Once in awhile, I actually put up some doodles of naked butts. Went to the Palette & Chisel last night to see a strong show of Errol Jacobs paintings from the last few years and made it upstairs for the last 2 hours of life drawing. Been awhile.
 
 
Well it’s been some time since I settled in to some nude drawing having managed to travel the country extensively this Fall so I squeezed in a half session last night with less than what I might have hoped for. Since I returned to Chicago 5 days ago much has gotten in the way of my daily drawing so some of the slap dash I was looking for came in fits and starts. I also left the house with a limited range of grays and wound up making careless use of cool and warm grays on the model which is irritating me  sufficiently on the morning after. I did have with me a Sailor bent nib fountain pen that give both bold and narrow line widths depending on the angle you attack the page with and you can see it’s effect in the drawings of the dude with the Jeff cap & blue backpack and the slouching fellow in ski cap texting away. Fun to draw with and loosens you up. On the page immediately above of cafe goers and transit riders, I could have used some of the darker Pitt Big Brush Artist Pens which would have knocked in richer values and strokes on the clothing.
Friday nite life drawing session. What better time to see a spot of flesh than in the depths of Winter. Justin is a good model. Very muscular, light produces definitive shadows on him, important at the Palette & Chisel as their extensive use of fluorescent lights blows out dark and dramatic contrasts. He is limber as evidenced by the drawings can hold athletic poses reasonably well. Drawn on a Boorum & Pease ledger book with 3 different fountain pens, a TWSBI 540 medium nib, Faber-Castell Coconut Ambition broad nib, and a Pelikano Junior medium nib, all filled with Noodler’s Ottoman Blue ink. Some additional work done with Pitt Artist Pens.
Labored over an illustrating gig, got back in court to sketch at a murder trial, and drawing out and about both solo and with friends. No change in materials though the smaller drawings are in a Pentalic book w/ unlined, ivory colored paper. Has some bleed thru traits so I probably won’t use one of these again once I finish with it. Not being able to draw on both sides checks the number of spreads I’ll do and means I don’t get full use out of one. I do like how they’re bound and the cover’s nice but they have a touch too deep of a gutter. Fountain pen inks wanna seep thru the page. The drawings on toned paper, which I favor when drawing in court, are in a Utrecht sketchbook.
 
The fellow in the green shirt, a witness at a murder trial, the guy who discovered the body of the victim, was getting a rough going over from the defense attorney.
 
Threw in some life drawings from the old haunt, the Palette & Chisel, from Feb & Jan. Heading off to Texas later this month while I’ll try to run down some life drawing venues there, not to mention some of that awesome central Texas BBQ. Maybe I can find some bar-b-que slathered nudes to draw while I’m at it.
 
 
 
 
Oh and uhm, here’s a recent sketch for an illustration job I just finished just to show folks I do, once in a blue moon, pick up a pencil and noodle around with them.
