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Above is my latest from my 2nd cast work - today was the last official day and I am making fast progress - now the hair forms and shoulder ( where the arm was broken off) are largely modeled and I began to work my way down his torso.. I may do some more work on him next week.. he's getting pretty cool!! ( lots of thinking and looking to get this guy going for sure - so many subtle forms!!!).. One of the most bad-arse things to learn is how to get that "glow" with graphite ( or any black/white medium.. right now the Borghese Warrior's (by the sculptor Agasias) torso is glowing TOO much ( too much of a good thing ?) but will get toned down if I can work on him next week! On 7/7 I began to model into the lights on the head..(see below) not finely tuned yet but a good start. Tomorrow I will fine tune and work on the hair a bit and upper torso depending on time!
.. at about 7 hours of block in ( I know it sounds long to my Academy friends but I have a long way to go to get all the shapes locked in!).. and only one week left of class! Here is a photo of the cast w/a block-in, then a refinement of the block in ( legs and shapes of torso refined.. this one is a pretty complex cast!!!!
It's not horrid but I have a lot to learn about tecnique! I started a second cast thursday of a discus throwing (yet armless dood). only 2.5 weeks on this crazy thing !!! Here is a view of my block in as of today - at about 5 hours and then..
This is a photo of the cast studio at GCA - pretty cool room huh?!! They have tons of beautiful casts including Lacoon (with the umlaut).. In the building is also a figure studio and a figure painting studio as well as sculpture studios on the floor below. I hope to start a face once I finish the mouth.. the techniques you learn here are pretty amazing.. but you gotta be patient! Oh, btw, Nick, Sam, Camie and Jacob are excellent teachers - Ari - our monitor has been great as well - everyone is patient and positive and will listen to your (my) whining.. cool!
Below is the my first cast study of a mouth - this took me 2.5 weeks and I probably went too fast!
Here is a progress shot of the figure.. sorry for photo quality as I am not taking my time and just snapping! today was mostly legs and fine tuning all over.. yesterday the lower arm and hand.. it still needs lots of work but saturday am will be are last day with Maria the model @#$%^
Today I fixed the ear/head relationship ( needed to be receding /in perspective - now MUCH better! fine tune face, re-develop value relationships on breast and torso forms, add right arm upper ( not finalized).. and fine tune some lower forms. (see below for earlier phases of my Maria drawing. She is an amazing and patient model and.. well I wish we had more like here at AAU!!!! The key to this type of work is subtlety and very easy pressure ( e.g., NONE) when modeling in the lights. I am getting there but have lots to practice when I get home - but the techniques I am learning are so cool!
On Friday after a great Jacob Collins lecture on building the basic shape(s) on Thurs (and measuring everything and really doing you best to nail the "where" and the "what" ( in that order), I re-did the whole head and remeasured to get it more correct! also adjusted forms to be more organic ( arm, foot, shoulders, legs) and begin the time consuming task of flattening all major shadow forms to one value ( prior to beginning modeling). I know it doesn't look like much but this is how they do it here at GCA.. I hope the more finished work will show well if I have put the basic structure together well! We shall see !
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17 comments:
holy flippin cow ! love love love the mouth... DOOOOOOD. if you're whining... your whining is totally unfounded. way to throw down. can't wait to see more, post updates soon. how much are you selling the mouth for ? ; )
looks like you leveled-up man. Those cast drawings are lookin' like "master" quality to me. Hope you post more!
the mouth cast i hope will be done this week.. thanks for the kind words! GCA is amazing - learning a ton! the figure - that will start to take some shape this week.. will start a new cast this week i think!
very nice kev. where is this studio at?
Hey Chris! How's you summer going ? are you done with that crazy workload ? ( and on to the next crazy workload !) .. I am at the Grand Central Academy in NYC with one week left of their summer intensive cast and figure drawing workshop ( all in graphite). It has been awesome but I wouldn't be holding my own and learning so much w/o all my Academy training! After next week I start a figure painting 2 week class here then head home.. I have loved NYC and the time has flown by but I'll be ready to come home ! ( it's 92 today and.. oh.. 89 % humidity).. Check out GCA's website ( Grand Central Academy) in NYC..
Gue - hah! thanks man - i wish.. i am learning some crazy stuff here - you would TOTALLY dig it! hope you are having a great drawing-filled summer and keeping omari honest on his 6 notebook summer!
I think this post has confirmed my idea of attending next year's summer course at GCA.
May I ask how you go about making your drawing bigger than the cast?
Do you measure angles and stuff?
anyway, thanks for the really inspiring post!
Gavin - I am just finishing up my first week of the figure painting workshop that followed the summer cast/life intensive. I would say if you can do it - go! The level of teaching is fantastic! My drawing is actually smaller than the cast of Hermes but it looks different in perspective in the photo. As In any careful drawing, your block-in - a careful measurement of many heights, widths and tilts ( angles).
A solid block in will take a few days to complete. Even Jacob Collins spends many hours working on getting the block-in right.. I'm just a novice at this type of work so I have a lot to learn but the figure I have just drawn in prep for my fig painting is the most exact and correct figure I have ever drawn! more to come I hope! cheers - kevin
Hi Kevin,
Thats really kind of you to reply to my questions - so thank you.
Thanks for all the info on the cast drawing too, your cast drawings look ace.... I hope you enjoy the figure painting class too.
I'm gonna start saving now for next year, I live in the UK so I will have to save a little bit extra for the flights!
Keep up the good work, and thanks!
Gavin
Gavin - one thing ( if I may humbly suggest) - spend the year saving for sure - but most important - the more developed you figure drawing skills when you get there, the better - so practice practice practice! We saw a couple of students go home before the workshop ended in frustration as their skills may not have been ready for the class.. it's definitely hard work and the more prepared you are the better. and practice with finely sharpened graphite (H, HB, 2H) pencils. cheers. kw
Yes, I think doing a bit of practice is a very good idea.
Do you have anything you could recommend practicing?
Block-In's perhaps?
Do you know of any books or resources that might be of use to me?
I think I will try and get a small cast to practice with.
Looks like you pushed your skill level when you were there. The cast hall looks great!
the best practice i think, is to draw from life - casts are great to get very critical about shapes and measurements and then as that develops, combine that with work from life - that means lots of nude drawings - I actually ( now) try to draw every single day unless I'm traveling or sick. block-ins are great, especially if you have a method to get the forms correct to the model. Tony Ryder's book is a useful one to read ( and has amazing drawings).. some of my recent drawings ( before GCA) are just super-quick 2-5-10 minute studies vs multi-day drawings so you will get a different correctness/quality ( at least at this stage of my game!).. draw draw draw! that's what I have to say and you won't be sorry. Juliet Aristides' first book is also great.. take life classes.. go to drop in drawing sessions in your town.. all that! cheers, kevin
Hey Kevin!! These are soooo pro! You are not lying when you said you're learning a ton! Too bad you have to get back to charcoal pencils when you come back to AAU. You're so good at graphite already!!
Looks like you'll be painting for another 2 weeks after the drawing workshop? Can't wait to see your paintings!! I'm sure they'll beat out everyone at Spring Show!
Man I thought I posted a reply, but I don't see it here.
Thanks for the book recommendations, I will defo check them out....
Best of luck with your painting class, and best of luck with the rest of your studies in SF, i really appreciate you taking the time out to answer my questions too.
Look forward to seeing any future work too,
many thanks,
Gavin
wow! your art is so beautiful, I'll be looking back here often!
Rita - thank you for your super nice complement. I got a chance to check out your work - you have done some figures I think are really great! are you still in school or now just a practicing artist ? cheers - Kevin
summer has been busy but good. summer class will end soon, so i will get a bit of a break till fall. yay.
looks like you had a great time in ny. i will see you soon. don't forget to draw in my workshop in the fall.
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