Oksana started drawing figure at the end of 2017. Majority of these drawings were created during life drawing sessions at TSoFA studio from model. Oksana prefers to use willow charcoal for figure gesture drawings as it’s the softest and most easily movable media. Her favorite paper for practice is 18 x 24 rough newsprint. However, she used any other available paper such as construction paper or anything with rough texture. These drawings are called gestures, because they’re meant to capture movement of a fleeting pose. During these life drawing sessions, the model would first pose for 2 minutes, then for 5 minutes and so on with the longest pose of 20 minutes. Therefore, all of these drawings are pretty quick and rough. Some of these Oksana uses as reference for more detailed drawings.
Dynamic Gesture Poses
Here are two five-minute poses from life drawing sessions at TSOFA. I actually like both of these drawing. They’re simply dynamic gesture poses that capture the movement and intent. There’s emotion and anticipation despite some anatomical inaccuracies. This is proof that a pose doesn’t need to be long to capture it well. Often enough, basic…
Crosswalk Figures
These two look like crosswalk figures. Their path has intersected once, and then they’ll never see each other again. That is life! Anyway, each of these figures took 10 minutes. I used willow charcoal on newsprint. I feel like I should have paid more attention to the light in these, because the values are all…
Statue or Woman Drawing
At life drawing sessions, we get different models and some tend to keep their arms close to the body. This is a classical contrapposto pose, but I’m not quite happy about the arm. I prefer when the arms are away from the body for short poses, because they tend to hide important points on the…
Figure Drawing Side and Back View
Here is figure drawing of side and back view poses. These are quick gestures, the one on the left took 10 minutes, and the other one — 7. My goal was to capture the dynamic feel of the poses, and I think I did that well. If you look closely, you will notice that 7-miute…
Quick Figure Sketches
This set is two quick figure sketches. I actually marked the time for each figure. The first one is 5 minutes, the second one is 2. I like how the 5-minute figure developed, but the 2-minute of has interesting quality to it. As if I captured the most important parts, the rest can be filled…
Figure Sitting on Column
In this gesture drawing, a figure is sitting on a column. That column was actually a regular barstool, but I improvised. That’s probably why it looks so wonky. I usually work on those elements last, and there probably wasn’t enough time to finish it properly. However, I like it as a gesture. This drawing probably…
Lady with Antenna Drawing
Sometimes, life drawing sessions evoke strange images. Like this lady with antenna drawing. I’m not entirely sure why it came about, the model definitely did not have anything like that on her head. But it felt right, so it appeared on paper. The same goes for the little bear-like creature to her side. It wasn’t…
Same Pose – Two Views Drawing
I usually go to the short pose life drawing sessions, because I can practice drawing the figure quickly and in a loose fashion. Most of the times, each pose is different. Sometimes, the model does the same pose, but turns to change the viewing angle. And sometimes, I just switch easels to get the same…
Dramatic Figure Gesture
Here’s another sketch from my local life drawing sessions. I visit these almost every week, but I fell behind posting them. These two figures probably took me about 15 minutes each. The first figure gesture is very dramatic. It looks as if the figure has been performing on stage. The second one is in a…
Charcoal Figure Sketches
In this set of charcoal figure sketches, I drew two standing figures from front and back. The figure facing front is shown from a side with arms extended as if stretching. I’m sure in reality the model had a balance stick, but I decided to leave it out. Sometimes these poses look more dynamic without…
Two Female Figures Charcoal Drawing
Two female figures are depicted in this charcoal drawing. One from the back, and another one from a side. Second figure seems more finished, I probably got more time on it. I’d say it took around 15 minutes for the side figure, and somewhere around 5 on the back view figure. I like the shadow…
Front and Back Gesture Drawing
In this gesture drawing, I pictured two figures from front and back. Most times, the model changes poses by turning and I arrange the figures in an interesting composition. In this one, it seems like the figures were walking in an opposite direction and stopped to look at each other. I enjoy these accidental social…