I have a lot of friends who over the years have worked like crazy to make our sleepy little rural community more interesting with stand-up comedy, punk shows, art shows like February's Bristol Bizarre, and more. I've always admired them, and have always been thrilled when I got to be a part of whatever it was they were putting together. I never thought I had the skills to organize anything like what they do. I'm just pretty sure I couldn't pull it off.
Sometimes I get ideas, though.
There are days where I really miss figure drawing. I mean, yeah, I sketch from photos and stuff all the time, but it isn't the same. Drawing from a live model who's right there in front of you is so different, it engages a different part of your brain. I kept thinking about how I wanted to get back into it, but couldn't come up with any idea how. At least, not any idea that didn't involve going back to take classes at ETSU or anything that doesn't sound awkward when spoken out loud.
But I ended up musing out loud on the internet a couple weeks ago anyways. I mentioned how it'd be neat to have a local group that could meet for figure drawing sessions once or twice a month. Hire a model or two, get some snacks, play some music, and just draw. Rather than being written off, some friends expressed interest in doing such a thing. I talked it through with one of them, realized I had a small, but decent space where we could pull it off, and knew a couple of people who would like to model.
So I put a group together, laid out what I had in mind, and began organizing a figure drawing party. We had the party this past Sunday, not even two weeks after throwing the idea out in the open. Despite having no real idea what I was doing, we pulled it off with great success, and it was a good time!
We started with 1 minute poses and worked our way up from there with a backing soundtrack of Korean hip-hop. This turned out to be a bad decision around the 5-10 minute sketches because it's hard for the model to hold still when they really want to dance. Duly noted!
I primarily worked with a couple brush pens, just straight ink on paper, with the above sketch done with ballpoint gel pens. In the days leading up to the party, I kept thinking about what I wanted to focus on, how I wanted to work. I needed to think more about shading and building the form of the figure, thinking in three dimensions rather than just working in line. However, when things got started, I kind of forgot about all of that and acted on instinct.
I was so out of practice. I think we all were. There was a lot of laughter and a bit of cursing as we things went on. We moved around a lot and stayed kind of chatty, which is completely unlike how the figure drawing classes I took at ETSU were. I mean, it WASN'T a class, duh. It was just a good environment to be in, I think.
Here's one by my friend KT:
And a couple by Jennifer Culp, of Gamervescent and Make Your Face fame:
And Hannah:
After a little more than an hour, we'd taken a bit of a break and I went to the bathroom. When I came out, someone asked if I was going to model. I felt like everyone was looking at me, but that's not true.
See, I'd said that I would do it if our model needed a break or whatever, but I didn't think that anyone would hold me to it, you know? I mean, I'd never modeled before outside of taking pictures for self portraits!
Sure, yeah, I've wanted to give it a shot for a while now, that's why I offered, but the prospect of doing so terrified me. Okay, that's another reason I wanted to do it, if I'm afraid of something I usually try to face it, but I didn't really feel prepared. And anyway, how DOES one prepare for such a thing? I have no clue.
I went back into the bathroom. I stripped to my underwear. Then I said screw it and took that off, too. Then I realized that I was going to have to step out of the bathroom and into the middle of the room fully nude, so I asked for a robe instead. It was a very fluffy leopard print robe, which, for some reason, gave me a weird boost of confidence.
I wore it around my waist for a couple five minute poses, just to try and take the edge off a little bit and work through my nervousness. Here's a sketch of one of those poses, by KT again:
After that, I changed the music, took a deep breath, and awkwardly dropped the robe, doing two 15 minute poses fully nude. The rush of feelings going through me was insane. I'm pretty sure I was shaking the whole time from some combination of nervousness and the dropped temperature. I'm pretty sure I was sweating, too. I felt, well, extremely vulnerable in a way I don't think I've ever felt before. That all eventually slid away though, and I got a high five when it was all over. Any sense of embarrassment subsided eventually, my discomfort shifting to something more physical: for the first pose I was sitting, but leaning back on my right arm, putting all the weight of my upper body on my wrist and shoulder. I laid down for the second pose, but turned my head without a pillow, which hurt my neck quite a bit. I'll try to remember not to do that the next time.
Here's one of Joe's charcoal sketches of me. Love seeing how he prioritizes form and depth in the way I was meaning to try:
I'm already eager to start planning the next meeting. I couldn't be happier about how well this went, it's hard to believe I managed to arrange such a thing. It isn't as big as stand-up comedy or anything, but I'm proud of this little group I've pieced together and look forward to doing more with them. And yeah, I think I'll be more willing to model again in the future now that I've given it a try and didn't die from it.
For now though, I need to get back to this comic. I'll be writing about that again soon.