2_14_2024

 

The Expressive Figure Assignment

Concept: Drawing the Head as Volume

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

Charcoal (Vine/Willow)

Red Ochre/Sanguine (Pastel/Conte)

Black ( Compressed Charcoal/Pastel)

Ivory/White (Pastel/Conte)

Starting with charcoal, quickly and lightly sketch and draw a gestural mannikin of the pose with an emphasis on proportions and action. This mannikin is geometrically analogous to a "doll" with a peanut-shaped volume approximating the torso, cylinders for limbs and neck, and an ovoid for the skull. Orient the mannikin in space by drawing a "medial line" through the center of the front and back of the torso as well as the center and back of the neck and skull. 

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.

For these next exercises, concentrate on the ovoid of the skull using the medial line as a guide to fabricate the face, find the mask, and then divide the space under the mask into thirds. The bottom of the nose, the shadow under the lower lip, and then the chin.

Nicolai Fechin

Peter Paul Rubens

Astrid