Quick Studies in oil

[aaronmiller]

My studio is in a Gallery space on Division Street in Chicago. Every Tuesday night we have a figure drawing session. I went from going to it to now running it. Its uninstructed, I have way more to learn before I can teach. But I wanted to share what goes on. I've been going ever since I got back from Revelations 08. I had a revelation of sorts that life drawing needed to part of my life as an artist and not just some class that was required in school.

I also want to thank Dan Dos Santos for turning me onto the the 10 minute paintings which I started doing when I got back from the Illustration Master Class last summer.

The session is about 2 hours so my longest pose here is from 40-50 min. I break out the paints for the 10 min, 20 min and hour poses.

thanks for looking – Aaron Miller

[apple-juice]

very nice quick painting, you are very skillful.

[Giacomo]

Stuff looks awesome! You rock!

[aaronmiller]

these range from 10 minutes to 45 minutes.

[aaronmiller]

more in the 10 minute range.
the panels are usually 9x12 or 6x6.

[aaronmiller]

2 hours
18x24

[aaronmiller]

40-50 minutes
12x9

[aaronmiller]

15 minutes

[*ViRuS*]

nice work =)
i did notice that you rarely render the hands and feet (exept for your one that's only hands and feet, heh)
i think your longer poses could really benefit from adding them in next time. great stuff though.

[smuli]

The handling of paint blows my mind off, I didn't know it's possible to work so fast with oils. I think there's some minor wonkyness in foreshortened legs in some of them though. On the two last reclining figures, the bent knee joints look like they fold like an empty tube more than solid limbs. The feet look small too in the earlier one. But excuse the nitpicks, it's an inspiring thread and makes me wish I had more time to experiment with oils. Keep up the good work!

[Leggraphics]

I am amazed that your able to get such structure down with paints in 10 minutes. very awesome ... you should take it on the road, do portraits for people on the street you'd make a killing and it would save on getting models lol :D

[aaronmiller]

thanks!
though i'll also try to get those hands and feet in there in the 10 minutes i have as well.

i think Andrew Jones did that through Europe, but since I run the sessions the models are free for me. and i have thought about getting some friends to pose to add to the collection of quick portraits.

all in good time. i'll keep adding to this page and we'll see.

[aaronmiller]

Adding a few more figure studies, hopefully these are helpful for someone. If you have any questions feel free to ask. All under an hour and about 9x12.

[aaronmiller]

a few more.

[kgfz]

This is amazing, looks like you have some Freud's influence there.

[Noah Bradley]

It was great to meet you at IlluXCon, man. As I told you there, I love these figure studies. So inspirational.

...So post more of them, already! :)

[aaronmiller]

Noah! it was great meeting you as well. What an awesome event. I'll get to an update ASAP. look for about a dozen or more incoming later this week. Its nice to know that these help folks out. I'm also looking forward to the possibility of spending more than on hour on a life painting soon.

[aaronmiller]

quite a few more images to upload here. i hope you viewers enjoy these. they are a great exercise if you can do it.

[aaronmiller]

quick studies in oil on panel.

[aaronmiller]

Quick studies in oil. between 10-60 minutes.

[aaronmiller]

quick studies!

[aaronmiller]

Quick Studies! good for you!

[xinranliu]

ooh huge dump today
thanks for sharing

[JeffX99]

Nice stuff Aaron! Inspiring!

[bjoern3000]

What an immense and great output!

[aaronmiller]

15 minutes

60 minutes

10 minutes

[marina_koleva]

Great works! So warm palette, my people look like zombies comparing to yours :D

[Woji]

Hey Aaron, I just wanted to say your paintings are beautiful and your illustrations are amazing. I'm also from Chicago and I have wanted to go to your life drawing sessions for a while now, but with school, conflicting schedules have held me back. I'll hopefully see you during Christmas break.

Just figured I'd stop creeping and say hello,
-Matt

[aaronmiller]

Hey Aaron, I just wanted to say your paintings are beautiful and your illustrations are amazing. I'm also from Chicago and I have wanted to go to your life drawing sessions for a while now, but with school, conflicting schedules have held me back. I'll hopefully see you during Christmas break.

Just figured I'd stop creeping and say hello,
-Matt

Hi Matt, we hope to see you around sometime. If you can't make it to our sessions there are plenty around the city to go to.

[aaronmiller]

yikes! I need to update with more paintings!!

most are around an hour. Hard to say since it includes the break time for the model about 30 minutes in.

all are oil on panel from life.

[aaronmiller]

next group of ten

[aaronmiller]

9 more

[aaronmiller]

but wait, there's more!

[aaronmiller]

if you're still looking here's 10 more.

[aaronmiller]

here are 6 more.

[aaronmiller]

7 more for the last of this bunch. whew!

[ioyoiioyoi]

you painted your works 10 minute?

[aaronmiller]

you painted your works 10 minute?

just some of them. the smaller ones, usually square shaped. nothing more than an hour really.

[aaronmiller]

Hello again, I've got a few more studies to post. Hope you enjoy.

I usually state my times since most of the paintings are done under these time contraints, not in an attempt to "show off". If I had more time I would certainly use it, drawings can always be fixed/adjusted, values can always be corrected, proportions measured, etc. I'm usually trying to push my decision making to it's limits therefore helping to increase my judgement and confidence.

[aaronmiller]

Yeah! I sometimes get a little more time. Usually under 2 is about a 1:15-1:30.

enjoy.

[aaronmiller]

I've had the chance to finally get a few studies in past the 2 hour mark. I should be doing more into 2012. Being able to get most of the subject down in under an hour really freed me up to make subtle corrections and adjustments.

One more thing I picked up is that the closer you can get to your model the better.

[aaronmiller]

When I moved into a new studio, my old studio mates wanted me to continue being a part of the workshops. So, I had to the opportunity to do something once a month. I decided that since all the other figure drawing workshops centered around the nude and shorter poses I would go with costumes and some longer poses.

One of my goals with the workshop was to pass along the idea that the things you learn in art school are the same tools you can use for your illustration when you are out of school. Hiring models, using costumes, doing studies, those are all part of the process.

I created the Figurative Illustration Workshop (http://figurativeillustrationworkshop.blogspot.com/).

Here's what i've been up to with those.

[merl1n]

Hey, you are definetely not a lazy guy :) I like some of them very very much. However, you should strive for correct proportions first. Do a quick, but precise drawing and then apply correct colors.

keep it up man

[Bunrt-Ice]

Really awesome paintings! I'm inspired.

[pauloricardo]

Hello, you have a lot of good studies here, but to produce it, do you use a canvas or some type of paper?

best regards,

Paulo

[aaronmiller]

Hi Paulo,

I buy large panels from the hardware store and cut them down to small sizes; such as 6x9, 8x10, 9x12. I keep them panels small since my time is very limited at some of the sessions I attend. The panels in comparison to canvases is very inexpensive. I have seen in the stores canvas pads you might try if you don't like panels.

Hello, you have a lot of good studies here, but to produce it, do you use a canvas or some type of paper?

best regards,

Paulo

[pauloricardo]

Hi Aaron, thanks for the answer, my concern is about the storage space needed by the canvas....

I try some paper that has a similar texture of canves, but the panels are a good idea to save money also...

;)

best regards