Seated Nude

Seated Nude
Seated Nude

This drawing was created from a live model that posed for the drawing daily for 4 weeks, 3 hours per day and was done as part of my education at Georgetown Atelier.

The medium was black and white pastel pencils (that act much like Charcoal) on toned paper.
I drew using a soft brush and the pencils, making lines following the direction of the form, softening them into values with the brush and reinforcing the drawing with lines again.

I really enjoyed this method of rendering form that allows for both soft flesh-like transitions and subtle lines following the form.

My goal when I started the drawing was to capture the gesture , the tilt of the shoulders and the slight tilt of the pelvis to her right which to me expressed a kind of quiet shyness and show-off at the same time.
When the model holds a pose as long as this one, the pose doesn’t maintain the gesture all the time. It’s up to the artist to keep pursuing that initial gesture with every muscle and nuance that supports it long after the model is sitting in a more relaxed way, shoulders straight or slumped, which is inevitable in an extended period of time like this was.

Here is a close-up of the head.

'Seated Nude', Detail
‘Seated Nude’, Detail