Rebecca_2

by Tx Williep, October 21st 2021 © 2021 Tx Williep

Pen & Ink live drawing nude figure from Life Drawing session. 13 minutes time limit.

Wrenfy

Nice work! Pen and ink is an unforgiving medium, and you've done really well to define the body. I especially enjoy the more knobbly bits of this drawing, her knees, ankles, hips and elbows - you've captured them very nicely. I think you could improve with some hand (and maybe feet) study as these are the weaker parts of the drawing - her right fingers lack dimensionality and feel a bit flat, and her left hand, though it has more form, seems to be lost a little bit amongst the excess lines. Overall this piece reads well.

It's defintely a challenge and a skill to express hands quickly and accurately, especially in pen, but if it's a medium you are keen on, you may enjoy spending some time drawing some knobbly hands. Good luck!

Tx Williep

Wrenfy, thank you for critiquing my drawing. You are very correct about pen & ink being an unforgiving medium. In the same session as this drawing was done, I gave another member of the group drawing an ink pen (Staedtler 0.5 waterproof). I warned him about being careful about the lines he put down because once put down he will be stuck with them. This pose lasted 13 minutes. I have done 31 volumes (175 drawings average per sketchbook or over 5000 drawings over the last 6 years, all pen & ink). I believe that practice makes better. One thing I have been trying to do in this current volume (31) is to simplify things. If you checkout Rebecca_1 (5 minutes in duration), you will see unbroken lines used in the drawing. The hands could have been done better.

Again, I thank you. I will try to do better.

Wrenfy

although it's difficult to summise much about an artist's body of work from one example, I did feel that this piece showed accomplishment in rendering form and use of the pen, and I'm not suprised hear you have a lot of experience in the medium. Artists can make rapid improvement from iteration, but I hope your goals are specific and not too vague - rather than just thinking "I need to do better" (which I am sure you will!) consider what you find challenging to render and seek it out! :))

Tx Williep

Wrenfy, you need to look at all my l-o-a sketchbook. There are 59 works presented (ignore the hand photo-I am planning to put an instructional item on how to draw hands in). As I think is necessary, I will exaggerate things (mostly hands that are close to the viewer). If hands, feet or legs are closer to the viewer, they will appear larger and I will exaggerate them- perspective). You might say doing that will not be true to making things presented accurately. I say I do not care. I will draw the exaggeration. Also, when drawing a figure live in a life drawing session of 2 minutes or 5 minutes, you do not have time to fool around. You have to get with it and get it done. You have to make a command decision on what to include and not to include.

Satchstratus

I think this is a good effort - I see that you have been faithful in trying to accurately draw the figure to scale, with detail (hands and feet especially) and shading. The main issue I would concentrate on is using a more fluid line, currently it is a connection of short strokes that lose some of the continuity. This is a process, keep drawing and your comfort with drawing the contours that support the gesture and pose will continue to improve.

Tx Williep

Satchstratus thanks for critiquing my drawing. It is from a life drawing session and the time limit was 13 minutes. One of the things I am trying to do is simplify things. If you look at Rebecca_1 you will see I used mostly long pen strokes and shading is at a minimum, The hands could have been better but drawing in pen & ink once you commit to the lines you put down, you can not erase and start over. Rebecca_1 (5 minutes) was done during the same session as Rebecca_2. I will agree with you that practice will result in improvement. Also, look at my other items. I will try to do better.

More from Tx Williep

View sketchbook