes from life. Charcoal

5 minutes from life. Ink and Cotton Bud

I was pleased with the charcoal sketch because I felt I'd rapidly caught the essence of the pose. The ink sketch wasn't so successful. I got a bit lost and the thigh ended u much too long relative to the lower leg (remember to step back !!!!).

1 hour from life. Conte' crayons

For the longer pose my model sat on the bed for 3x 20 minute sessions with breaks in between. It was his first time posing nude - I think you can see that in his body language with the crossed arms although the lower part of his body was quite relaxed. 

Generally the proportions of this are a bit better than my first few sketches (see previous post "Quick poses"). However, there are still some very problematic areas especially around his left elbow and left leg. Although I can see that there is some progress being made, this drawing would have benefited from more measurements and comparisons being made. I should have made absolutely sure that I was happy with the proportions before looking at the tonal elements. Instead I just kind of gave up and thought I'd start shading to make a more 'complete statement'. The whole thing got very over shaded and the highlights didn't remain crisp and clear. Generally I don't think I have profited as well as I could have done from the additional time. This is not significantly better than the more rapid sketches.

I intend to repeat this exercise after some further sketchbook work as I am not happy that I have achieved the objectives.

Click here for my second attempt at this exercise.