Live Drawings

I am posting a couple of drawings I did at the drawing class at AAU. It's been such a mind-boggling and fulfilling experience to learn art at Academy of Art. I started from a figurative novice, struggled and embarrassed week after week to become a much more skilled artist who can draw human figures with great confidence. It's was a unbelievable journey.

Figure-3

Another one... feel more comfortable to draw figure than a few weeks ago.

Self Portrait

My self portrait ! With a graphite pencil I found so many details on my face that I didn't know of. What a fun experience, and I will do self portrait more often.

Portrait - 1

This is my first portrait with charcoal. It was a great experience to drawing from real model, and I really enjoyed the learning process taught by the academy style. This charcoal drawing was done in 2 and half hours, not bad for the first try :)

Figure - 2

I did this drawing quicker than the previous one. I'm thinking since these are the small drawings on the 11x14 paper and my goal is to make sure the proportion and gesture are right, but not focus on the details. So I think my strategy is right, I am more loose this time and I see some improvement from the previous drawing :)

Figure-1

As I studied figure drawing every week at Academy, I realized how much I need to improve my drawing skill. Here is the drawing I did at home based on the picture a model posted for me a while ago. I went back and forth several times to get the right proportion and gesture. I am very green in figure, but I will keep practicing until I feel comfortable to add figures in my landscape paintings.

I have not been proactively updating my blog or do any paintings for a few months because of the busy summer schedule. Now my son Daniel has moved to Seattle so it's time for me to catch up my art work now..... Well the news is - with the encouragement from my artist friend Qiang Huang, I am now enrolled in the AAU's MFA program and I am taking the figure drawing class once a week. Going back to school is quite exciting. I like the structured approach and intensive pace set by the school, and I am working very hard to hone my drawing skills. I will post some of my finished work later.