Research 4b: Skeletal Structure and Musculature
When I’m studying poses, I often step back and draw armatures or draw out skeleton and simplified muscle plans. It is often combined with long studies, and so forth. To that end, I chose to not separate my practice between this task and the next exercise.
Exercise 4.3: Structure and proportion
I began my drawing practice a number of years back, with a desire to tell stories via sequential art, or comics. Following teaching myself via Youtube, I took a couple comics-drawing bootcamps with Ty Templeton*. Ty is a professional comic artist, generally working for DC, whose work has definitely been seen by anyone who reads Batman comics. His classes were very instrumental in forming my love of drawing people, though I’ve since moved on from my comics focus. Perhaps I’ll return to that at some point — the stories are still in my mind.
Continuing on with the same set reference images, I decided to spend some time focused on the model’s foot and lower leg. The foot is quite foreshortened as it curves toward the viewer. The pose itself is of the model climbing hand-over-hand beneath a rope ladder. Its quite an interesting pose.
You can see in the model’s foot how tense they are, like they are hooked onto some support, trying to help motion of climbing. The muscles of the legs are quite active as well.
I have a number of anatomy books. Invaluable references skeletal structure, visible landmarks, and musculature. This is in addition to my ongoing membership to Proko’s site†.
I find it helpful to not only know the skeleton, or musculature, but how to render it in simple forms. Tubes, ovoids, and such. Being able to identify the planes, and curves.
Annoyingly, I’m not great at representing what I see here. My marks cause flattening or visible twisting. Perhaps I’m being careless? I’m not sure. I need to slow down and really query myself on what exactly I’m seeing.
Another area I need to keep watch for is how much I tighten up and destroy the movement/rhythm of a pose when I get caught up in the anatomical details. Trying to draw perfect, and photorealistic, isn’t really an interest of mine but I end up getting all twisted up in my head when things don’t look perfect. Annoying.
Exercise 4.4: Three longer studies
Given the pandemic, I don’t have the option of working with a model in person. As such, I took a look through the 2B or Not 2B Collective replays, and chose a model that is outside my comfort zone.
Instead of just doing the longer studies, I decided to work through from the very short poses as presented by the collective, through to the longer ones.
This model was definitely more interesting than many of the models I’ve virtually worked with, as her range of poses and expressiveness was very well practiced and creative.
I found myself obsessing over drawing the curves of the models’ model, and not getting too hung up on correct proportion of extremities. I like the way this focused attention, and created movement.
Another interesting observation is how I draw differently from graphite. Here, with conte on kraft paper, I’m much more expressive. Looping, curving forms, where I’m twisting the conte stick in my hand in order to create different line widths. How do I do the same in graphite? I need to think about this.
As I reviewed the work, here, I found some of the poses interesting and made some doodles around where I might take them in something different. for whatever reason, merging the model with fish or sharks seemed appropriate.
Session with Kyle
Virtual zoom-based session.
Started out using my own pastels, but that became an unmitigated mess. Didn’t bother photographing them. Lesson here is that the pigments used need to use a higher methylcellulose %, as they were far too soft for this use. Perhaps I should make two different “lines”, soft and hard pastels.
Once I switched back to conte, I was back in my element. I was quite happy with the two final long poses.
There is a bit of a mannerist torso twist happening in the reclining pose. I saw this early, and chose to leave it there. I was focusing on trying to get looser with my marks, and gestures, pushing the pose in one direction or another. I like the result, a lot, and it was far more satisfying a drawing experience than in the past.
Session with Joe
Virtual zoom-based session.
How many models have dark beards and similar hair? anyway.
What was interesting with this session is the model was posing within a window box, constraining the positions they could be in but also providing support for certain contortions.
This led me to thinking about Henry Moore, and the way he abstracted the human figure in his sculptures. Although I didn’t carry forward that thinking into these specific drawings, there are shapes in these poses (particularly the second, shown at right) that are really intriguing to me.
In particular, the triangular shape of the shoulders, sweep through torso and down through left leg and foot. It creates an interesting shape in my mind, that i can intuit into a more unravelled shape. I don’t know how to describe this, and likely should “just” draw it.
Research 4c: Naked Dinner Party
Before I begin, I’ll admit that I didn’t look forward to this exercise (or any online reading exercise, to be honest). I find reading on a screen to be very hard, particularly if it is reading a text that was formatted for screen reading. When I got through all the texts it was definitely with a sense of relief.
An observation I made, about myself, while reading through these texts is that I approach everything from the “sciences” path. Texts contain information and knowledge; processes to examine and find arithmetic satisfaction or fault; recipes. These, however, are different: They are subjective arguments that I may or may not agree with (or even understand) — and I am allowed to disagree with them. Is this the path in to understand what my tutor describes as “response”? What do I think about what I’m reading? How do I respond to these arguments?
This is a difficult step for me. My instinct is to read as is, and accept what is written as if this was a computing or mathematical text. I read the paragraphs and say to myself “Okay? sure.” I need to start asking “has this added to or changed my thinking?” I may have gone too far down the rabbit hole in this exercise, but I did my best to take notes on my response to each document as I read them.
Critical thinking. It means something different here, than it does in my day job and career. I need to suss that out.
In an old Victorian manor, a collection of artists and thinkers have gathered. The artists are scattered in small groups throughout the large dimly lit room; each involved in their owns side conversations. Old master’s paintings hang on the paneled walls, barely visible in the gloom. Large windows look out into rainstorm revealing nothing of locale. The center of the room is dominated by a low dias, spotlit well from above. Standing still upon the dias, a male model stands still while listening. Middle aged, grey beard and thinning hairline, a loose robe of some faux eastern print does nothing to hide his lack of athleticism.
Frances BORZELLO reclines on a chais, sipping tea while taking notes as she observes the other party goers
BORZELLO
“An interesting choice of model. Hardly a model that approximates the most admired of painted and sculpted predecessors. Whose choice was this?“
The artist Laura LANCASTER reclines in an wing-backed armchair that has seen better days. They nods towards Martin KEMP and Marina WARNER, dressed like twins though clearly they are not.
KEMP
“Over-exaggerated displays of musculature…“
WARNER
“… could become tiresome mannerisms“
LANCASTER
“Keep in mind that its not the subject itself that is painted, its the light around the subject that is painted“
Liadem BOAKYE is nearby, though facing away to look out the windows.
BOAKYE
“What difference does it make? I, at least, am not here to capture a portrait but to invent from inspiration“
On the other side of the room, a cluster of artists are in a slightly more heated conversation. John BERGER has his back to the model, gesturing towards a barely visible painting of a nude woman. He stomps his left foot, out of frustration, as he argues with Rosemary BETTERTON
BERGER
“See how she expresses her own attitude to herself, and defines what can and cannot be done to her.“
BETTERTON
“Are you still on about this? You’re just reinforcing women’s traditionally exhibitionist role in art.“
“How does our model promise male power with drooping belly, and sloped shoulders? How about men can be as they are, while women must be sexualized!“
Not far off, Kenneth CLARK is too far into his wine. He speaks, though possibly only to himself
CLARK
“He saw that the flaw in the whole respectable edifice of the academic nude was the relationship between the painter and his model“
Gill SAUNDERS, back over by BETTERTON and BERGER
SAUNDERS
“The drunkard gets it: The real criticism to be leveled at the nude is that it presents a male fantasy of woman’s sexuality. It is the male gaze throughout“
Referenced works
Berger, John (1972) Ways of Seeing Chapter 3 (pp 45 – 64) London. Penguin. At: https://contentstore.cla.co.uk/secure/link?id=33e1c14f-b34c-ea11-80cd-005056af4099
Clark, Kenneth (1956)1985) The nude as an end in itself in The Nude (pp 335 – 357) London. Penguin. At: https://contentstore.cla.co.uk/secure/link?id=ca7bf2bf-134f-ea11-80cd-005056af4099
Liadem Boakye, Lynette (2013) Tateshot Turner Prize interview. Tate media. At: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/lynette-yiadom-boakye-16784/lynette-yiadom-boakye-studio-visit
Lancaster, Laura (2018) interview Workplace Gallery. At: https://www.workplacegallery.co.uk/video/11/
Borzello, Frances (2016) Life Drawing And The Male Model IN JEREMY DELLER: IGGY POP LIFE CLASS, BROOKLYN MUSEUM, HENI PUBLISHING, LONDON 2016. At: https://www.francesborzello.co.uk/essay/life-drawing-male-model-jeremy-deller-iggy-pop-life-class/
Betterton, R. (ed.) (1996) ‘Mother Figures: The maternal nude in the work of Kathe Kollwitz and Paula Modersohn-Becker’ In: An Intimate Distance: Women, Artists, and the Body. London: Routledge. pp.20–45. At: https://contentstore.cla.co.uk/secure/link?id=fa70fb63-163a-eb11-80cd-005056af4099
Saunders, G. (ed.) (1989) ‘The Fetishized Female’ In: The Nude: A New Perspective. Herbert Press. pp.71–90. At: https://contentstore.cla.co.uk/secure/link?id=eaca1bd0-043a-eb11-80cd-005056af4099
Kemp, M. et al. (eds.) (2000) ‘3. Artists and Academies’ In: Spectacular Bodies: The Art and Science of the Human Body from Leonardo to Now. University of California Press. pp.69–91. At: https://contentstore.cla.co.uk/secure/link?id=d09d69df-053a-eb11-80cd-005056af4099
Link to my raw notes and thoughts. I’m going to leave them there
- *Ty Templeton’s COMIC BOOK BOOTCAMP!! (s.d.) At: https://comicbookbootcamp.com/ (Accessed 26/12/2021).
- †Proko – Learn How to Draw with Fun Tutorials (s.d.) At: https://www.proko.com (Accessed 26/12/2021).