Life drawing- did it make a difference?

Did it make a difference? I don't see any *huge*difference after reading the perspective book.  However, I was perhaps more aware of the foreshortening challenges. These were all done with a brush-pen and then coloured pencil was added - only without the "pencil" part. These were Prismacolor wooden-less blocks - looking just like hard pastels in shape  but being made solely of the core material of a pencil crayon. I was trying deliberately to think of connecting curvilinear lines -without marking them on the page- and drawing quickly with the brush-pen. The top two figures were 1 minute each. The bottom drawing was a 20-minute pose and I did add some colour while the model was posing and then added more later, especially in the background. so far, I have left the sticks in their square shape , but I'm toying around with the idea of hand-sharpening- probably with a knife- one end. The shape does allow a quicker approach to noting light and shade areas. Working with Graphitint pencils resulted in more delicate drawings - as seen in a recent post- but I am currently enjoying the stronger contrast with the brush-pen as well as colour again. The human body is always a challenge to draw since  mistakes are so easily seen. Yet, there is something personal about each artist's approach. I think there is more feeling that a photo would show.

Another look at Perspective

Drawing in Real Perspective by Xavier Bolot.        Perspective is often a challenge for an artist so I approached this book with a great deal of interest. However, I found the book rather over-whelming as it is a very verbal explanation for solving a visual problem. I haven't thought about trigonometry since high-school so I found wading through pages of mathematical explanations a bit heavy going. Ultimately, the explanations make sense and the figure drawings offer worthwhile guidance.
     The Greeks used curvilinear perspective. A temple viewed from a distance is seen as straight, friezes on a column appear to be the same height when seen from the ground because curves characteristic of our natural vision perception have been utilized.
      Linear perspective was developed in the Renaissance but it doesn't work for very wide landscapes or for close-ups with models. One section shows some errors of the "old masters". Mantegna's "Dead Christ" looks strange because the foreshortened proportions are all false. Caravaggio's painting of a man with outstretched arms in "Pilgrims of Emmaus" has the hands all wrong. The left hand is closer to the viewer and is acceptable as is - but the right hand- extended away- has been painted the same size and so looks enormous. Curving guidelines are very much needed to check on model proportions. I found this section the most interesting and worthwhile.
     I found this book thought-provoking about perspective but I also concluded that drawing what you actually see, applying the principles intuitively, while being aware of common errors is the most helpful advice. I can see myself looking carefully at angles and proportions but not getting too mathematical about it. This was worthwhile reading.

Tonal values

I am simplifying what I am carrying around, so I decided to work in black and white on grey paper again for our plein air day. We were on the south arm of the Fraser, with the Miltown marina on our other side. This is looking towards the airport- on the right. I thought of doing some of the airport buildings but then decided that this view looked quite calm and rural. Who would think that there was an airport to the right, a mall to the left and airplanes heading in to land just overhead?  It was just a matter of being selective. Working in black and white is a good exercise as tone values are very important even when you are painting in full colour. It is easy to get carried away with the excitement of colour and forget that the tone values are important in making the composition work. I'm probably going to do more of these on our Tuesdays and I'll probably show them as a group next DoorsOpen. I only use charcoal pencils as I was working fairly small. Still, it is possible to try different ways of making marks - like brushstrokes vary in a painting. I'm not sure where all this is leading, but I'm enjoying the journey.