Naked Graciousness

1. Naked Graciousness ( big sketch)

2. Naked Graciousness ( small sketch )

3. Medium Preferences

1. "Naked Graciousness (big sketch)", is not a satisfactory piece to me. It is my first piece, after a long period of not creating male figure drawings. I think the proportions are clunky, but it represents my style overall. I could have adjusted the proportions, using a pencil and eraser. But, pencil drawing still does a disservice to my spontaneity and looseness. I cannot draw or sketch with a pencil, without realizing the privilege of erasing disliked lines. This piece also represents one of my first attempts, after a long break, from using gray brush pens, for shading skin tones. 

2. "Naked Graciousness (small sketch)", was quickly done, after I decided to return to creating male figures. I looked through my book of  "Paul Cadmus's Male Figure Drawings" for inspiration. And I searched online for "dad body" types of men. I am really inspired by this type of body, now. I think it is sexy and more appealing than the athletic, gym body. I prefer to display the thick, soft areas of a man's body versus the taut, muscle from rigorous exercise. 

                 

      3. Faber Castell, has a great series of brush pens, for drawing and coloring. I have several of them. My favorite series, are the grey scale brush pens. There is a series in cold grey and warm grey brush pens. I prefer the cold grey shades so far. They provide a different yet effective approach, than my usual warm grey washes, that were applied ( mixing India ink, and using various brushes) for previous artworks. And I do not have to wait for long periods of time; for the wet layers to dry, before applying another one. 

    I am also using my ballpoint pens again, that created my style, with numerous drawings in the past. I prefer the economical PaperMate brand. And I discovered the greatness of gel pens, for sketching and Journaling! The Pilot G-2 series is ideal for me with an 07 nib size. I create small and medium sized sketches, combining the gel pen and Sakuri Pigma brush pen, for a bold, solid, linear effect. The Micron pen is used on the small and medium sketches, for additional details, such as hatching for shading. I use the 05 pen nib size, because it produces medium range line; that is not too big or small.