Figure Drawing Fun with a friend and comparing styles

Yesterday evening I went to my 5th figure drawing session. It all went very well, but the absolute best part about it was that my friend, Miguel, came along as well!

One of my favorite parts of art classes is seeing what the other artists are doing. I think it's helpful to see how different people interpret the same thing, and how everyone's styles are unique. One of the most important (and first!) lessons that I learned in art school is that there is no "right" or "wrong". Really, everyone just has a different style. There may be room for improvement in anyone's pieces, but the style is their own.

The drawing sessions that I'm taking are non-instructional, so there are no critiques at the end, as in traditional classes. This is good and bad. Good, because you can feel free to just do your own thing, and now worry about judgement. Bad, because feedback is often useful and can help you advance.

Miguel and I were able to sit next to each other last night, so it was easy to look and compare our work throughout the night. It was very cool because our styles are SO different from each other, and it's very interesting to compare each of our drawings of the same pose.

Miguel's style is very graphic and bold. I really enjoy his bold use of lines and shadow. For lack of a better word, it's very stylized. My style (which I don't really think about) is probably much more classic, which seems kind of boring next to his.

Of course, we each thought each other's work was much more interesting than our own. :)

I'm hoping that Miguel will be able to join me on a regular basis. Although I certainly enjoy the sessions on my own, it certainly was a lot more fun sharing the experience with him!

Here are some comparison photos of our drawings from last night.

Migue's pieces are on the left, while mine are on the right. You'll see that his vantage point was also further right of mine, so our view of the models differed slightly.


40-minute


20-minute


10 minute


7 minute


7 minute