Thinking like a camera

It was the fourth week of our life drawing classes yesterday. We began by revisiting the figure in space, drawing it from various angles and with context to its surroundings and perspective boundaries, reiterating the importance of drawing using a type of triangulation method.

Again following on from previous lessons we looked at the figure from extreme perspective, this time focusing on the head and neck. Mary Clare reminded us that it is vital for us to be able to draw from every angle possible, as it will free us up to explore all kinds of storytelling techniques - we need to be able to think like a camera.

Our photographic gaze then lead us into capturing facial various facial expressions, the model posing each expression very briefly to keep it as fresh and true as possible.

Next on the agenda was framing and composition. We were asked to draw a frame for our drawing and encouraged to select a part of the figure/scene before us to feature in our frame. I found it was best to start off with a thumbnail first to help cement ideas, so I could approach the drawing with a plan.

Finally we got to mix our observational drawing with our imagination, using the figure acting before us and creating a scene or story by adding another character or imagining a scene for her. I particularly enjoyed this part of the session, it was great fun to transform the ideas acted out by the model into my own stories.