For the Beginner

We had a great question posted on our Facebook page, I thought I would post the answer here as well.

Michael asked: What materials would be suggested to bring for a first timer?

Great question Michael, I would suggest getting a large newsprint pad for the quick sketches. You can either use vine charcoal or a china marker (wax pencil) for the first hour of the session.

For the long pose you can choose to use a new medium but if you want to stick with some of the more traditional methods for beginners I would get some nicer charcoal paper sheets and continue to draw in charcoal.

You will also need a sandpaper pad, a kneaded eraser, and a chamois cloth. Most art store will have a "beginner set" of equipment that will probably have all the items you need except the charcoal. For the charcoal, you would want a few sticks of the hard, medium and soft. Don't for get a little box to keep everything in. All of this should be about $20 or less.

First Night of the series

Tonight at TOJO we will begin the first of our three week Thursday long pose. We're looking forward to the new session and challenges it will provide. We hope to see some regular faces as well as some new ones.

I plan on painting in oils on panel or canvas.

What do you plan to use?

New drawing pastel

New drawing

last nite

last nights figure drawing went really well. Hopefully we'll get more folks showing up on thursday. I truly believe the opportunity to work for 3 consecutive weeks,regularly, is an awesome thing! Over the next few months you will really start to see progress and learn patience.
See you all next week when we'll begin the first 3 week drawing/painting.
cheers
Michael

Thursday Nights!!

From Figure Drawing at ToJo Gallery

We are excited to announce we will be adding an additional day to the week for figure drawing. Beginning Thursday, March 12 we will have a session start from 6:30-8:45.

We will start the first hour the same as Tuesday nights but the last hour will be a pose we will try to have for 3 consecutive weeks with the same model. This will give you the opportunity to spend a little more time on your drawing or painting. we will make every effort to ensure the same set up every week. we will also offer the option of storing your wet painting.

Email us if you have any questions.

Limited Palette

From Figure Drawing at ToJo Gallery

From Figure Drawing at ToJo Gallery

I like working with a limited palette during our sessions. It cuts down on decision making for colors during the brief time I have to get the pose onto the panel. I avoid using black and have been mixing a dark from red oxide and viridian green. I'll allow myself to use some white, a buff color, some kind of yellow and a cool such as ultramarine blue.

When you don't have a lot of time you don't want to waste even a second if you don't have to. And having every color at your disposal can slow down the whole painting and you won't get as far as you'd like to have.

Once you are limited you find its fairly easy to find something just as close with what you have. Maybe you just limit yourself to black and white and you will concentrate more on overall values.

What happens when the model doesn't show?

From Figure Drawing at ToJo Gallery

From Figure Drawing at ToJo Gallery

It doesn't happen that often, but it happens. The only thing worse is the host not showing. Well, last night our model did not show up. When this happens the artist has a few options. You can just pack up and leave or stay and draw.

If you choose to stay and draw, which everyone actually did, you draw what is on hand and that was each other. We took turns doing facial expressions for awhile and let that turn into longer and longer poses. Of course about the only thing we take off is our glasses.

I must also mention that specific to our sessions held at TOJO, we do not change the $10 fee to stay and draw if the model does not show up.

I took a couple of pics from my phone of the 10 minute portraits I did.

Some recent works from previous sessions

From Figure Drawing at ToJo Gallery

From Figure Drawing at ToJo Gallery

From Figure Drawing at ToJo Gallery

I was able to take some better photos of some recent work. If you would like to share your work here just email it to me or sign up and you can post it yourself.

Gesture Drawing

From Figure Drawing at ToJo Gallery

Gesture drawing is a great way to loosen up and it really helps get better at drawing overall.

We start all of our session with the gesture. Gestures can be as fast as 30 seconds to 10 minutes. The whole idea is to draw fast.
This will help you focus and capture those fleeting moments while sketching from life.

Here are a few thing to consider while drawing your gestures.

• Flow; find the flow of the model, this will also help find the center of gravity. The spine is one of the best sources for this.

• Light touch; if you keep your touch light you can also move around the paper faster and smoother.

• Overlap; let your shapes overlap. This will also help see connections and flow in the contour.

• Speed; you really want to try capture the whole model in the given amount of time.

• Move; keep your drawing utensil moving all the time. Time is precious here, keep moving.

• Eraser; put it away, you don't need it here.

• Relax; you really can't do anything wrong here, though you'll improve over time.

• Size, consider the amount of time you have for the size of the figure you're capturing. If you only have 30 seconds you won't be able to fill the entire page. Consider quartering the page or even drawing over the previous drawing in a new color.