[vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” width=”1/1″ tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][vc_column_text]I’m in NY, doing a figurative sculpture marathon with Bruce Gagnier at the NY Studio School. I’m three days into a two week intensive, and I’m loving it.
One of the topics my instructor presses is contrapposto. I learned about contrapposto at WWU, but I’m understanding the real value of it now. Bruce Gagnier showed me how exaggerating the tilt of the hips, and then exaggerating a responsive tilt to the rib cage (not the shoulders, as I had previously thought, but the imagined/invisible rib cage) and moving it to the side makes for a dynamic drawing or sculpture. He’s trying to get me to push my drawings more into motion. It’s good.
Bruce Gagnier’s exaggerated sketch of model’s head, ribs, and hips in contrapposto
See how the sections are tilted, but also pulled side-to-side?
For another example, here’s my classmate’s figure drawing. She tilted the hips one way and tilted the ribs the other way, but she didn’t off-set the pieces to the right and left. Gagnier ripped the drawing into 3 pieces so we could move and tilt each section. What a difference the changes make! I’m adding contrapposto paper dolls to my class lessons!
This is my classmate’s contrapposto sketch as it was. The boxes on the left side are Gagnier’s example of how we inadvertently stack things straight on the horizontal and vertical. It’s a difficult habit to break.
Here is how the pieces can be used to shift the figure’s segments left and right.
See how the weight and movement shifted? Dynamic figure!
Effing Argots
I was slow to catch on to this lesson. Too slow. Gagnier speaks the most stubbornly convoluted art speak I’ve ever heard. For the love of Pete, it took me two days to understand what it’ll take me two minutes to show my figure drawing class. An articulate vocabulary is expressive and delicious, but exclusionary argots have no place in our Seattle Artist League.
Here’s a wee snippitty boob flick from The Patriot TV sequential, to illustriate my tantamount anti-idolatryius, in excelsis deo.[/vc_column_text][vc_video link=”https://youtu.be/P5-9Rfrui9A?t=1″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
Keith Pfeiffer trained as an illustrator, and recently decided to jump over the fence to be a professional fine artist. His observation based drawings are finely tuned and skillfully rendered, with a focus on line and tone. His sketches are posted on Instagram for very affordable prices. We had just hired him at the League …
[vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” width=”1/1″ tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][vc_column_text]I happened upon this glorious Instagram post, in which Alex Kanevsky compliments a “beautifully painted boob.” The most beautifully painted boob in the world belonged to the Benefit Supervisor sleeping on an armchair. In itself it might not conform …
[vc_row type=”in_container” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]Below is a collection of happy sailboat paintings, painted in the late 1800s, early 1900s. Is there a painting you think should be added to this collection? Please share. [/vc_column_text][vc_gallery type=”image_grid” images=”750,751,752,753,754,755,756,757,758,759,760,761,762,763″ display_title_caption=”true” layout=”3″ gallery_style=”1″][vc_column_text] Phrases and sayings that have a nautical origin Many phrases that …
One year ago in March, to protect our students and teachers from a new coronavirus, the Seattle Artist League moved our classes online. The virus was declared a national emergency, and we went into quarantine. We have now been in quarantine for thirteen months. Through this year, we have met each other online to draw, …
The Dynamic Dance of Contrapposto
[vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” width=”1/1″ tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][vc_column_text]I’m in NY, doing a figurative sculpture marathon with Bruce Gagnier at the NY Studio School. I’m three days into a two week intensive, and I’m loving it.
One of the topics my instructor presses is contrapposto. I learned about contrapposto at WWU, but I’m understanding the real value of it now. Bruce Gagnier showed me how exaggerating the tilt of the hips, and then exaggerating a responsive tilt to the rib cage (not the shoulders, as I had previously thought, but the imagined/invisible rib cage) and moving it to the side makes for a dynamic drawing or sculpture. He’s trying to get me to push my drawings more into motion. It’s good.
Bruce Gagnier’s exaggerated sketch of model’s head, ribs, and hips in contrapposto
See how the sections are tilted, but also pulled side-to-side?
For another example, here’s my classmate’s figure drawing. She tilted the hips one way and tilted the ribs the other way, but she didn’t off-set the pieces to the right and left. Gagnier ripped the drawing into 3 pieces so we could move and tilt each section. What a difference the changes make! I’m adding contrapposto paper dolls to my class lessons!
This is my classmate’s contrapposto sketch as it was. The boxes on the left side are Gagnier’s example of how we inadvertently stack things straight on the horizontal and vertical. It’s a difficult habit to break.
Here is how the pieces can be used to shift the figure’s segments left and right.
See how the weight and movement shifted? Dynamic figure!
Effing Argots
I was slow to catch on to this lesson. Too slow. Gagnier speaks the most stubbornly convoluted art speak I’ve ever heard. For the love of Pete, it took me two days to understand what it’ll take me two minutes to show my figure drawing class. An articulate vocabulary is expressive and delicious, but exclusionary argots have no place in our Seattle Artist League.
Here’s a wee snippitty boob flick from The Patriot TV sequential, to illustriate my tantamount anti-idolatryius, in excelsis deo.[/vc_column_text][vc_video link=”https://youtu.be/P5-9Rfrui9A?t=1″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
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Keith Pfeiffer: Drawings
Keith Pfeiffer trained as an illustrator, and recently decided to jump over the fence to be a professional fine artist. His observation based drawings are finely tuned and skillfully rendered, with a focus on line and tone. His sketches are posted on Instagram for very affordable prices. We had just hired him at the League …
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[vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” width=”1/1″ tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][vc_column_text]I happened upon this glorious Instagram post, in which Alex Kanevsky compliments a “beautifully painted boob.” The most beautifully painted boob in the world belonged to the Benefit Supervisor sleeping on an armchair. In itself it might not conform …
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One year ago in March, to protect our students and teachers from a new coronavirus, the Seattle Artist League moved our classes online. The virus was declared a national emergency, and we went into quarantine. We have now been in quarantine for thirteen months. Through this year, we have met each other online to draw, …