last week i went back to jc print room for a live model figure drawing session. this time the model was male. we don't know what kind of models we are going to get until we show up which keeps the experience fresh. i get super bored drawing the same body type, especially when they're similar to my own.
i was running late and didn't get to pack my supplies with the time and care i was hoping to, so this week's session was mostly in pencil. i started the short 2-minute sketches with a 6B graphite stick that i believe i got at a shop in oslo a million years ago. you can find them at pretty much every art supply store, they're nicer to draw with than standard pencils imho.
i used three colors from a 6-piece caran d'ache discovery set i got in a subscription box maybe half a million years ago. i once bought a hot pink caran d'ache mechanical pencil not realizing how fancy the brand was until the cashier said it was like $25!! but years later, it's still my go-to mechanical pencil. i highly recommend their wax pastels - which are essentially crayons, but they draw so luxuriously.
when i first got into figure drawing, i shared some sketches of the male body and a colleague emailed me to commission that i draw him and he attached a photo of his dick. how many unsolicited dick photos do we think have been used to train the ai models of google, microsoft, and other companies that have email products?
this model had really dynamic poses, although that made it hard for him to stay completely still for extended periods of time. i took it as an opportunity to change my system for capturing a shape before getting into shadow and detail. i had to leave early for dinner, so i missed out on the final 20 and 15 minute poses.
i plan to start to draw and paint pixel art versions of these sessions soon. i've not been drawing much outside of these sessions because i'm about a week away from launching my store, but that's been keeping me busy and creative still.
xoxo jenn
my upstairs neighbors are doing construction and it sounds like they tore out all the floors and/or they filled their pockets and boots with heavy weights, so i've had to take about seven (7) breaks as i try to write this.
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this was a week of processing the blues of my prior week and trying to push myself through the discomfort by saying 'yes' to opportunities that get me outside and away from screens and even wax. i started feeling a creative block coming, but i believe it was largely in part to my frustration with the weather going from warm to cold and shitty like a haunted see-saw.
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if i had one piece of advice for everyone, but that i need to take myself, it's *you can acknowledge your weaknesses while also being kind to yourself*. when i started writing this retro, i was not being kind to myself at all; there was a lot of "i need to be more patient" and "i wasted a ton of time"...so dramatic, jennifer jean! i had to step away from the screen and revisit it the morning after.
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i went to my first live model figure drawing session in over 5 years last night! the host, jc print room, was great and so was everyone else there. it felt like my first day at school, except i wore grubby sweats because i make a huge mess no matter what media i'm working with. overall, a+ vibes and will come back. the following are my pages from the 3-hour session.
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ah, it's the last weekly retro of march. it went in like a lion and out like the trailing cough i've had for the past two weeks. april should have fewer coughs and more spreadsheets as i prepare to launch bugs rock.
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coming off of being pretty sick last week and then continuing to heal from that *whilst* starting my period - yes, that keeps happening for some reason - i was starting to doubt that i had anything to even write about this week. that's when it's time to just start typing what i'm thinking.
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in my last retro, which i posed *on time* unlike this one I KNOW, i said that the coming week would be a busy one. boy, was it.
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happy 311 day. let's (breathtakingly unrelatedly) talk about markers. the first set of markers i ever remember owning and loving were the 'bold' crayola marker 8 count. i was reminded of them this week as i was trying out some markers that came in the latest upcrate box - a subscription i discovered over quarantine and just picked back up after a couple-year hiatus. in my last figure sketch post, i talked about how i don't really like alcohol markers.
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i'm just coming down now from a heightened state of agitation, caused by only just realizing at 5pm that daylight saving time ended while we were asleep. imagine the clock saying 5pm and your cat is not screaming for food and treats, it's *terrifying* lol! fortunately, pumagreg is fine and, as far as he's concerned, getting an early dinner.
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