The Expressive Figure: The Expressive Figure 1_17

The Expressive Figure Assignment

Concept: Trois Crayon with Hatching Duality

Materials:

Materials

Vine or Willow Jumbo Charcoal ( Generals, Coates, etc.), Graphite lead and holder
Dry Media Sources: Hard Pastel sticks (NuPastel, Creatacolor, etc.) Conte Crayon, Stabilo Pastel Pencils or equivalent,
Canson Mi Tientes toned paper or Strathmore toned 90 lb drawing paper 12" x 19" or similar Ledger or any similar 60 to 90 lb paper
Faber-Castell Kneaded Eraser or Chamois cloth

Trois Crayon color set

Red Ochre/Sanguine
Black
Ivory/White

Starting with charcoal, quickly and lightly sketch and draw a gestural mannikin of the pose with an emphasis on proportions and action. This should take fifteen seconds or less and be in the spirit of what Michelangelo called "the Flame". Think of it as three helixes wrapping around a central core, like ribbons or strands of flame rising and converging above.

With the template of the mannikin pose as a guide, consider how the volumes of the "peanut", "cylinders, and "ovoid" describe the volumes "in space" and can taper as they move away from us and loom larger the closer they are to us. Be cognizant of this "in and out" spatial occupancy.

Once this lightly sketched gestural template is drawn, use the red ochre/sanguine hard pastel/Conte media to establish broken contour and define parameters of anatomy. Apply the hatching duality by hatch modeling those forms that are illuminated and as the form turns into shadow use a unidirectional parallel line to "Mass" the shadow.

Use the Ivory White hard pastel/Conte media to "heighten" the form in the light- lights are applied on those planes that are more parallel with the light source. Model(hatch) the lights with strokes that conform with the geometry of the form.

Refine the drawing using the black hard pastel/Conte media by emphasizing those contours that have the most absence of light( light cannot penetrate those folds and creases. Apply black for hair and accents (irises, nostrils, crease of lips, eyebrows, eyelashes, etc.

Sherrie McGraw