Talk of Art

This evening I drew my first nude male model, and even though I had an extremely difficult time drawing him, I'm really pleased with the way my drawing came out, because the angle at which he was sitting was perfect for the shadows and lights. Usually I get the bad angles where everything is in shadow or everything's in the light, so there's nothing interesting to draw. This time, though, he was sitting on the chair, leaning forward with his elbows on his thighs, and he was turned slightly away from me, so his left arm had a really bright side against the shadows on his torso. He was a lot more difficult to draw than the woman on Monday, but I don't know if it was just because she was standing and he was sitting, or if it was because she was a woman and he was a man.

I think the hardest part was the fact that he changed his pose a minute into the pose, because originally he was leaning on one hand, but then I think he realized he would probably lose all circulation if he was like that for 20 minutes at a time (2 hour-long pose), so he asked Akimoto-sensei if he could change it, and she let him, warning us that there was a "slight pose change"...and of course I'd already drawn the entire pose by that point, so when I eventually got to drawing the head in detail, I got really screwed up and had to erase the entire head and neck, and a section of the shoulders. It was really frustrating.

In fact, his head was the most difficult of everything, since I just couldn't get it to look right, so when Akimoto-sensei came over, I asked her what was wrong with the face (since I can't tell), and as soon as she told me the problem was that I was seeing lines that weren't there, and so it was pulling the face too far forward, I was able to fix the problem. Oh, and drawing facial hair shadow (not facial hair, and not even stubble, but when you can see the hair just under the skin, I mean) is SO HARD! Drawing dots does not cut it, and I didn't want it to look like he had a moustache or beard stubble when he didn't. After a few tries, I think I got it to look semi-right. I'm such a ridiculous person, though...when I saw that he had three earrings in his ear, I was thinking, "YES! I get to draw jewelry!!" and so I'm pretty sure I spent too much time on his ear, making it perfect. Oh well. At least his ear will be pretty. I also spent a lot of time on his left leg...though I messed up his toes. Oh well.

I think I've given up hoping they'll give us a fat model, or an old model. The woman on Monday had a six pack, almost! And then the guy today was a lean, muscled kind of guy. (Is that what you call it? XD I honestly don't know.) It would have been nice to get different body types, though. -_-' I guess I'm just going to get a lot of practice drawing muscles and bones (the guy's ribs were very easy to see from my angle). All of the models seem to be in the 20s to early 30s age range so far, too. The first few clothed ones were the youngest, I think, which makes sense, but I wish we'd get older people now. Wrinkles would be a nice change of pace, lol.

Oh, and no, I am not taking photos of the drawings like I did before. I'd like to respect the models and not post nude drawings of them on the internet. When I go home, my family can see the drawings, and my friends if they really want to, but other than that, sorry.

I think I'm going to the Ghibli Museum on Saturday, but I honestly don't know, since Steve needs to ask the Japanese Culture professor if she has enough extra tickets. If she doesn't, that that means we're going on the 23rd (yay, Easter!) instead.

I've also been looking up "English OK!" hair salons online, and I think I'm going to try finding one to go to, since I'd much rather not get all my hair chopped off than have a "wonderful opportunity" to practice my Japanese. Noooo thanks. Maybe some other time. Like when I actually know Japanese. I'm literally surrounded by hair salons here in Jiyuugaoka, and I pass several on my way to school, but none of them have English-speaking cutters as far as I know.

PS - I can't help but be amused that my iTunes goes from Kagrra,'s 彩の讃歌...to Johnny Cash's Hurt. Both good songs, but...oh, and then to NewS's 太陽のナミダ. I am a sorry person.