I thought I would start a blog to describe a little bit about my process, why I'm doing this project, and some of my thoughts behind the composition of the artwork.
First: about me and why I love drawing people. Especially the human figure from life.
I am not a professional artist. When I was in grade school, I drew portraits from things like cereal boxes and American Girl, just for fun. Maybe because I was such an introvert, I liked drawing faces and thinking about what kind of friend they might be in real life.
I didn't take any art classes or do much to develop my talents until I was in my 40's, when I started drawing animals and portraits in colored pencil as a release from working in a stressful office. I posted some of my pieces to an online forum, and someone on there told me about a weekly life drawing group nearby.
I remember how nervous I was to go for the very first time. I'd never attended a life drawing session before, so I didn't know what to expect. Would it be weird and uncomfortable to draw a live, unclothed person? Would I even be able to draw something recognizable as a human? Would the other artists laugh at my attempts?
The group met in a cramped, dark studio (unheated in winter, uncooled in summer) in a pretty sketchy part of downtown Phoenix. There were only about 6-8 artists, but everyone was so welcoming. No one looked over my shoulder, no one judged. The models, who came from all walks of life, were also relaxed and professional. There was always funky music on in the background, and we all brought snacks or drinks to share during the breaks. We all pitched in to pay for the model's time, so it was incredibly affordable.
Our sessions lasted for three hours. We'd start off with warm-up gesture poses of 1-2 minutes each, then moved to 20-minute poses with breaks in between. Although I later drew with pen and ink, in the beginning I sketched with charcoal (compressed and/or willow) on an easel on Biggie sketch paper. One of the other artists advised me to "go big" when I drew - take up all the space on the paper if I could, and that was the best advice I'd ever received.
There's something about drawing the figure from life that really hones a person's artistic vision and skills. Because the poses are short, your must learn to trust your hand to draw without giving your rational/critical brain time to intervene. Because it's from life, not a flat photograph, you get to understand lighting and come to know the actual shapes of muscle and limbs. Because it's the human figure, you know right away when something's off. Combined with the camaraderie of drawing with a small group of chillaxed others, it was the best three hours of creative fun every Tuesday.
The group eventually moved to west Phoenix in part of a cabinet-making warehouse of one of the regular members. It had heat, A/C, working lights, and great space us to set up around the model.
I attended that informal group, off and on, for eight years, until I moved out of state to a rural area. I accumulated hundreds (thousands?) of drawings, some of which I kept, and almost all of which I photographed. I had no idea why I saved so many of my sketches, as none of them were frame-worthy. They were just learning attempts, and it was fun to track my artistic progress.
But then, I got into Tarot cards, which is a story for another day. Looking for a new creative project, I started toying around with sketching some of the cards and pulled out my old figure drawings. I realized that I had an entire treasure trove of poses I could use as the basis for drawing a deck of my own.
So, that is what I'm doing. I'm combining my love of the human figure with my passion for the Tarot. My hope is that the figures I use will help others connect in a unique, powerful way to the cards as a tool for self-analysis and self-development.
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