Carolyn A Pappas

After Michelangelo, graphite in 9 x 12 sketchbook, 1/4/2009

Lately I’ve been feeling a desire to practice my rendering skills in general, and faces in particular, hence all the plain jane graphite drawings. I’m not yet off my graphite kick so prepare yourselves for some more, at least for the time being. I feel like I still have so much to learn. I have been noticing a bit of an improvement however. For example, I have not been using my eraser as much. I take this as a good sign.

For this drawing, I copied from a Michelangelo sculpture, Madonna and Child. This afternoon I was feeling rather uninspired but I still wanted to get some drawing in. Copying the masters seems to be a good way to practice, and it is a well accepted training method. Recently when reading through my blogroll, I came across some other interesting examples:

Here are some examples of interpretations of Vermeer and da Vinci at Skating at the Edge of Infinity.

Here is Ester Wilson’s Bargue study of a man’s arm at her blog Daily Drawings.