Weightless

This one just kinda jumped out at me, and I'm glad it did.
While searching through reference material, I kept coming back to this one time and again. I love the pose. The model is the lovely and remarkable Cordula, photographed by Marcus J. Ranum:
http://mjranum-stock.deviantart.com/art/Cordula-Relaxing-53724215
Then I accidentally rotated the image...and immediately I thought she looked like she was flying, or rather, just hovering in the air, weightless.

I was enjoying myself so much, I stayed up through the night and into the morning.
As I was working, a thought process began:
The gesture is nearly perfect. The most important thing is the space. She needs to be in a different space from the clouds.
"Why?"
It needs to not just look like a picture turned sideways. It has to be convincing...compelling.
"Why? What's the point?"
She needs to look not like she is flying, and not like she is suspended, but floating -weightless - of her own free will and under her own power.
"Why?"
This is about the sensation of weightlessness.
"Why weightlessness?"
It's about the desire to float free from all constraints.
"Why is she floating?"
Because she wants to.
"Why does she want to?"
Because she can...

This went on for hours. It was very interesting. At times I felt like a spectator to my own internal dialogue.

I still have quite a bit of work to do on this, and I'm loving every minute of it. Stay tuned for updates.

Two new Figures

I am back from my hiatus, and in the groove again.
Here are two new figure pieces in charcoal:
“The Staircase”
http://mikeyzart.blogspot.com/2008/03/figure-staircase.html
and
“Ready for The Dance”
http://mikeyzart.blogspot.com/2008/03/figure-ready-for-dance.html

Figure: Ready for The Dance

Figure: "Ready for The Dance"
The figure is almost caricature, but it was these exaggerated curves that first caught my attention, along with her intense gaze. It is all curves and ovals, hence the background treatment.
A big thanks to JoSchwab on DeviantART for the photo.

First photo 02/03/08:

Figure: The Staircase

03/25/08:
Background blocked in.
Fixed some problems in the structure of the face and developed the shadows.
Continued developing values on the torso, beginning with the left side.
Making sure that the intensity of the light 'falls off' as it progresses down the figure.


03/08/08:
Update: New title for figure piece. “The Staircase”
In a flash of inspiration I have come up with a new name for this piece: “The Staircase.”
The thing that first caught me about this was the alternating light-dark-light-dark as the light flows across the planes of the model’s body. So I plan to carry the ‘staircase’ metaphor into the background and creating an implied stairway in the door behind the model.

02/14/08:
More development of shadow values.


Here is the first photo 02/02/08:


I love the play of light as it flows down the planes of the model’s body and gets progressively softer and deeper toward the bottom.
A big thanks to JoSchwab on DeviantART for the photo.

FIgures 09/07

Figure Study; Charcoal, 8"x10", 120 Min
This piece uses the 'lift-out' method, where I put down a layer of charcoal, laid in the darks with vine charcoal, then lifted the highlights out with a kneaded eraser.

I liked the way the planes of the torso alternately turned toward, then away from the light, and this was one of the main things I wanted to capture.

The point of this exercise was to refrain from putting in detail, and to get the image to ‘read’ correctly, with subtle shifts in value – as if seen from a distance or through squinted eyes. I got the idea when I was looking at a sketch after taking out my contact lenses.

Reference: Original Photo by surfrat13

Figure Drawings 081507

The purpose of today's exercise was to focus on quick sketches, and not get carried away with rendering. Focus on gesture, form and light. Simple placement of shapes and values, no detail. The longest drawing (shown above) was 60 minutes.
This one was done in charcoal on drawing paper, using the 'rub-out' technique.
After laying down a base middle gray tone, the darks were drawn in with charcoal, while the light areas were lifted out with a kneaded eraser.

Two more quick sketches

Charcoal on newsprint, 9"x12"

10 minutes each