Surveyor
Posted: February 18, 2013 Filed under: Uncategorized 30 CommentsI used to be so afraid of drawing people. Paralyzed, even. As soon as I made a mark on paper they would move and then I would erase what I had done and start again. But I can say with certainty that daily drawing practice has helped me so much. It’s like practicing scales for a musician. You just keep hitting those notes, or in my case making the marks on paper, and eventually it gets better or easier or both. Drawing is work. But with practice your sense of proportion gets better, your lines more expressive and if the whole expresses the essence of what you see, then the details don’t matter as much. My point is that a year ago I might have spent 10 minutes getting his hood just right but today in that time I had the whole thing drawn and coloured. It may not be a perfect drawing but the essence of the surveyor on a cold sunny day has been captured.
Hey, great – real progress!
Thanks my friend. It is by osmosis from drawing with you.
Love the color and use of whites! Nice!
Thanks so much Sue.
As I keep saying, you are a great example of what can be achieved with daily practice… but this time, I won’t suggest that people go back and look at your early posts.
Today, it looks like you have captured his stance really well with the weight on the legs, the shape of the back and the lean on the shoulders. The background is good too… just enough to suggest a setting for this worker. At first, I thought he had a paper bag on his head but then I read that it was a hood… so I guess that means it is still a little cold over there?
Thanks Ross.
Yes, it is brutally cold and windy here today. He looked miserable out there!
And envious of me sitting in my car with a cup of coffee.
Thanks Shari,for the encouraging words.I have lost confidence in drawing the figure and find it intimidating. Practice,practice,practice!
Practice is the key. I did a lot of figure drawing last week and it really helped. It’s a constant struggle, isn’t it??
Well done, my friend. You caught his stance so that we KNOW he is watching his partner and waiting to do something. A real capture.
You’re right Lee. He was waiting for his partner across the road. Thank YOU my friend for your kind comments.
Shari, my soon-to-be brother-in-law is a surveyor. I’m sharing this with him, as I know he’ll enjoy it as much as I did. The vibrancy in the colors, against the subdued winter hues, is delightful.
Thanks Bethann! I hope he enjoys it.
If people are sitting still they go through a range of motions. So you’d make a couple of marks in your drawing they move, you wait for them to come back to roughly that position continue. Rinse, repeat as necessary.
John, I went to a lecture last week by a courtroom artist here in Montreal. It was fascinating because he had covered all of our famous criminal cases from Hell’s Angels to Valerie Fabrikant to Guy Turcotte. He said the same thing. Starts working on multiple figures and continues each one as they come back to their positions.
Shari,
Other than your insightful sketches , most entertaining is your regular critique by Ross C… LOL
Yes, Ross keeps me on my toes Careen!
Hi Shari, i have to agree with Careen about Ross’ entertaining critique when it came to the
paper bag on your surveyor’s head. Thanks for the great laugh Ross!
But where i beg to differ with Ross is how you’ve captured the weight on the surveyor’s legs because in fact all the weight is on his straight left leg which means he should fall over
on his right since i don’t think the contapposto is correct here. Of course, his toes could be frozen on his right foot also. How’s that for discussion?
But i do like your nice fluid quick sketch capturing the gesture with great fresh colour as
usual 🙂
Was the courtroom artist super Mike Mclaughlin by any chance?
oh dear, typo error…contrapposto 🙂
That courtroom artist was the super Mike Mclaughlin. He is quite an amazing artist and an entertaining speaker too.
Now about the pose, (after I refreshed my memory on Google about what contrapposto was) I guess it is probably not correct and maybe he did fall over just after I drove away 🙂
But the point was that I was happy to have captured a little moment in time, knowing that probably nothing was correct in this.
It’s a great little sketch Shari and being happy that you captured a short moment
in time is much more important than seeing the surveyor fall over 🙂
Your daily posts Shari have become quite entertaining with different comments and points of view coming from all over the planet. I must say that I look forward to your daily painting/drawing post, but also to the daily comments that follow. Yes, drawing is work, but as you show, well worth its while 😉
Yes Jane, the comment aspect of this project was unexpected for me. I had no idea when I started this that I would be conversing with people from all over the world. It’s an added bonus and I’m glad you enjoy it too.
As for the drawing practice, you are a great example of what this does. Your work has changed so much since you started!
I’m not sure if I told you this or not…I’m pretty sure I’ve been meaning to but never have. ANYWAYS, The Montreal Art Centre has live-model drawing sessions every Monday at (starts at) 6:30. If you want some practise you should check it out.
Thanks Philip! That’s good to know. There is also UQAM on Sundays. Great models there too. I wish I had the time to go!!
If you didn’t keep saying that you haven’t been drawing people all your life, one would surely think that you’ve been drawing people all your life!
No Gina. I just keep practicing! It is hard work for me.
Awesome, do you sell prints of it?
Nice job!
Thanks!
Thank you for sharing such precious information and guiding us