OVERLAPPING FIGURES

 
 

Spark It! - Quick Figure Sketches

Let’s Warm Up With Sketching!

In this warm-up we focus on overlapping figures. This concept may not be new to many of you, but it is a great warm-up and an important tool. It is important both for developing your drawing skills and also for looking at possible compositions for larger work as we shall see.  

I use three different mediums in this video. I recommend using charcoal for one drawing so that you can erase and manipulate your work, and then using something permanent, like a marker pen, for another drawing so that you cannot alter your marks.  These two approaches can give you very different results.

Please Note: Each video in this course has its own unique password. 

▸ VIDEO PASSWORD: Spark4
▸ VIDEO LENGTH: 20:37 minutes

EXERCISE INSTRUCTIONS:

  1. Create several quick sketches using multiple overlapping and/or connecting figures.

  2. My reference photos are on the Pinterest Reference Library link below if you choose to use the same images.

  3. Draw two, three, or four figures.

  4. Make sure they overlap and connect.

  5. You may repeat the same figure. They do not need to be different figures.

  6. Use a ‘correctable medium” for one sketch, and a “permanent medium” for another.

  7. Create as many sketches as you like.

  8. Try to spend no more than four minutes on each figure. (A painting with three figures would be twelve minutes).

MODEL IMAGES REFERENCE LIBRARY

Use these images if you wish to use the same images for this exercise.

Throughout the classes I provide PINTEREST BOARDS for a specific relevant topic. Click on the logo to see the examples gathered in the various categories.

 
 

Artist Focus

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ANDRÉ LUNDQUIST

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Artist Focus 〰️ ANDRÉ LUNDQUIST 〰️

— Click on any image to see larger —

There is so much more to these paintings than what you first glimpse!  Remember how we layered our Spark it! figures? Lundquist’s work is a very sophisticated version of working with that concept. Click on each painting to enlarge the image and zoom in. Each painting has multiple figures, many of them hidden in layers but visible if you really look. André obviously has excellent drawing skills which definitely help with this approach. 

 
 

Project: OVERLAPPING FIGURES

In this project we will take inspiration from Lundquist and also from our Spark it! this week. I am no expert at painting overlapping figures such as these. I am learning as I go in this project just like you will. I do find this method fascinating and challenging and I intend to bring parts of it it to my large work going forward. I highly encourage you to try this concept.  I will add that I feel it is a fairly advanced method so don’t feel badly if you find it challenging.  I also believe that you will discover and learn from trying it.

I used Oil and Cold Wax medium for this painting.

Please Note: Each video in this course has its own unique password. 

▸ VIDEO PASSWORD: Overlap
▸ VIDEO LENGTH: 27:11 minutes

 
 

YOUR TURN:

Things to remember:

  1. Feel free to use your Spark it! as a jumping off point for this project.

  2. I used Sharpie markers to make my lines so that they would remain permanent. This is optional.

  3. Scale makes a big difference (pun intended). I encourage you to work as large as possible. This project is easier in a larger format.

 
 

Bonus Exercise: OVERLAPPING DRAWINGS BY LAYERING

Here are several images of Richard Diebenkorn’s work. See how he re-draws the figure several times leaving ghosts of the earlier marks? These layered sketches illustrate a classic method used in life-drawing classes (drawing from a live model). This technique is typically done by sketching in charcoal, smearing/erasing and repeating. In some of these he has gone back in with paint and/or ink. Feel free to create work using this approach as well.

Artist Focus

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RICHARD DIEBENKORN

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Artist Focus 〰️ RICHARD DIEBENKORN 〰️

— Click on any image to see larger —