Jeff's Blog » Charcoal

Self Portrait

Jeff — Sun, 23 May 2010 05:08:12 +0000

My first attempt at a portrait. Made my nose too long, and didn’t capture the look of the bandanna correctly. It’s been about 3 weeks since my last serious attempt at drawing anything, so I’ll cut myself a little slack for not remembering to check my measurements against more than one reference point.

Reclining Figure

Jeff — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 04:00:36 +0000

More nudity ahead. Standard warnings, disclaimers, and yada yada yada… Actual image appears after the break.

More Figure Drawing

Jeff — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 16:51:09 +0000

Notice how I cleverly positioned myself so I didn’t have to draw any facial detail.

Figure Drawing Class

Jeff — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 00:37:48 +0000

I haven’t posted here in a long while. But that doesn’t mean I’ve stopped drawing (although I have not been drawing as much as I would like). I’ve been taking a figure drawing class at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

I’ve been hesitant to post these drawings. I have a number of nieces and nephews whose parents might object to them seeing drawings containing nudity. I also have several colleagues who have been known to check out my drawings while at work; where viewing pictures of nekkid people is usually frowned-upon.

So rather than my normal posting policy of one post per drawing, I am including several drawings in this one post.

Before you click the link to read the entire post, be warned: The following images contain artistic nudity. If you are offended by depictions the unclothed human body, do not click the link. If you are under the age of 18, get your parents’ permission before clicking the link. If you are at work and there is even the remotest chance that someone in your office will accuse you being a pervert, wait until you get home to click the link.

You have been warned.

OK. Now that we’ve gotten THAT out of the way, here are the rest of my drawings from class so far:

Lincoln Park Conservatory

Jeff — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 23:16:08 +0000

This building near the Lincoln Park Zoo is comprised of a bunch of greenhouses and is one of the more interesting looking buildings in the area. My perspective is all screwed up on this. Also, I should not have tried to capture such a detailed subject with charcoal in such a small format as my sketchbook.

I’m going to have to give this one another go sometime soon. Unless the weather doesn’t hold out; in which case, I’ll have to wait til spring.

It’s Honeycrisp Season

Jeff — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 23:12:09 +0000

As much as I hate to admit it, I learned about Honeycrisp apples from Oprah Winfrey. It was on one of her lists of her favorite things, and I stumbled across it on the web some time ago. I thought, “I like apples, what the heck… let’s try these honeycrisps,” and that was it. I was ruined for other apples. Now, I look forward to September/October the way a kid looks forward to Christmas.

The season is almost over, though the local grocery stores will continue importing them from some place south of here for a little while longer. Thought I would capture one so I could daydream until next year.

Brown Paper Bag

Jeff — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 03:34:05 +0000

Hobos are known to share their brown paper bags. I’m not a hobo, but I am still willing to share mine with you.

This was drawn in class this evening. 18×24 charcoal on Canson drawing paper which was graciously supplied by the instructor. This was too large for my scanner, so I had to photograph it with my phone (because it seemed like too much trouble to dig out the good camera); that dark spot on the bottom-right is my shadow.

My Secret is Out

Jeff — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 01:14:35 +0000

So there you have it: the eggs that I’ve been drawing are hard-boiled. Just a little insurance against one of them trying to make a run for it, taking the death leap from the table to the floor in a misguided attempt to escape.

Simple Still Life

Jeff — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 02:16:16 +0000

Following the lead of my drawing instructor, I purchased some gesso and have painted a couple of common items flat white. This helps to simplify the light/shadow interaction and allows me to focus more on shape and shade rather than having to worry about things like reflections or distortion caused by viewing things through glass.

You’ll probably see these items appear again in future drawings.

Drawing Class

Jeff — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 15:39:37 +0000

Fall is officially here. Summer activities are no longer in the way, and the weather isn’t completely frigid yet, so it is the perfect time to sign up for a drawing class. The School at the Art Institute of Chicago offers evening and weekend drawing classes, and I’ve been toying with the idea of taking a drawing class for a while now. Classes started on the first of October; I am enrolled in ‘Beginning Drawing’.

I drew these eggs last night as part of my homework. This week was our second class, and the topic was shading. We spent the bulk of the class drawing white objects on a white surface. As boring as that sounds, it turns out to be a great way to learn to see subtle variations of tone; and as you can see, white can actually be pretty darned dark.

My hand-eye coordination still needs some work — the egg on the left is a bit misshapen. But I feel like I am improving even after just a couple of weeks of class. If nothing else, I am becoming much more comfortable with charcoal (check out my previous attempts with charcoal to see what I mean).