various figures

I took a figure painting class this semester, so I only went to, like, one figure drawing co-op. I kind of suck at painting but whatever, man. I have no time to do anything. Here's some stuff.

this is my fave figure from the semester, even tho her head and body are totally disproportionate 

a bunch of figures (i have no idea what i'm doing anymore)

I spend most of my free time feeling poorly about myself and flitting back and forth between the Word document of my resume and the PDF of my resume. What a strange place to be in life when the primary source of my confidence stems from a piece of paper—a paper with bullet points, no less. Cold, hard, methodical bullet points.

It's 5am and I'm procrastinating. Forgive me.

Maintaining this blog can be difficult. For months at a time I feel as though I am bursting with ideas and thoughts that have no place in the ephemeral Internet realm of tumblr or spoken aloud to wary friends. And for other months I feel more or less devoid of substance. I think right now at this point in time I'm encroaching on the latter territory.

The figure drawing co-op is over for the semester, which is sad because it's the one established routine I have (every Sunday I draw naked people for three to four hours). I ended on a note that my heart feels is strong but my head feels is utterly ridiculous. I'm too impatient to draw properly anymore. But I still like my drawings. Anyway. Enough rambling.

These were done over two sessions, though we had the same model present for both. Yeah, I literally have no idea what I'm doing anymore. I do kind of like the pastel drawings I did, though.

Here are some 1 minute gestures I haven't uploaded to tumblr because I think they're kind of bad! (Also it's upside down, sorry.)

What an exciting time. I'm considering drawing at the MIA every Sunday in place of figure drawing, but who knows if I'll have the time/energy/motivation to do that for the rest of the semester? *shrug emoticon*

random recent work, finished and unfinished

I cannot seem to cultivate any interest in digital painting. Two things I love most about fine art are its tactility and its accidents—sensations entirely absent in digital painting. When using digital tools to create art, I feel there are too many degrees of separation—my hand to my pen to my tablet to my computer to my other hand on the command-Z keys—to feel a deeper sense of connection and thus personal creation. So I get bored.

Nevertheless I admire the results of digital painting (others' paintings) and have been trying to learn how to do it, since it's obviously a valuable skill. But I never finish anything.

These two were done for Reddit. I think they're OK drawings, but I have zero interest in continuing them. And they will never be submitted to Reddit. (Why do I even make art based on Reddit prompts? I hate almost all the art on that website. It's trite and cliche. [But this is not to say I think I'm technically better—maybe, in fact, I feel such disdain because I am worse.])

I've also been doing some gouache paintings in my free (i.e. designated productive procrastination) time, because painting is fun and easy with gouache. So far I have four paintings, one of which is in progress. I only have two scanned in, though.

referenced from a photo my roommate took in Yellowstone over the summer

referenced from a photo I took while being bored and alone on the bus

 I didn't get a chance to go to figure drawing last week, and this week I only attended the two hour Monday night session. I usually go on Sundays for four hours. I regret not going on Sunday—I really only liked one drawing I did this week. Anyway, toned paper is fun.

Monday night sad figures

I was busy this Sunday so I could only go to the two-hour Monday night life drawing co-op. And I was late for THAT, too,  so I really only got in an hour and a half of drawing. But suffering is essential.

I'm sorry. I can't write right now. My roommate is currently speaking into the phone at 100 words per second, and it's hard to think. Here are some (not so) pretty pictures:

These are all out of order because computers are sadistic automatons. All the images were made in less than 15 minutes. I just don't have the attention span for longer poses anymore. I just don't.

Yes this was a man. Yes he had wide hips. My roommate was like, "Is that a woman?" and I was like, "No, you fool. This is a well-endowed healthy young man." This was the second oil pastel I did. Also the second I've ever done in my life.

This started off as a blind contour but then even I got too lazy for that. So now it's just....a normal drawing.

He did the same pose like three times. Most of the male models are kind of bad.

I tried my hand at oil pastel portraiture. Turned out pretty bad, if I do say so myself.

This was the first oil pastel I did! My roommate doesn't like it but I actually think it's better than the others. I love colors.

I BOUGHT A CHINA MARKER THIS WEEK!! It's amazing! I cannot imagine how I lived my life without it. This is a study of a figure drawing I made a few weeks ago, just to get a feel for the tool. It's very lovely.

As I said before, I came in late, so I missed all the gestures and stuff. I think this was actually made in three minutes, perhaps five, but I'm not sure. It was the first of the night which is why it's all wobbly, but I kind of like it. The objects fall towards us in a Cezanne-esque way.

And finally, this is a doodle of the girl who supervises the figure drawing co-ops. She's super cute and nice and this isn't the first drawing I've done of her. Fear me.

figures from 9/27

I'm getting worse? (shitty iPhone photos in dim light are shitty...iPhone photos in dim light.)

orange + pink figures (and awful portraiture)

The figure drawing co-op finally started this year. I went on Sunday for like....three hours. But we only had the model for two—he was an hour late. And his poses were very strange so I left early.

There was an older white man sitting next to me and his work was so fucking good. I think that I will know I have "made it" in terms of art when I look at something I've created and think to myself, "Yup, that sure looks like a painter grandfather made that." But a girl can only dream.

Since he was late I took some time to draw some strangers. I think the woman above noticed I was drawing her, and she sort of furtively smiled at me throughout the rest of the class. I was a little uncomfortable.

30 seconds

This was the only gesture drawing I did that I liked. His hand is all fucked up, but I like how I simplified the rest of the form. Also, yes, those are testicles.

1 min.

This was the first figure I did that day that I actually liked. I quite like how I rendered his butt.

5 min.

10 min.

It's strange—when figure drawing, I am usually most excited by drawing cloth, or other objects that give context to the model. I don't know. And they always end up nice, even when the figure looks completely wrong. Anyway, I'm pretty proud of how this one turned out, though I regret adding in those black lines :-(

10 min.

10 or 15 min?

I'll go again next week. Markers are so fun, but I'm not too sure how to draw the figure nicely without creating a mess of scribbles underneath. It's hard to slow down, and my initial series of gestures often look like potato after potato after sprouting, moldy potato. I think next time I'll just go straight to the markers and forget about the lines—I seem to be more of a painter than a drawer, anyway.