These first drawings were done in my first ever Life Drawing class. I didn’t think I had any preconception of how the session would work and I was slightly nervous being the new person in a long-established group. As the session director called out “go!”, the model pulled a snarling face and adopted the middle pose seen below. I was so surprised I uttered a fairly loud “oh!” and everyone laughed at me – excellent ice-breaker!

Quick studies. Each session starts with quick studies to get us familiar with the model. I find this really useful, almost like a warm-up before exercise. It helps me decide what medium I am in the mood to work with. I have invariably used pencil or graphite stick in my sketchbook for these warm-ups but last week tried to ‘go bigger’ with softer medium. I found it didn’t get me focused in the same way…. but it was a no-music, tired week so I’ll give it another try next time.

Trying to work larger with charcoal to get more flowing lines.