Today's portrait

Tried to do something different today. Toned the paper with acrylic and then used coloured pencil and charcoal. The toning maybe was too dark but also the pencil wouldn't stick. Maybe I should have used a bit of gesso.

I tried to push the highlights when I got home with acrylic but I think I made it worse (particularly the flattened shapes in his face.

Striding forwards

The last studio session for this pose. About 10 hours in total. Not sure how to dry this one without cracking. Possibly need to separate the arms and also separate the base from the feet (or at least one).

Structure

Concentrated on structure in last night's life drawing. All are 20 minutes on 30"x22" (two per sheet).

Mark making

Yesterday's long pose. Charcoal A2.

Proportions, tonal value and colour variation.

Seem to get everything wrong on Saturday but still enjoyed the session. I was running the session and we talked about better positioning of the model and also lighting so hopefully things will be better in the future.

First two 10 minute A2 charcoals.

Long pose with natural lighting (and reflections) I find I'm constantly chasing shadows. I also used a freshly primed canvas which I find difficult to get the paint to stick. Later changes lead to a more consistent approach when compared to the original jigsaw of colours but it's lost a lot of its impact. 24"x18" about 3 hours 30 mintes.

Full dress uniform

Portrait session on Saturday was a little different. Rob the model came in full dress uniform. Difficult to deal with all the black. Not enough time as well. Two hours.

Details

Saturday - deja vu

Same model as Friday for Saturday's session. First two 10s.

Then long pose with inconsistent lighting.