Ours first assignment using the colors developed for the color wheel was with a live model, We had the opportunity to do several quick monochromatic sketches using primary colors to capture some gestures and then we had two longer sessions to enable us to explore values further.
I liked the 5 minutes gesture sessions
But found the 15 and 30 minute studies a lot harder. In each case I started out without a good handle on the proportion. In the 15 minute study I started too small overall and then had to fill in a lot of irrelevant background. For the 30 minute study I remembered a trick from drawing class and tried to use a sighting stick to mark approximate proportions on the paper, but that’s easier with charcoal than it is with paint, and during the course of creating the outline I missed some of the marks somehow. I had the torso too wide and long and the legs too short. In mitigation I thought that the angle I was drawing from was not intuitive with one leg folded away and the other extended towards me which meant that you really had to draw what you saw, not your impression of a leg – which I guess is what the exercise is all about. I did finally manage to get some of the value incorporated, with lighter shades for the parts of the subject the light was reflected off, and that I think is a first for me so I’ll take that as a success. Its a shame we were not allowed (understandably of course) to take photos because I believe I could improve the 30 minute study quite a bit if I worked on it further.