Figure Drawing - charcoal and white chalk

Ellen – 25” x 19” – Canson Mi-Teintes Drawing Paper

This is the last drawing from my winter term drawing class, taught by Robert Liberace. This drawing was completed over three classes, and each time I learned new nuances of drawing and rendering the human form.

Below is the conclusion of the first class. I used the gray paper as my light-midtone and really just laid in the form. Starting to add some highlights helped me discern values.


This is where I ended up at the end of the second class. I knew there were areas to work on and some areas still needed some figuring out. Ellen's head really was a challenge, I drew and erased it at least eight times. Though all that drawing and erasing paid off because eventually I was able to get it sort of right...


This is a detail of the drawing at the end of the third class. As soon as I set up in the last class, I erased the facial features again, because I realized they were not correct. I worked to really define the shapes of the eye sockets, the nose, and mouth. I also continued to refine the shadow shapes and highlights of the form.