Shawna’s Timer

 

1/16/21 Shawna, 30-second poses (The 30-second narrative poses were about playing volleyball, which occasionally
morphed into soccer.)

By coincidence, I had two back-to-back days of Zoom life drawing with Shawna – the first sponsored by Gage Academy, and the second organized by Shawna herself.

You’ve already heard me talk about how much I enjoy drawing this dynamic model for many reasons. Another useful aspect of Shawna’s life drawing sessions is that she uses a timer that has a large digital readout facing the camera, so participants can always see how much time they have left. During the extremely short 30-second poses, I ignore the timer; my eyes are glued to the pose and barely even look down at my sketchbook – that’s how fast I’m going. With anything longer, however, Shawna’s timer has a benefit that I’m learning how to take advantage of.

1/16/21 30-second poses

Regardless of the pose duration, I begin all the drawings by making an initial line of action (which is easiest to see and draw on the shaded side, if the model is well-lighted) – the head, torso, legs, arms, sometimes the angle of the shoulders or hips. In 30 seconds, that’s usually all I have time for. With longer poses, I can correct proportions and add shading or details. I may choose different media depending on the pose duration, but the general technique is the same for all pose lengths. Regardless of the duration, my goal is to capture as much of a complete figure as I can.

1/16/21 30-second poses

The benefit of Shawna’s timer is that it is teaching me how to pace myself. For example, during a five-minute pose, if I look up and see that I still have a minute remaining, I know I don’t have time for details, but I have time to deepen the shading so that the form will be better defined. If I look up and see that I have a minute left but all I’ve captured is her head, then I need to remind myself to get the whole line of action, and quickly.

1/16/21 1-min. poses (In this 1-minute set, Shawna depicted swimming in cold water.)

My objective is to capture as much of the whole figure as possible to train myself for “real life” drawing. When I first began sketching, this happened frequently: In a coffee shop, my “model” would suddenly walk off – and all I had was a detailed but disembodied head floating over a café table. I didn’t know how to fake the body, so the sketch was left unfinished in a dissatisfying way. I haven’t had that kind of mishap in a long time, but I always need practice. (It’s been so long since I’ve sketched people in a coffee shop . . . do I even know how to do it anymore? I hope life drawing will keep me from getting too rusty.)

1/15/21 2-min. poses (During this fun set, Shawna attempted to form the letters of the alphabet.)

1/16/21 3-min. poses (Here, she was fighting off a mouse with an umbrella.)

1/15/21 5-min. poses

1/16/21 5 min. poses (These were especially fun to try with white colored pencil on black paper! It was a momentary mind-bender to switch from looking for the shaded side of the figure to the lighted side.)

1/15/21 10-min. poses

Shawna in the Jungle

 

5/25/24 Shawna, 3-min. poses

During the worst part of the pandemic when isolation and restlessness were the new normal, and the vaccine was still months away, one of many things I was grateful for was livestream life drawing. In particular, Shawna Holman, one of my favorite Gage models, went freelance when all her live modeling gigs necessarily vanished. Using an improv acting format, Shawna would choose a narrative theme and create dynamic, ultra-short poses of 30 seconds to seven minutes. One of the most memorable was when she enacted scenes from “Die Hard” while wearing a bikini (have you ever visualized Bruce Willis in a bikini?).

1-min. poses

When it became safe to go back to the life-drawing studio, Shawna resumed her improv format at the Artists & Craftsman store in the U-District. Although I’ve known about the series for a long time, I hadn’t gotten around to trying it live until last Saturday. Shawna’s narrative theme for the morning was a jungle explorer engaged with exotic plants, birds and saving them from an unexpected drought.

2-min. poses

Keeping up with her poses (I sketched 43 in two hours!) gave us all a breathtaking challenge while her narrative kept us entertained.

3-min. pose

Shawna at the Speed of Light (and Shadow)

 

1/2/21 Shawna, 30-second poses (I loved the energy and rhythm expressed by these dance gestures!)

Shawna is one of my favorite life-drawing models. I have drawn her more often than any other model, so perhaps I’ve had more opportunities to learn her proportions and shape, but beyond that, she is surely one of the best. It’s certainly challenging enough to hold any pose for 20 minutes, but in my experience, the true skill of a life-drawing model is revealed by his or her short poses. Drawing 30 unique and expressive 30-second poses without a break is downright exhilarating! Whew – what a workout! And as training for “real” people in the urban landscape, there is no better practice short of doing the real thing. By the time I got to the five-minute poses, they felt too long!

30-second poses

30-second poses

30-second poses

30-second poses

Now that all life-drawing models have been forced to take their business outside of the art school studio and into their own homes, they can’t depend on a monitor to manage their lighting for the benefit of artists. I have drawn enough models on Zoom during the past year to realize that not many understand the importance of lighting. Shawna’s many years of experience have made her an expert at this sometimes subtle but critical part of successful life drawing.

1-min. poses

2-min. poses (My favorites of the session, the 2-minute poses were made next to a window that cast a lovely light.)

2-min. poses

2-min. poses

Creative and always motivated to give artists inspiring, varied poses and moods, Shawna put each set of poses in a different area of her home. At Saturday’s session on Zoom, she posed against a wall, in her bathroom, on a stairway, and next to a window (my favorite lighting that day). Based on prompts developed for improvisational acting, each set of poses expressed a theme, such as “New Year’s Eve party,” “attention getter” and “rainy afternoon.” As much actor as model, she is a joy to sketch. I only hope I am able to capture the expressive energy she puts into each pose.

3- and 2-minute poses

3-min. poses

3-min. poses

Technical notes: Typically I use wet media such as a brush pen for extremely short poses, but I thought I’d give something dry a try this time: Prismacolor Art Stix. Soft as crayons, they moved fast enough, and I kept the drawings small so I could keep up with Shawna’s 30-second pace (the pages shown are in a 7-by-10-inch Canson XL 98-pound Mix Media sketchbook). I had an easier time with Art Stix on poses of at least one minute, though. The Kuretake Brush Writer is still one of my favorites when I have to move as quickly as possible.

My daily hand drawings continue to teach me something every day, far beyond the form of my own hand. My primary material for those has been toned paper with drawing tools in a dark color and white. That simplicity has trained me to see forms in terms of shadow and light better than any other practice I’ve tried. I especially notice what I’ve learned during life-drawing sessions when I have to identify and capture the shadow and light immediately with no time for more than a few strokes.

5-min. pose

5-min. poses

Not-Quite Life Drawing

4/18/20 20-min. pose

As has become all the rage for many activities, “life” drawing (if it can be called such) opportunities are now available as live video streams. I had been seeing other sketchers share their drawings made from live streams, and I wondered what the experience would be like. (Unlike some sketchers who routinely sketch while watching TV, I’ve done this only once: When I sketched the televised presidential debate four years ago from an appropriate “throne.”) It’s obviously not “life” drawing, but it’s not drawing from a still photo, either. I’m not sure exactly what it is.

Just as I was pondering this question, one of my favorite Gage models, Shawna Holman, announced that she was offering the same. Curious, I decided to participate. Using the Zoom platform, Shawna gave us two hours of the standard Gage short-pose sequence of 2-, 5-, 10- and 20-minute costumed poses. The harsh lighting was uneven compared to a studio spotlight, but that made it easier to see values.

The videoconference platform is interactive, so during the breaks, we could give Shawna feedback about positioning or lighting, and her response improved the later poses. It was also fun to see and chat briefly with other participants that I know from Gage.

 

4/18/20 2-min. poses

Here’s one interesting observation I made: At Gage’s studio, every participant has a slightly different view of the model. In a live stream, we all have exactly the same view, which immediately became apparent during the breaks when we shared our work.

No, it’s not the same as real-life life drawing, but it’s also not the same as drawing from a recorded video, and it’s definitely not the same as using static images. I wouldn’t choose to do it if Gage’s studio was available, but I truly appreciated the opportunity for the life-drawing practice that I’ve been craving during these stay-at-home weeks. Shawna is offering sessions regularly, so I’ll be back for more.

One major benefit of online life drawing is that it’s not limited to those who can commute to the studio! If you are interested in giving this kind of life drawing a try, contact Shawna through Instagram.

4/18/20 10-min. pose

4/18/20 5-min. poses

Professor Trelawney at Capitol Cider

6/27/19 Shawna as Professor Trelawney (5-min. pose)

Gage Academy has been sponsoring a bimonthly drink and draw for a while now at Capitol Cider, but I’d never gotten around to it for various reasons (mainly the challenging parking in that neighborhood, despite its relative proximity to home). However, I recently had so much fun at the cosplay drink and draw in Renton that I became more motivated to give Capitol Cider’s event a shot. Natalie was game to try it with me, so we braved traffic and parking issues, and the fun evening was worth it!

The theme that night was Harry Potter, and the featured model was dynamic Shawna dressed as Professor Trelawney. I’ve sketched Shawna many times at Gage life drawing sessions, but usually when she’s nude, so it was a new treat to capture the flowing gown and red scarf she wore. At Gage, the shortest poses I’ve done are one minute long, so an additional new challenge was the series of 30-second poses Shawna gave us. I’m not sure if the beer helped or hindered me, but I sure had a blast! We’ll be back for more.

5-min. poses

A pose by Dumbledore, who was also the emcee
(10-min. pose)

1-min. pose

30-second poses

The Many Moods of Shawna

 

4/3/21 Shawna, bullfighter, 30-sec. poses

Shawna was at it again – this time as a bullfighter, pixie, carpenter, petting zoo visitor, cook and bowler – and all while dressed in a bikini! I wasn’t feeling my usual groove this time, but Shawna’s imaginative poses are always fun to sketch.

Bullfighter, 30-sec. poses

Pixie, 1-min. poses

Pixie, 1-min. poses

Pixie, 1-min. poses

Carpenter, 2-min. poses

Carpenter, 2-min. poses

Cook, 3-min. poses

At the petting zoo, 5-min. poses

Bowler, 7-min. poses

More Memory Life Drawing

10/30/20 Shawna (20-min. pose from observation)

My memory life-drawing practice continued last Friday on Zoom. As I did previously, I used the five-minute poses for the practice, but I changed my method a bit. This time, I used a brush pen, which is much faster than pencil. I still studied each pose for about two minutes before drawing, but after I covered the screen, I sketched first from memory, probably for about a minute or so. Then I uncovered the screen and sketched again for the time that remained, this time from observation as usual. In each pair shown below (using red brush pen), the drawing on the right was from memory, followed by one from observation on the left.

I thought this process would be informative in showing me the ways in which I have difficulty drawing from memory. Even though I made a conscious effort to study Shawna’s proportions while I viewed her, it’s clear in each case that my proportions were way off in the memory drawings but better in the observed drawings. I also found it amusing that in at least one case, if I couldn’t remember a detail, I made it up! So I guess that would be drawing from imagination! It was another grueling but extremely useful workout.

The remaining five-to-20 minutes poses were done from observation only (watercolor pencil). Shawna’s brightly colored outfit was fun and festive for the day before Halloween.

5-min. pose (right: from memory; left: from observation after the memory sketch)

I forgot the position of Shawna's legs, so I made it up!

5-min. poses from observation

10-min. poses from observation

10-min. poses from observation