The Collective Nude

The Collective Nude

December 2021 - 2022

The Collective has been meeting weekly since 2009. Each week, a different member hosts. The sessions last three hours, with poses between 1 and 30 minutes. At the end of the session, we pass around our sketchbooks. 

My work within The Collective ranges from the conventional to the experimental. During Covid-19, the group met via Zoom sessions. We are now back in session for life drawing. I am… derustifying.

Visit years past. Archieved content includes life drawing and Covid Zoom portraits.

Green and Pink

One perfect model

Loved the night. The company was great. The cookies were first rate. And the model was stunning to draw and excellent company. Sometimes life just works out. Brought a green and pink set of markers and a pad of squared paper. Started with pencil though and worked my way up to the markers as the poses got longer. I like some of the mechanical pencil stuff but the foreshortened green and pinks are my favourites.

Materials: lotto tickets, pen, marker, stolen markers that belong to John, highlighter

Erotic Zoom Collective

A Short Comic on Voyeurism

I think this is the first Collective I’m deliberately not posting on my FB page. I’ll link in the Collective though. Some great poses but my evening was cut short…

The Book of Erika

Mixed Media

For this book, I mixed tracing paper and good quality paper so I could layer the images and create some depth. It sometimes worked. I like the overlay with the orange cover paper best, as it creates a fleshy tone. I used Crayola skin tone colours, pen, and sharpie for the drawing. The good quality paper had a lot of tooth so the effect is rough on those pages. Still, I like these pages. I’ll make another book with tracing paper. 

Book of Envelopes

Interactive Iris

This little book is interactive, with envelopes to open and scraps of neon (they scan dull) paper inside. It felt right that the model just so happens to be a ridiculously talented creative. It felt like a good fit of materials and subject. Whether the drawings do their subject justice… 

This week, right off the bat, the scrap images on the ones are my favourite. The later images are more interesting but I enjoy line work above all else and ose are the strongest. Other pages have better compositions, certainly, but for drawing alone, the scrap ones are stronest. Maybe the 15 and the 10 Remainder as well. 

The Book of Valencia

Painted Cover, pen, white pencil crayon, brown craft paper, whiteout pen

Val was easy to draw. Her poses and expressions were natural and beautiful. I like these materials as well. I invested in a better white pencil crayon. Kinda sad that the whiteout pen broke so early on. I like the effect it had but not the complete lack of control. Actual white out would take too long to dry though, and gel pens aren’t as reliable as pencil crayon. I think I’ll be leaning into pencil crayon after this. Nicer pencil crayons aren’t expensive and the look fantastic on brown paper.

The Book of Jennifer

Painted Cover, Aluminum tape, Paper, pen, marker

Another Life Drawing Book. I didn’t love every picture this week but they were all fun to draw and I really like these pages. The cover is its own thing but I like it.

Crystal and MAri

A Book of Nudes

Waxed thread, Neon pink printer paper, green construction paper, painters tape, black electrical tape, sharpie, mechanical pencil.

Life Drawing in Tape

Aluminum tape, construction paper, Painters Tape, and sharpies, pen

Pre-made some backgrounds and spent 2.5 hours drawing but still just a few images. Mixed Media takes time. But I still think I need to be cutting and taping during the session. The immediacy of the session pushes me. The egotistical desire to have something to show for the pass around… 

The first piece was very much inspired by #stanfraydas and his book Professional Cartooning. The second was inspired by drop shadows. I love the idea of faking depth.

Mixed Media Nudes

Aluminum tape, painting sample colours, construction paper, thread, and sharpies

So exhausted this past week AND I have a commission coming up. So I made something creative instead of doing the art I’m supposed to be doing. Good model but I don’t think I spent more than 40 minutes of the 150 actually drawing her.

Back to Nudes

Best of Session

Great session from the model. For once, I didn’t draw every pose. I kept working on some of these. These four are my favourites.

Rest of Session

And here are the rest, from the pictures I made on the subway ride up through the ones and twos, to the final 15s. The last 15 was a 30, now that I think about it. I cut off the top of her head. Too much generic face and not enough accuracy. For whatever reason, I didn’t manage to really get the model’s face. Sometimes it’s like that with beautiful models. I think I got her best in “Collective in Person Two 1” but maybe not. The “Picasso” got the pass around shout outs. And John argued that “Fail” wasn’t a fail. He’s wrong, as usual. 😉

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