10 minutes to start the night and it didn't get any better from here

 My strongest effort of the session came right out of the gate.  Strong shadows and nice shapes made for a nice drawing.  So, in summation, my two best drawings from the last week are back sketches.

15 minutes and coming along

 As minimal as this is I'm pretty happy with where this sketch stands (or lies, as it seems).  I really would have liked to have explored her face a bit more, however.

Last drawing of the symposium. Saved the best for last

   I cannot believe that I finished the three days with my strongest drawing.  This may be the strongest drawing I have ever done.  I'm judging this in terms of what I wanted and what I achieved.  I feel I exceeded my expectations for this one hour pose (which, with breaks was more like 45 minutes).  My line sensitivity was at its peak and the gentle use of the shading and multiple build ups of said shading created something I just wasn't prepared for.  I give all the credit to the previous 14 hours of drawing that led to this last hurrah of charcoal and paper.  This was everything I could hope for coming out of this creative maelstrom.  

  Thanks go to Shane Wolf and his wife for everything they endured to bring this to life.  The sponsors who helped defray the costs and give promotion to the symposium.  I'm still on a high from this and feel sad that I won't be getting such an intense experience again for over a year.  This showed me what could be and I am now trying to figure out how to keep this level up try and move forward.

15 minutes

 An unrealized conté sketch that I spent too much time on trying to be delicate with the lines.  As the evening wore on I realized that I must invest in better paper or I won't get maximum results from my efforts.  A lesson I accidentally learned during the symposium.

Oh, so happy with these

  I hate admitting how much I like some of what I do, but this experience awoke something in me that made me realize that I only need to make myself happy.  If I'm happy then the final piece is probably something that others will be happy viewing.  

  The drawing of Nora is, unfortunately, on the backside of a page of gestures and so there is bleed through happening.  That doesn't take away, again for me, from how I feel about the drawing.  I had been immersing myself in the drawings of Nicolai Fechin and it was starting to manifest itself in my rendering.  I had several attendees and guest artists comment of the sensitivity of my line.  I had never thought of it that way and it caused me to look at my mark making differently, in a good way.

  The conté drawing of Stephan was difficult to just stop.  He is such a physically structured human being that I could see how the muscles linked to the bones of the skeleton under the skin.  The shadows were informed and the shapes and mass were a joy to draw.  Just can't say enough about all of the models I was privileged to work with/from.

10 minutes

 This was the second of two 10 minute sketches.  I'll post the first one later as it was my favorite of the night.

Nora and Stephan in conté

 Some progress as the symposium rocketed along.  Each day just moved like lightning for me and I was not prepared for how deep into just drawing I was getting.  I was losing myself in the process and truly wasn't ready for each day to come to an end.

Gestures of Samm

It was good to be in familiar surroundings again with our wonderful Samm modeling for us.  As usual, we have 10 one minute gesture poses to start the evening.
 

Anya and Stephan

 The top sketch is of Anya, a model I truly wanted to draw for a long period of time.  However, she was the model for the sculptors and turn every five minutes as well as changing her pose after a full turn to accommodate each sculptor and their particular pose.  So I only got one five minute chance and I worked with a similar pose to "flesh" it out.  

  The bottom sketch shows both Stephan and Anya, separate poses, as well as a couple of different poses.  The upper right sketch of the nose and eyes is of Nora.  

Gettin' better

 The image of Nora was drawn on day one from the far end of the studio but she kept turning her head.   It didn't matter that much as my eyesight made defining detail in her face quite a challenge.  The image of Will was the one I did on the mezzanine studio where I was much closer to the model.  It was a single 2 hour pose at the end of the first day.

Gestures and poses cut short

 Most of these are from the first day, where I was still feeling my way around and trying not to be intimidated or try too hard.  The two single drawings were poses I thought were a lot longer than they were, hence I ended up trying to finish with very little in the way of structure to work with.  I share my poor efforts as well as ones I am proud of.

Some "finished" stuff

 This page is the result of three different poses.  All three major models are represented.  The upper right image is of Stephan leaning on his hoop, the prop he uses in his act with Cirque du Soleil.

I spent 3 fabulous days at The Figure Society symposium

 Here are some of my gestures.  We worked with three outstanding models in the main studio all three days.  Two of them are Cirque du Soleil performers.  Spectacular opportunity.  These gestures may not make a lot of sense to everyone but I can see exactly what I was doing in this mess.  I was limited on what I could get to the symposium so I was working on a 14x17 pad and was trying to conserve my paper, hence so many poses just overlapping one another.  Anyhow, the gestures, in no particular order...

Forty five head study

 I got pretty caught up in noodling the face and hand (a bit too much attention to the hand).  Still, there's some stuff I'm pretty happy with.  Not my best effort, though.

Twenty minutes and all I got was...

 ... a little shadow and an unfinished hand.  I am happy with how the arm rests on her left hand.  A bit more work on the drapery might pull this together.

Fifteen minute study in shadows and shapes

I was really enjoying this pose and I think I got what I needed to from my 15 minutes.  Probably my favorite sketch of the session.
 

Ten minutes with conté

 I wasn't on my A game this last session, taking a bit too long with each drawing and not really getting the results I wanted.  This feels a bit rough and it was a really great pose, so I guess it was just another lost opportunity.

Gestures of Samm

 Samm graciously stepped in for an ailing Patience this week.  As always, a great job from out stalwart model, and these are the gesture drawings to prove it.

Forty five minutes

 This was fun to draw.  The hands, the cloth and the languid pose made for some wonderful challenges.  

The third quarter hour sketch

 Ah, I was so reminded of Frank Frazetta's "Ghoul Queen" that I just couldn't separate myself from that image.

 

The second quarter hour sketch

 Such a classic pin-up pose.  Coulda been a pretty nice had I had more, you guessed it, time.

The first quarter hour sketch

 Lost edges and lines.  

Gestures... just gestures... always gestures

See the title of this post.
 

40+ and still coming up short

 So many interesting aspects to this pose and I just couldn't concentrate on a singular direction.  This became very academic and that's unfortunate.  Her hand was pretty interesting but I really loved the knees and lower legs.  I made a mess of her face so I erased it and spent a bit more time trying to be accurate.  I only got so far.  Ultimately this is just a practice sketch.

15 or so

 This was a lot of fun to draw.  So much movement with forms and lines creating such a fluid image.  Another one that would benefit from more time.

10 minute missed opportunity

 This might be my favorite of the session only because it was coming along so nicely from a structural standpoint.  Could have been 30 minutes at least.  C'est la vie.

5 minute torso...

 ... or at least a partial torso.  Hey, whatcha want for five minutes?  

Thursday's gestures on Friday

 Our models put a lot of thought into the poses they present us with.  Very much appreciated.  This week is Patience.

40 minute study

 

Charcoal in forty.

20 minute study

 

Charcoal in twenty.

10 minute study #2

 

Conté in ten.

10 minute study #1

 

Charcoal & conté in ten.