Finally got to the Boston edition of Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art School, held every month at Great Scott in Allston. The models this month were Lilly Bordeaux and Ms. Sassypants from Rogue Burlesque, a local burlesque group. As usual for my Dr. Sketchy’s experiences, a good time was had by all.

A number of the poses involved both models at the same time, and that took a while to get used to. It definitely increases the pace of drawing, especially when you have to consider wardrobe as well. It was a fun challenge. I look forward to going down to Boston to get more of my Dr. Sketchy fix in the future.

I often tend to draw rather fast. I like to try and get a lot of spontaneous energy in my drawings. As a change of pace, I’ve been trying to be a lot more deliberate in some of my drawings. The drawing above is an example of this. I really slowed down my pace and tried to attack the drawing from one to the other (as opposed to building the total drawing up). The slower approach definitely gives a different feel to the drawing. I really think it helps me focus on what I see, instead of drawing what I think I see.

I definitely prefer the faster high-energy drawings, but I think it’s good to mix in some of these more deliberate ones to help stretch my skills.

Attended another session of the Portland, ME edition of Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art School. A good night was had by all, thanks to the organizers and our model, Honey Suckle Duvet. The drawing above was the winner of one of the contests held throughout the night. Enjoy!

On Sunday evening, I was finally able to drag myself to a session of Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art School. For the uninitiated, Dr. Sketchy’s is an attempt to spice up figure drawing by introducing a bit of burlesque (and the occasional alcoholic beverage). It started in Brooklyn, but quickly spread all over the country, with New England sessions in Boston and Portland, ME. I made it to the Maine edition.

Check out my drawings above to get a feel for the event. Most of the poses are about the same length as my regular figure drawing sessions (ranging from two to 12 minutes), however drawing an elaborately clothed model really doesn’t leave a lot of time for messing around. Most of the drawings I did were on done on marker paper or in one of my moleskines with my trusty Pentel brush pen and a Tria marker for some tone. For longer poses, I would quickly block in the figure in pencil.

Thanks to Lord Byron, our model for the evening, as well as organizer Katie Diamond and the fine folks at the North Star Cafe for making it a fun night.  Next on my to-do list, check out the Boston edition!

Same pose, two different drawings. I mentioned in previous posts that I rarely use the entire allotted time on a drawing during long figure drawing poses. So for a twenty minute pose, I may do several drawings, often times at different sizes and with different media. Such is the case with the drawings above. The first drawing was done in ink with a brush on charcoal paper made with hemp that I quite enjoy. The second drawing was done in a moleskine notebook with my Pentel brush pen and a Copic  marker for tone.

Pen drawing with tone applied with marker.