20 Punches

2/20/14 Pilot Iroshizuku Asa-gao ink, Sailor pen, diluted India ink,
Canson mixed-media sketchbook (20-min. pose)

Now that I’ve filled a couple of five-session punch cards at Gage’s life drawing studio, I’ve had the opportunity to draw a variety of models (never the same one twice so far; Gage employs about 50 models who rotate continuously throughout the various classes and open studio sessions). While all of Gage’s models are good, some are better than others – more creative in their poses, more dynamic and simply more expressive.

Vanessa, our model today, is a professional dancer, so her poses were not just more varied and physically demanding as you’d expect from a dancer – they were also more expressive. I felt a tiny bit more pressure to make my sketches more expressive, too. I know the model doesn’t care how I draw her, but I felt an artistic obligation to put as much effort into the expressiveness of my sketch as she did in making the pose.

2/20/14 Pilot Iroshizuku Asa-gao ink, Sailor pen,
diluted Iroshizuku Ku-Jaku ink (20-min. pose)

How do I feel about that pressure and obligation? I purchased another punch card – this time for 20 sessions!

2/20/14 Pitt Big Brush Artists Pen (2-min. poses)

2/20/14 Pitt Big Brush Artists Pen (2-min. poses)

2/20/14 Pitt Big Brush Artists Pen (2-min. poses)