Started an Anatomy/Life Drawing course today...

[adien]

i started an Anatomy/Life drawing course today at the art academy in downtown Vancouver BC

Well, I've never used a soft medium before, and of all things, I chose conte. I've never drawn while standing before. I've never drawn with my paper upright in front of me. And I've never drawn under a time limit, let alone 7 minute maximum poses.

man did I suck.

This weekend I'm going to go get some charcoal. something that smudges, and can be erased. I think maybe I'll start putting a time limit of say 30 minutes on my sketches that I do at home.

Everything I've learned about drawing (not much i admit) felt like it was useless. It really felt like I was starting over from scratch. :(

Some of the other artists in the course did some beautiful sketches. I suppose I'll keep the crappy sketches I did for comparison to my later stuff, but man i hate them. :bash:

Oh well, I hope I'll improve over the next couple months.

But.. It was still fun. :D

[al-x]

Taking Life-drawing classes is great. I'm sure you will improve a lot during these months. And to lessen the time you spend on sketches could be good. If it takes over 20-25 minutes to finish I wouldn't really consider it a sketch anymore.

keep at it and you're surely gonna improve alot

[dzu]

Hi there,

My suggestion is to not worry about speed in the beginning but focus on getting the correct construction, volumes, and proportions. If you chase the time limit then you may end up making the same mistakes over and over without realizing it. Speed will come with time as your hand and eye improve. Squint down and really look at the model before you even put down your first line. When I first started I was intimidated by all the good artists at the atelier. Now I just focus on getting better each time and don't worry about what other people are doing. I may get inspired by their work, but I'm only competing with myself. Glad that you had fun :)