Blog about my first drawing class....

[kittynh]

How many of you took art and went "oh wow, we're drawing NAKED people?"

And yet learned a lot

http://twodifferentgirls.com/2012/04...ray-vision-11/

[jiggeryqua]

Most enjoyable. Elsewhere we're discussing the (optional) indignity of nudity, and I think it may be artists who are most comfortable with nudity...and their models most bored of it

[Rrose Selavy]

I happen to teach life drawing - have done for several years. people who have never done it wonder what goes on, when they start a class, it's probably a bit unusual for about the first five minutes ,as a complete stranger appears naked, then that novelty soon wears off and they settle down to the challenge of drawing another human being.

[alfaniner]

Life drawing is great -- I should do it more. It worked best when you just thought of it as light and shadow and form.

A couple anecdotes from my 13-week class: We had several models, one each night. Ratio female to male of about 2:1. One male model had absolutely no muscle definition whatsoever, I observed that he was built like a tube. Even our heavier models had some shape to work with -- this was like trying to draw a blank wall.

And then one female model, apparently new to the gig, felt she was being ogled a bit too much and quit halfway through the class. All I know is I was getting irritated because she kept fidgeting and messing up my angle. (To draw.) After the first break she came back in (dressed) and insulted the instructor and the class. In the aftermath we realized that most of the class didn't even know who it was at first. Of course, no one had really been looking at her face... Well, at least we got to do the "18-inch chicken" lesson for the last half, which I found incredibly valuable.

[Orphia Nay]

Wonderful, kitty.

"Art class taught me how to see."

Exactly this.

Before I did life drawing classes, I drew things from my imagination. Reality is so much more intricate, complicated, fascinating, beautiful.

Life drawing teachers have so many methods and exercises that teach you so many different ways to look at things, and how to put drawing implement to paper.

"The world is so much more than just what is on the surface."

Absolutely.

The methods they teach make you draw without bias; almost like a robot, and see like an Xray machine. Still, our human frailty kicks in, and this gives each work its edge, after the lessons are learned.

[MatildaGage]

I did have the typical 5 minutes of shock because we all came to class and viola, a naked person. No warning.

She was a total exhibitionist and had to be told to stop walking outside and around the building with no clothes on. The male was next and he was really creepy too. At first I avoided drawing the private areas so my professor shined a spotlight on that area and showed me how to draw it. lol

Other than the creepiness of those particular models, I actually find it to be a preferred subject matter and in fact one of the most beautiful.

[notheist]

Make people pay a cover charge and have a two drink minimum and it becomes a whole different thing.

Odd that in most places strippers must wear a G string or more, but make it a a "life drawing" class and it's ok.

[Soapy Sam]

Well, strippers are trying to be provocative.
Most models are just trying not to freeze.

[Rrose Selavy]

Originally Posted by notheist

Make people pay a cover charge and have a two drink minimum and it becomes a whole different thing.

Odd that in most places strippers must wear a G string or more, but make it a a "life drawing" class and it's ok.

Then you miss the whole point.

-

[TheDoLittle]

I enjoy drawing. My media I prefer is charcoal on Canson and Pen and Ink wash. My mistake was when I took both the intro and life drawing classes with my wife while our department chair/supervisor was the instructor.

Now let me preface this by saying my chair forced me to take her classes. I had just started teaching and she knew I had art skills, but wanted to measure my ability to handle a classroom environment first hand. I also attempt give out what I feel are slightly pithy critiques, but I make them as constructive and encouraging as I can. I was a slightly worse critic to my wife, and the hardest on myself. We were also the two oldest in the class, and almost all the other students were half our age. It also didn't help that I was the class cut-up.

Then came the day of the nude model. The class been told on the first day of class when our model dates were as there would be no make up days for those assignments. What I wasn't expecting is due to budget and studio space constraints forced us to team up with another class, many of whom I would find out were squimish about a "nude" model. Right before class we had gone through introductions, and then the other teacher had asked if any student who was uncomfortable with "male anatomy" that they were welcome to sit towards the models rear. More than 2/3rds the class shuffled over to the other side of the stage. My chair personally drew an X on the floor with chalk and said my easel was to not move from that spot and then turned to my wife, pointed to me, and said she was to "watch him" (might have had something to do with a snide comment I made in the hallway to class... yes, I remember what it was... no I will not repeat here...). Apparently, they were sure I was going to say or do something that might be taken the wrong way by the other class.

And then it happened. The model walked in, disrobed, and took a lie on the chair, knee up over the chair arm, fully blasting his pride in the direction of the X drawn on the floor. Had he been of normal size I don't think there would have been a problem, but he could have been a stand in for Ron Jeremy. Seriously, the tip dangled to just under the bottom of the seat. Those who were behind him could still see it.

There were several gasps, the room had turned a just a hint of a shade of red, and I still have the scar on my tongue where I had to bite it for over 2 hours straight. It took everything in me to just hold back a smirk.

After class, my wife, my boss, and I were walking back to our side of the campus. They both praised how I handled myself, in which I then unleashed every comment I had been holding back.

I'm sorry I never kept the drawing. It was actually one of my better ones.