I
encourage my students to draw the whole figure rather than one anatomical part at a time. Drawing the whole figure right from the start means scribbling and making quick adjustments when you notice that what you’ve put down on paper doesn’t hang together. Scribbling is messy. Now, remember when you were in third grade and your teacher encouraged you to be messy? No, you don’t, of course not. This veneration of neatness that’s taught so early is hard to overcome. But you can’t make art worshiping in that shrine.
The pose in the photo is so dramatic that if you approach it one bit at a time, you’ll inevitably make it stiff. When I introduced this photo in class I first did a demo drawing with everybody standing around me. It took a couple of minutes and it’s a mess. But you must admit, it isn’t stiff or boring. It doesn’t pretend to be finished. But I hope it conveys the excitement of the artist getting into the process.
Jeanne Mueller worked with the Aquarellable Pencil on gloss paper.
This means she was able to change lines and shadings by just swiping the paper with a damp paper towel. Notice what major changes were made before she arrived at the finished drawing. Notice also, how the invented background of stripes transforms the drawing from an illustration of a figure into a complete composition.
At right is the earlier, more literal version of her drawing.
Jeanne Mueller, Aquarellable on gloss paper, 17” x 11”
https://artamaze.wordpress.com/2016/10/08/how-it-sits-on-the-page/
https://artamaze.wordpress.com/2016/10/02/drawing-sculpture/
https://artamaze.wordpress.com/2016/09/30/ptolemy-in-ulm/
https://artamaze.wordpress.com/2016/08/18/take-the-a-frame/
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artamaze by Katherine Hilden 