Soa Lying Down Drawing

If there is one model I hope to draw again someday, it is the dancer, Soa. This was from the second of two sessions we had with her. Her petite yet incredibly strong physique coupled with striking facial features and some of the best and varied poses I have seen, made for a very productive and entertaining session. Her fast poses were extremely dynamic and unique, and here in a longer 10 minute pose, we find her laid down in what one would consider a relaxed pose, yet her knowledge of posing has provided certain interesting elements; the position of the fingers once again are all in varying positions and the right arm is at a right angle to the table, lifting her upper body and twisting it to open up her striking face, which is fixated on the viewer. I chose to approach this with black gouache on textured, brown craft paper, using a variety of sized brushes, ranging from medium, to make my original marks, to thin, to add detail to the face. Varying the amount of paint applied, I have areas of thick, dense tone where the brush was heavily laden, and areas of soft tones in the face and fleshy areas, achieved when the brush was very dry. It was done at the Wednesday evening Life Drawing sessions held at Illumination Mac Guff, Paris, where I worked as a Character Animator for over three and a half years. The studio is known for such films as Despicable Me, Minions, The Secret Life of Pets and The Lorax. All of my figure drawings are from life - no photos were used at any point in their fabrication. The model is in front of you and you have a definite amount of time to get down as much information as you can or see fit. Because of this, each drawing is truly unique and a complete one of a kind, containing a spontaneity that can never be duplicated through photo inspired drawings/paintings. More Artwork of Soa to come.