margaret's hands

Strathmore drawing 200 gsm, 14" x10". 15 minutes.

margaret was over again yesterday and we had a good session. as always, we began with her hands, and i spent a little more time on the drawing than usual.

my preferred drawing method is to start very loose, with a continuous line drawing, and gradually tighten and refine the form to a kind of armature, and then cut the outline onto this foundation with a soft charcoal pencil. i don't erase any lines. the method captures both small changes in the model's pose, and also shows my process of looking at the model, in the incremental refinements.

i use hands as a warm up because the pose doesn't keep the model from otherwise moving, looking around, talking, etc., and it is difficult enough for me to get focus quickly. there is nothing that motivates me to get my shit together more than a drawing of ugly, cigar shaped fingers stuck into a potato of a palm on the end of a stick arm. a bad drawing of hands is a kind of crime.