" I picked up an Intuos Pro at Cambridge’s legendary Micro Center..." That particular Micro Center is truly Geek Heaven! Never have I found a better selection of parts and devices of all things Tech.
Anyway, thanks for the tip about the whole online drawing concept! Over the years I've found it not easy to find any "real" figure drawing classes for years since RISD. Sure, if you happened to live in Providence or Boston (and I assume NYC or LA), great, anywhere else: yer outta luck. For a while, the Rockport Art Association had a great one running every Monday night, and for only $15 a session. They had some truly phenomenal models too (though that had the unintended effect of making my drawings appear almost insultingly poor). But at some point, it got switched to the middle of day on Thursdays, which meant it only worked for the retired or comfortably unemployed...
In any case, it never occurred to me to look for online figure drawing sessions. Now I certainly will. Are there any aggregated sites that offer multiple sessions, or is this just a Search and Find type of thing?
I hate the fact that this work is so good! I want only real hands on real implements against real items to be capable of beauty! You haven't converted me, but I do concede - this time - in your general direction!
The only reason that these turned out is because I have done a metric whackton of drawings in real pastel on real paper and looked at Degas for untold hours, so there is that.
Applauding your explorations. I had a look at the back catalogue, interesting. I've only been able to make electronic means work for my purposes if I didn't expect it to do what paints, pencils, chalk, etc., can do. The difference is the indirectness. Anything resulting from the electronics with which I'm familiar can only be a facsimile. If it is accepted as such, then maybe we have a ball game. But missing entirely is the tactile dimension, direct touch being so central to craft. A buddy once described photography as like seeing the Grand Canyon through the rear view mirror. Electronic "drawing" is sort of the same, seeing and operating at one remove. Warhol got away with using facsimile (photos) because (I believe) he knew we are habituated to photographic seeing, though we seem not to know it. Perhaps electronic means of making art will go a similar way. So many younger people I know have real problems with direct interaction with others because they're habituated to their screens. It has become the way they talk with each other. Will art making and experiencing become that way too? Is it already?
There is definitely a remove, and as you say, the ball game is to accept the limited possibilities of the digital realm, not to think that anything above is going to compare to seeing pastel dragged across paper in person. I would be most reluctant to hang any of them on a wall.
Recently I was in a used bookstore run by one of the town's old-timers, and she said to me, "Books are coming back. The kids are into paper." So I believe the pendulum will swing.
" I picked up an Intuos Pro at Cambridge’s legendary Micro Center..." That particular Micro Center is truly Geek Heaven! Never have I found a better selection of parts and devices of all things Tech.
Anyway, thanks for the tip about the whole online drawing concept! Over the years I've found it not easy to find any "real" figure drawing classes for years since RISD. Sure, if you happened to live in Providence or Boston (and I assume NYC or LA), great, anywhere else: yer outta luck. For a while, the Rockport Art Association had a great one running every Monday night, and for only $15 a session. They had some truly phenomenal models too (though that had the unintended effect of making my drawings appear almost insultingly poor). But at some point, it got switched to the middle of day on Thursdays, which meant it only worked for the retired or comfortably unemployed...
In any case, it never occurred to me to look for online figure drawing sessions. Now I certainly will. Are there any aggregated sites that offer multiple sessions, or is this just a Search and Find type of thing?
Mostly search and find, but I can start you off with the ones I hit most frequently:
Judith Yaws Life Figure Drawing https://lifefiguredrawing.com/
Brooklyn Figure Drawing https://stan.store/BrooklynFigureDrawing
Life Drawing Barcelona https://www.lifedrawingbarcelona.com/
Perfect- Really glad you posted about this!
I hate the fact that this work is so good! I want only real hands on real implements against real items to be capable of beauty! You haven't converted me, but I do concede - this time - in your general direction!
The only reason that these turned out is because I have done a metric whackton of drawings in real pastel on real paper and looked at Degas for untold hours, so there is that.
I still don't like it - *wink*
Applauding your explorations. I had a look at the back catalogue, interesting. I've only been able to make electronic means work for my purposes if I didn't expect it to do what paints, pencils, chalk, etc., can do. The difference is the indirectness. Anything resulting from the electronics with which I'm familiar can only be a facsimile. If it is accepted as such, then maybe we have a ball game. But missing entirely is the tactile dimension, direct touch being so central to craft. A buddy once described photography as like seeing the Grand Canyon through the rear view mirror. Electronic "drawing" is sort of the same, seeing and operating at one remove. Warhol got away with using facsimile (photos) because (I believe) he knew we are habituated to photographic seeing, though we seem not to know it. Perhaps electronic means of making art will go a similar way. So many younger people I know have real problems with direct interaction with others because they're habituated to their screens. It has become the way they talk with each other. Will art making and experiencing become that way too? Is it already?
There is definitely a remove, and as you say, the ball game is to accept the limited possibilities of the digital realm, not to think that anything above is going to compare to seeing pastel dragged across paper in person. I would be most reluctant to hang any of them on a wall.
Recently I was in a used bookstore run by one of the town's old-timers, and she said to me, "Books are coming back. The kids are into paper." So I believe the pendulum will swing.
Really nice, Franklin. Good use of black
They're better as "oil" sketches than as "pastel" work. I'd stick with the real thing either way.