My First Ever In-Person Art Class: Life Drawing!

Life drawing, charcoal, looking only at shapes of tone... it's all new to me this week and, whew!  Talk about scribbling!   My eyes can barely see what the instructor is talking about, and I just love it.

I can feel my brain expanding.

We look at the model (clothed so far).  She tells us to draw, but not to use lines!

Seriously!?  If you've looked at my blog at all you know I'm addicted to my pen lines.   I think in lines.  I've been sketch-scribbling with lines for two years.   I've worked my butt off to make my lines occasionally look like something.

I'm just coming down from Intober, which was almost all lines!

Now, no lines??

This, of course, is exactly what I took the class.  To take me back to scribbling.  To playing with tools in ways I haven't before.

Anyhow, we are looking at human models and drawing only shapes of different tones, in charcoal.  I've never picked up a piece of charcoal before this.  My first impression:  very messy!

(I wish I'd taken a picture of my hands, my face, my shirt... charcoal everywhere!)

Anyhow, here are my first two charcoal drawings from my first night of my first ever in-person drawing class.

You can tell they are people!  So... not too shabby!

This is a wonderful exercise in seeing for me.  To not see my idea of what is in front of me (nose, hand, jeans, chair), but to actually see light and shadow.

And all those angles and curves and straight lines and parts!  People really are fearfully and wonderfully made.

Stay tuned for more adventures--my class lasts six weeks.