Venus' Backside #3

… And another attempt, this time another shift in view. I think here I have straighten the back too much, and god knows what is going on with the right arm.  I am wondering, if the sculpture was trying to make an older model look younger – I can’t really back that statement up with anything, but something is buggin me about the statue.

Still, not a bad way to spend an hour on sunday, drawing Venus’ bum.

Venus' Backside #2

… So I thought I would give it another go, this time from a different angle. I am more happier with the back on this attempt, but have probably given her a slightly more perky bum then what she actually has. Again that weight shift seems wrong to me. Here is a picture of the statue from the front, which also brings us to something else I struggled with, which was her shoulder blades. In the sculpture, there is not much detail, I have probably stressed it more in all three drawings, than what it actually is. But, where they are, seems wrong. – to me.

Venus' Backside #1

Following on from where I went back to Leeds Museum to redraw the Megaloceros giganteus,  going back to the Art Gallery, I decided  I was going to revisit Antonio Canova Venus . Initially, I was going to do just the head, but walking past and umming and erring I decided I was not in the mood to be frustrated by her chin, so instead I went for her backside.

Which proved to be equally frustrating. There is something wrong with this statue. I was really battling with not trying to draw what I know, but what I see. The shift of weight on the hips seems all wrong to me, and so do the shoulders.

Eric Kenningtons 'The War God'

A very quick sketch of the statue ‘The War God’ at Leeds Art Gallery.  You can see the original here . I was at the gallery for, the very last Leeds Sketchers Meet, which was appropriate, as it was where the first one was inFebruary last year. Though it is the last ‘Leeds Sketchers Meet’, it is not the last time we are meeting. We will be meeting in March under the name, The Leeds Savage Club.  Check out this link after the 3rd of March for details.

Incomplete 15th Century Half Armour

Following on from the warm up sketch, I attempted to start drawing the whole piece. I have added a couple of photographs I took of the armour, to my smokeback albums on fotki and flickr

I do have quite a good understanding of how armour is constructed, I used to be an armourer and I did find that helpful when sketching out  the initial shape. However, as you can see from the photo’s, the decoration on the amour is quite detailed and this is where I got stuck.

Someone said to us the other day, about being not being able to draw.  I think drawing is two things; The first is observation and the second is having a bag of tricks. The more drawing you do, the more tricks you add to that bag.

When it comes to putting an intricate 2D design onto a curved surface, I have to say, I am stumped.

Definitely something I am going to  have to come back to …

Armoured Glove - Warm Up Sketch

The Second meet of the Leeds Sketching group 2010, and this time it was off to the Royal Armouries.

The left, is a quick warm up sketch of a 15th century armoured glove. The glove is part of a half set of armour, which I continued to draw in my next drawing.

It’s interesting rereading the commentary from where I drew it first time round. Where last time I was concerned about proportions, this time  I was far more concerned about the light. The lighting in the room is extremely unnatural – not that you expect to see giant skeletal Megalocerous running around in daylight of course.

The museum lights do throw shadows, which in turn effect the shape of the skull which I found distracting when trying to define the shape. I do feel, I have done far more justice to his jaw this time around, though I do feel I have cheated him on his teeth.

Also of note, where I mentioned in my drawing of the cranial nerves about the cheap pad I used that was extremely smudgy. I actually deliberately used this pad for this drawing, to use that “smudginess” to my advantage.

I am also involved in the running of the Leeds writing group , I write fiction mainly set in the Belle Epoque, which you can find over here at The Dead Adventurers Club . I mention this, as I’m currently looking at bringing the two under the same umbrella. Watch this space

Anyway, I will be back in June with some more updates to this blog

Last sketch of the day, this time found myself struggling with the horse’s head. Eventually giving up !

I think horses in general have to be one of the hardest things to draw, especially the mouth, It seems a random blob of shapes! In my storyboards (which im pleased to say now back on track on) Once spent a condsiderable amount of time getting a horse somewhat passable only to find out I had drawn it the wrong way around to the rest of the scene ! which remindeds me i need to go out and buy a point 9 pen this morning

I thought i would give doing some ink drawings ago, but think i have a long way to go !

Ps. Anyone interested in armour, here are some photos i took a few years back at the RA

http://public.fotki.com/chance1234/5ylac_general/5ylac_armoury-1/5ylac_armoury_–2/

Another Leeds Sketching group meet and this time in the pub! The sketch above is one of the gargoyles on the Town hall on the George Street side. Its one of three above a doorway. Taking a guess i would say it is meant to be Hercules due to the lion pelt.

On the other side there was a possible poseidon. In the middle however is some ram horns. Satantic link to the past ?

Not happy with the sketch, I lost it a bit around the lower right hand side, also not doing a warm up sketch before i think comes through in this sketch.

Just out of interest, I took the left and right hand side of the images and flipped them onto each other. the right on right image looks a lot more like the actual gargoyle than the original sketch.

1) Statue had its head chopped off by a private collector and the body thrown on the heap
or
2) Usual Christian damage, statue from an uninteresting site and from a stock room filled with similar statues

Leeds Museum, certainly not the worst museum i have been to, and im sure its great if you are a kid. But i do feel that they have planned the space and exhibitions out very badly. Also there was a fair amount of unintentional dis information in the ancient exhibition. Which I reckon is down to trying to do an over enthusiastic approach to impress the rug rats rather that letting the exhibitions speak to themselves. Final rant, the display of Nesyamun is just lazy friday afternoon work. What should be one of the main attractions of the museum has been pushed into a pokey corner. Oh and the staff don’t seem very approachable for asking questions.

rant over

Anyway, spent a good 40 minutes on it and quite pleased with the result. Feels like my first proper sketch.

Neh, quick sketch of the infamous Leeds Tiger. For the record as some of the comments I overheard when sketching it. The Leeds Tiger did not use to roam the city streets. It was Shot in India in the 1800′s, turned into a rug and then sealed back up and put on display. Hence its wide head.

It was also most likely preserved in arsenic, so potentially still a mankiller !

Thing from drawing this, have come to the conclusion not very good at drawing hairy things. so that puts out going to Paris and drawing 15 year old prostitutes with webbed feet.

No Mummy sketch to warm up this time, went straight in with this sketch of the skull of the Megaloceros. The horns on this thing are huge! and i think i failed to follow the “draw what you see , not what you know”. The Horns on this thing really skewed the proportions. I also noticed this thing has huge neck bones as well, which in my sketch I under compensated on the length of the Jaw in comparison.

Wikipedia Article on Megaloceros

Final drawing of the day, couldn’t for love nor money get the face remotely right. Pesky Goddesses

Just a quick sketch to look at the composition of the painting, the original you can see
here

Just a view of one of the upstairs gallery, for a sketch im quite happy with it.

Neh, This is a sketch of a bust which is in the lower gallery. You can see the original . here.

I started off by marking the midpoint on the paper, which is where the bottom of the chin from my POV was intercepting. Then I marked out where the arms should be. Filling in the rest of it, I think i was concerned about missing the top of the head of the paper, so Ive over compensated by going out to wide.

More of the same.

Very quick sketches of people looking at the works in the gallery. the guy in the middle constantly kept moving, but thankfully kept the same sort of pose the whole time

Attended this Sunday just gone, the first meeting of the Leeds Sketching Group (link on the right) we went to Leeds Art Gallery and for a warm up, there is a bust at the top of the stairs which i did this sketch on. Used a 2B pencil instead of my usual preferred 4B. Thats my story and Im sticking to it