Drawn from a pose reference video from Gesture Drawing Online of the exceptional London-based model Tatiana.
Tatiana Seated
Life drawingLife drawing
Tatiana Reclining
Life drawing
Drawn at Soho Life Drawing, both around 20 minute poses. After a few struggles trying to capture some of Tatiana’s exquisite, classical poses in sanguine pencil, I switched to vine charcoal – which is usually a bit too messy and clumsy for paper of this size. But what it did allow me to do was stop trying to capture detail, and use loose, movable sweeps of shadow to define the main areas of light in relief. I probably looked incredibly awkward as I tried my hardest to squint away anything other than the main sweep of the figure. Only after I felt like I had the broad proportions laid down did I try to use some more specific marks to round out the musculature of the back and the lower body. At this scale, I didn’t feel like I wanted to refine these any further. I added some white chalk pencil to capture the top-down lighting in the room and create some lift from the paper.
Purdey
Life drawing
A vine charcoal on newsprint sketch of life model Purdey, chanelling some Henry Fuseli spirit, at Dulwich Art Group’s Halloween life drawing special on 30th October.
Sketches
Life drawing
Jules
Life drawing
Drawn from life at The Moon and Nude Clapham, October 2018.
Jools only modelled for us once at the pub in Clapham, but she was a) very friendly and b) an extremely accomplished dancer and yoga practitioner, which came across in her extraordinary ability to hold this pose for 20 minutes. This sketch may not be one of my most polished, but I do really like the dynamism and at least partially successful attempt to interpret the fantastic pose.
Available.
Valentina
Life drawing
Drawn from life at The Moon and Nude Clapham, March 2019.
This was the first time I’d ever spent so long on one drawing from life – around an hour or so, with some additional detail work added sporadically over the days that followed (very sporadically – I would often sit and stare at the page for 30 minutes or so before committing to a small pencil mark). Yet, the drawing itself came together remarkably quickly considering how slowly I usually move on these things! Our model Valentina gave us such a bold and strong pose, she struck me as being very regal (hence the title), although in life drawing sessions she’s always remarkably approachable and friendly.
Available framed.
Sofia & Sugar
Life drawing
Drawn from life at Candid Arts Trust Islington, October 2019.
Drawn as part of a Hallowe’en special event (I took the day off work for it to attend in the afternoon; my other blog at Rewind will probably explain better why I love the festival so much), this pose felt really powerful. I added a few little flourishes – blacked out eyes for Sugar, whited out for Sofia, to emphasise their preternatural calm. I loved working with the contrasts and the similarities, and the way they seemed to complement each other so easily.
Available.
Natsumi I
Life drawing
Drawn from live online life drawing session with LiveArtOnline and finished from reference images, June 2020.
Natsumi is a tremendously athletic model, able to hold almost impossibly graceful poses for great lengths of time. I’ve often struggled a little when sketching Natsumi in person because I tend to get intimidated by these wonderfully balletic angles that I’m not sure my clumsy hands can interpret properly. Even here, with the benefit of being able to draw from reference videos at my own pace, I don’t think I was light enough to entirely do these justice, but I was inspired by the coiled energy followed by the energetic release, the tension held within the limbs even when seated.
Available as a pair.
Carla II
Life drawing
Drawn from life at The Moon and Nude Clapham, September 2019.
A longer pose captured, with great luck, on a 12″ x 12″ square scrapbook that proved very unforgiving when trying to erase mistakes, of which there were (for once) relatively few. Sprawled across a sofa and a bar stool, Carla absolutely transcended the mundane pub function room surroundings and looked like a total megastar.
Available.
Solfrid I
Life drawing
Drawn from life at The Moon and Nude Clapham, May 2019.
Sol is always so generous in these sessions, and even in longer poses will seek to offer something to latch on to and create interesting shapes. This was probably around 30 minutes, using a Derwent dark sanguine pastel pencil on an unusual piece of very thick dappled card I found somewhere. The surface was remarkably smooth but had a very nice off-white staining across it.
Available.
Dead Penpal 