Pencil on paper

One of the many things that impress me about artist Robin Poteet's work is that her drawings skills are as wonderful as her painting skills.  She tells us to keep the pencil on the paper as long as possible to draw confident lines and renderings of what we see.  My habit before studying with her was to sometimes draw with a much more feathering sort of approach.  In my twice-monthly drawing group this past weekend, I decided to make the effort to keep the pencil in touch with the paper as much as possible and see what happened.  I couldn't have been more pleased with the outcome.


I ended the evening with three pieces I was happy with and all had very good proportions.  I think it forced me to truly look and see the lines of the body better than before and somehow that seemed to translate to the brain and the hand.  When I first saw this pose, I thought it would be a bear to capture. In reality, it flowed well and was fun to work on.  I really believe keeping the pencil on the paper as much as possible made a big difference to my work.  Practice, practice, practice.  Two years ago, figure drawing was very intimidating to me.  With effort and practice I have come a long way!