Jeff's Blog » People

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:

Donovan McNabb

Jeff — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 00:39:36 +0000

Another athlete courtesy of Sports Illustrated. In this case, Donovan McNabb doing what he does best: scramble out of trouble.

This sketch started out as just a study of his arm and hand, but I thought I needed to give the disembodied arm a little bit of context; so I sketched out the rest of his body. Maybe if I do enough drawings of individual parts, I’ll be able to put them together into a cohesive whole someday. This method was good enough for students during The Renaissance; it should work for me. Right?

Roger Federer

Jeff — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 01:33:06 +0000

In keeping with my goal to draw more people, I decided to draw this pic of Roger Federer from a recent Sports Illustrated. This was my 2nd sketch, and the one I am happiest with.

This is what the rest of the page looks like:

Nap Time

Jeff — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 21:57:42 +0000

After my experience drawing someone in constant motion, I moved on to a more stationary subject. Again, the likeness is not quite there, but at least I am starting to gain a little confidence.

And for those of you wondering, those glowing orbs above my subject are Christmas ornaments hanging on the tree behind his chair.

Mario Time

Jeff — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 21:52:40 +0000

This is my nephew. He’s doing what most kids his age do on Christmas morning – playing video games.

It’s not a very good likeness, but I was more interested in capturing the shape of his body. Even that was more difficult than I expected; turns out, he’s a very active gamer. Don’t let anyone tell you playing video games isn’t exercise. He didn’t stop moving the for more than a few seconds at a time. Maybe next time, I should just snap a photo and draw from that.

Haircut

Jeff — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 06:36:06 +0000

Drawn while waiting to get my own hair cut. This one was particularly tricky because the barber never stopped moving from one side of the chair to the other.

Classmate

Jeff — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 06:32:48 +0000

I finished my work a little earlier than some of the others, so I drew a classmate while I waited for the critique to start. I’m still not 100% comfortable drawing people, but I’m getting there.