Bargue Figure Drawings

My evening figure sculpture class is going really well. We finished up our last pose and started with a new model. This time we are working with a female. I am really happy how things are progressing. This time I was able to get the height ratio down a lot faster than with last months pose. The basic gesture is coming along well and I am starting to add some detail. Initially you want to get the basic masses up and the overall gesture without getting your widths 100%. You want to be a little small so you can accurately finish off the width at the end. I am approaching the width in the legs and will be moving up into the torso this week.

I finished my modeling of the eye and have included a picture. I want to talk more about modeling or turning the form, but will wait to touch on that. This week I want to talk about block-in. I spoke briefly about the overall process a few blogs back. Ultimately, you work from the outside in to the center of the drawing. This establishes the dimensions and placement of the drawing. Then you refine it working from the middle to the outside. Ultimately, we are working towards or preparing to work with the live model. Initially, we started blocking-in using the small casts (nose, eye, mouth, etc.), then we moved on to the larger casts (legs, torso), and then the biggest casts we have (full figures). As we approach to work with a live model we focus more on the torso of the body. Some of the challenges of working with a live model is they move, no matter how good a model they are they move and change positions. We work it so the model is up for 20 minutes and then gets a 5 minute break. Initially, the model may get out of the pose, but you'll find they get into a rhythm. They will settle in and you have to know which part of the body to focus on when. Any way we finished working with the larger casts and are now working from Bargue Figure Drawings. Charles Bargue was a famous artists that created a drawing course back in the 1800's. You'll see you did an amazing job simplifying and blocking-in the figure. We'll be copying these drawings the rest of the month and then we'll start working with the live model in December with the start of the new semester.

This was done the first few weeks of school. Jacob wanted us to see the abstract shapes that compose an object instead of the object itself. That is why it is on its side. This was the start of our introduction to blocking-in.

This is a larger cast we did. You can see the basic shapes I used to help me draw the legs. On an object like this it helps to use the shadow line to give you shapes to see.

We sketched this beauty for a solid week. Not this particular drawing, but this cast. Each day we would choose a different angle. This posed a great deal of challenges including the curve in her back as well as her feet. The proportions at first glance were very misleading as well. I found if I spend a greater emphasis and effort on getting the placement and proportions in the beginning things would fall into place a lot smoother.

This was an awesome cast. Full figure, it is a discus thrower. I didn't get to finish his right arm, but he has a discus. This really posed a great deal of challenges. The gesture is incredible and difficult to capture. It really helped me discover the importance of using plumb lines to make sure things at the top of the drawing were lining up with the bottom.

This is one of my first Bargue drawings. You can see another one at the start of the post. All of the students seem to be enjoying copying these drawings.