Tag Archives: Jon deMartin

Palm Reading

Life drawing has plenty of challenges, but capturing hands has been one of the biggest for me. That said, I really feel that including them in a portrait tells a much fuller story than head and shoulders alone. In many ways, they can be seen as a portrait (or self-portrait) unto themselves.

Several resources that have helped me begin to understand the basic, universal structure of a hand and the intricacies of all its joints and angles, are:

The Human Figure, Life Drawing for Artists by John H. Vanderpoel ©1935
How to Draw Hands – The Ultimate Guide by Matt Fussell, online article
and my personal favorite: The Hand, by Jon deMartin, Drawing Magazine, Winter 2015, order a digital copy here

As with most things, there’s no substitute for practice. And beyond keeping the basic building blocks of palm and fingers in mind, I find the most helpful approach, once the overall gesture and contour have been blocked in, is to forget altogether that I’m drawing a hand and to concentrate instead on breaking down the whole into smaller and smaller components, constantly comparing shape to minuscule shape, while repeatedly looking back-and-forth between multiple landmarks of both positive and negative space. There is just no substitute for comparing placement and size to other elements already drawn. Even though it’s natural to get ahead of yourself, thinking you understand what comes next and where it should be, invariably if you don’t double-check, your work will need to be readjusted.

That’s not to say I don’t have a good kneadable eraser that gets plenty of use, but it’s a strategy that does seem to help achieve a more successful outcome.

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There is still time – barely – to go see Janet Van Fleet’s exhibit “Vanishment” at the Vermont Supreme Court Gallery in Montpelier. It closes on June 28th (today if you’ve received this post via email). If you can somehow squeeze in a visit, you won’t be disappointed. This particular body of Van Fleet’s work addresses the dire impact humans are incurring on other species. Profound yet accessible, it is also visually striking. Read Pamela Polston’s comprehensive review in Seven Days for an overview.

Copycatting

I sorely miss my group life-drawing sessions which have been on hiatus for five weeks. Figuring I didn’t have to factor in drive-time, I had high hopes for all the drawing I would accomplish during those extra hours over the break…wait, what extra hours? In fact, looking back on my recent “free” Mondays, it has become starkly obvious that the structure of a set schedule is a better formula for accomplishment in the long run — for me anyway.

Copy from Studies of Two Apostles and their Hands by Raphael (1483-1520) Hands are my greatest challenge, so that is where I need to concentrate my efforts.

I know I could make much greater leaps in my life-drawing skills if I were able to draw from a model daily for a series of weeks, rather than only once a week for however many months. Unfortunately, that option isn’t available. However, one of my fellow Monday drawing attendees reminded me that there is much to be learned by making copies of master drawings. So that is what I’ve been doing.

Copy of drawings by Abraham Bloemaert (1564-1651)

Considering the garden is popping and there have been plenty of other things vying for attention during my “extra” hours, I haven’t been as diligent as I should have — or certainly to the degree I would have liked. But these images are a few examples of my stabs at practicing, thanks to the work of Raphael, Abraham Bloemaert, and Bernard-Romain Julien. Jon deMartin’s book Drawing Atelier: The Figure is another excellent resource about copying master work. Follow this link for a list of drawing references I’ve mentioned before and am glad to have in my personal library.

Copy of Head of Wounded Soldier by Bernard-Romain Julien (1802-1871)

For another testimonial on the benefits of copying, read this wonderful blog post by Austin Kleon, author of Steal Like an Artist.

Hands-On / Hands-Off

This past week marked the end of the second round of the online Journal Project that I am participating in this year. As a quick reminder, we are a group of 14 artists across the US and in Canada who are creating a 12″ x 12″ interpretation of a one-word prompt every 60 days. You can read more about the project in my post “Creative Yoga”.

This latest challenge was “hands”. My contribution integrates a shadow puppet with American Sign Language (the signs at the bottom of the piece represent “b”, “i”, “r”, & “d”), inspired by watching a sign language interpreter at our annual Town Meeting in March.

I have included images of my hands off and on in my work since college. In many ways, I identify with them as a more apt representation of myself as self-portrait, than I do my face. After all, I only see my face when I look in the mirror, but I watch my hands all day, every day, as they express the core of who I am through the things I make and tend.

Below are a few of the pieces in which my hands have stood in for me in one way or another, pointing toward issues I was moved to express at the time.

No question, hands can be a huge challenge to draw. But I found Jon deMartin’s article/lesson in the Winter 2015 issue of Drawing Magazine to be very informative and a big help. You can buy a back issue, in either in paper or downloadable form, here.

To end on a humorous note, enjoy these links on the subject of hands: You can tell a lot about a woman by her hands and Irish Hand Dancing…or something

Elizabeth Fram

Eye of the Needle

Tag Archives: Jon deMartin

Palm Reading

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Copycatting

Hands-On / Hands-Off