Time to get charcoal messy for Ken

So, great news, I started a new job last week! It's something that I know will challenge me to be a better artist as it requires me to (quickly) become a stronger digital artist. Particularly in terms of structure and viewing things in a more 3d approach. So wooo for me.

What that meant was by Wednesday, my 3rd day, I desperately needed to do the exact opposite of that. So it's a good thing I brought some charcoal to the life drawing class!

But first is the 5min warm ups. I like the pose on the 2nd drawing, but nothing here really jumps out at me.

This one is pretty much just vine charcoal. It's a much looser and freer way to work, even more than when I tear up newspaper for the collage style. This one isn't too bad, but I feel like this is my real "warm up" for the night for what I want to do.

OK, now I'm getting where I want to go. There's a more solid grounding on this drawing for me. More confident with the initial vine charcoal drawing, adding compressed charcoal for the heavier shadows...this all pays off for me when I start to take away some of the drawing with my friend kneaded eraser for the light areas. I'm so much happier with this drawing that I threw away the vine charcoal drawing.

THIS.

This is what I needed and wanted to do tonight. Again, vine starts me off. But it is fast and rough and then quickly merged with compressed charcoal. And I am a murky mess as I smear the charcoal around to follow the movement and the mass of the model. A more aggressive approach with the eraser helped really push the light and shadows to an extreme while not losing the shape of the model.

Man, I am really happy with this last one. And now it's up on my wall.

This was a good night.