So it turns out that having a boys’ night out is trickier for comics artists than I’d originally thought. My friends and I have this ongoing thing where we meet up Wednesday nights at the local art college and do life-drawing. It’s been a month, and it’s been great, but the big challenge is image. You see, the whole idea of men being men together is that, well, like our ancestors who’d run after deer or sabretooth tigers, we figured we’d do something macho. Unfortunately, the models switch between genders, with men one week and women the next. Schedule conflicts pop up, and there we are: the first two nights I get to go and we’re drawing naked men.
Granted, the second night I went I talked to the model, who was himself a photographer. What were his subjects? Why, nude models, naturally. They were his ex-girlfriends, and gorgeous models; and his photography skills were excellent, as he went to great lengths to get really good lighting and composition. I like that he had a theme going, the nude model liking other nude models thing. I like to think they’re all out there, somewhere, running free on his farm together; like the Watcher I don’t expect to ever be a part of their world, but I’m glad they’re out there and happy.
This week was a little different, though, as we finally got to draw an older, overweight woman. Ever heard of Toni Morrison? Imagine her naked and being drawn by you. Yes, that’s what I did last night.
In fact, it was a great class. I joke, rather unprofessionally, but don’t think that I’m not bending over backwards to get in there and just bloody draw. Also, all three models I’ve learned something new, and it’s been great.
This time around I was focused on gravity. This woman was all about gravity and reactions to mass. She moved with this great weight on her hips, and when she was setting up the seat to sit on she was wide-stance legs and hips straight, vertical, but her upper body leaned forward to do the actual moving. She had these massive, sagging breasts, really long, and I got a good sense of how they were pulled down by gravity. Her whole body was set up with gravity in mind, every part of her posture, especially considering her age and the decreased muscle strength that comes from that. It was kind of cool, looking at things from a mechanical perspective.
