One theme you may notice here is the reclining figure, drawn close to the axis line, with a lot of foreshortening.
In the “Drawing from Life” sessions that I have been in (from which many of these drawings come), we are doing mostly around 20 minute sketches of a live model. The room is arranged with a slightly raised platform near the center, and the seating for the artists in a semicircle around the platform. We can move around as we please, even during the session, depending on what angle we wish to draw from, however, I often pick the spot near the end of the semicircle, near the platform, looking pretty much down the long axis of the area where the model is. Most of the other artists joke about me always wanting to have the “most difficult” spot, largely because drawing from that angle does create dramatic foreshortening much of the time.
One of the things which I find interesting is the fact that I have spent a great deal of time working with clay, and in particular with the human figure… in three dimensions. I’m used to thinking in 3D when I sculpt, which, I believe, helps me when I am drawing.
Whatever the reason though, I definitely like the challenge of drawing figures like this, since they really create a strong image when they are done right.
