Overmodeling, it's so easy to get caught in. I suffer from being too myopic when I get into a zone where I feel something is going well (i.e. the ear, your knee?) and I forget to sit back and look at the whole picture. Last night was the first life drawing class of the semester and Marilyn also suggested I keep looking at the whole figure and spending less time on one particular part. My gestures are great because I simply look at the model so much more and feel my way through the whole figure without much calculation. It's always fun to see the fluidity I can attain, and the oohs and aahs from fellow students. However, when it comes to the twenty minute pose and I begin to concentrate on details of the form, I fall apart. Marilyn suggested I try to keep the loose "feeling and seeing" throughout the whole 20 minutes so that I stay on the correct side of the brain (I can never remember, left? right?)
Of course working from a reference photo is so much easier because I can spend hours on correcting, making adjustments, which I do endlessly in preliminary sketches so that by the time I am drawing the final piece I feel like I know the face very well. But then, haven't you all said that drawing from two-dimensional is much easier and a step in development before refining abilities to draw from life??
Good to know, Steven, that you too, were once a self-conscious beginner. Building confidence is my greatest challenge, but I have a feeling participating in this forum will help immensely. Thanks again for your feedback and generosity. It is invaluable to me and others on the same spot on the learning curve...
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