Lilas Draped On Table Painting

Franco Japanese dancer, Lilas, provided a beautifully contorted reclining pose as her final from this session in September of 2015. Draped over a box with back bent and with one leg dangling from the table whilst the other bent backwards, the level of body strength to maintain this for the 25 minute duration was impressive. The piece is done with a mixture of black gouache mixed with brown acrylic, and coloured acrylics on brown, textured craft paper (the reverse side of which is smooth). I used the gouache for sketching out the figure and then I worked over the top with the acrylic to add the skin tone, going back in from time to time with the gouache to add shadows and create contrast. I love using gouache for this as with a dry brush effect you can vary the tone of the shadows, and with a pose like this, that tone helps define the space and create the sense of depth. The final touch was adding some white behind the model to push her even further forward. 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. The room that was used however was extremely tiny and it was a challenge to work so closely to the model, though I feel this only enhances the sensation of foreshortening. 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. There are many more drawings of dancer, Lilas, to come in other fantastic draped, and contorted poses.

Painting:Gouache on Paper

Original:One-of-a-kind Artwork

Size:14 W x 19.5 H x 0.1 D in

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