5/18/2025 Life Drawing

I started drawing from life again; I feel like I'm at a point in my career where it is more necessary than ever.

Photographs are good for study material, but even if I rely solely on a feeling when getting inspiration from a photograph, I still can't shake the fact that whatever I made isn't completely mine.

A photograph is the vision of a photographer and so is their choice of model. Immediately I am robbed of two very important things; and while an angle or model may still be incredibly inspiring, they are not completely mine.

On Sunday I drew my friend Layle for a couple hours. She has great facial features and a good presence. Unfortunately, I spent too much time on my graphite drawing and I feel like I missed my mark. I should've started over after I felt like things were off, but instead I pushed through and tried to fix things and ultimately everything just fell flat. The general outline and contours of the drawing were alright, but the head and face were tweaked too much over the course of my drawing and it didn't match Layle's beauty at all. This is one of those moments where it's important to learn when to concede and start a fresh drawing.

I took the last 15 minutes of our session to do a pen sketch and it was infinitely better than my graphite work. I may even add a few strokes of watercolor to it.

My lesson for today was to remember my own advice and start over when needed. Maybe a few quick warmups would've helped before going directly into a longer pose. I'm anxious to draw her again.

Below is a recent work from me; if you're interested in seeing everything I've done please subscribe to my Patreon for $5 a month where you will see ALL my work and can get early access to buy art before the public.