Where’s the Ibuprofen for Life Drawing “Muscles”?



4/11/13 Derwent water-soluble pencil, diluted ink (20-min. pose)

Life drawing is like working out at the gym: The longer you’ve been away, the harder it is to get back to where you were when you left – and the more it hurts.

It had been about a month since the last time I went to a life drawing session at Gage, so I knew I was getting flabby. It took me all of this morning’s two-, five- and 10-minute poses to stretch and warm up, and I was still feeling creaky when we had worked up to 20-minute poses. When I’m out of practice, it even takes me longer to see what the problem is. I was completely finished with the 20-minute sketch of the reclining pose (below, right) before I realized it was out of proportion. And as I’ve talked about before, with figure drawing, proportion is everything.

Once the weather gets warm and dry enough for location sketching, I’m not planning to spend much time in Gage’s life drawing studio. I’m already achy, though, anticipating how I’m going to feel in the fall after staying away from the “gym” all summer. Ouch.



4/11/13 Nero pencil, Primo Bianco white charcoal pencil (20-min. pose)

4/11/13 Cretacolor Nero pencil (5-min. pose)