The Concept

I just returned from my studio in the Charlotte Art League building. Today is nice and cool for summer, but it's still hot without any climate control. So, I have a lot of fans blowing the hot air around. I scanned a few pages from my sketch books. They show the very first concept sketches I made for this series. Pretty rough. The one with the rock almost crushing the person is a little gruesome. I may not do that one with any more detail. The more finished drawing is 18 x 24 inches on paper. I did not use a real model for this; I used a photography pose book. I have a collection of figure drawing pose books going back to the 1950s. I use the pose book for the general idea and then modify the pose to fit my drawing. I also went out into my back yard and took some photos of rocks for reference. My references Rock! In all my drawings I start with the line. I draw the outside or exterior contour line, then the shadow or interior contour lines. Then, I start shading, adding the darks. I draw the lightest shadows first and work from light to dark. As I draw, I gradually use darker and softer pencils. I usually begin with a B pencil and end up using a 6B or 7B pencil to finish the darkest shadows. Notice the line boarders around the edge of the paper on the more finished drawing. I will use that element in the larger drawings as well. Also, notice the ropes tying the person to the paper or ground. I don't think I will use that idea in the larger drawings.