When I first signed up for figure drawing class at a local art school nearby, I didn't realize that we'd be drawing the nakedest people on earth. I thought they were clothed!
That's naive, I know, but I just thought we were going to learn about skeletons, musculature arrangements and proportions.
At the first class, when the instructor broke the news that every week we'd be drawing from a different live nude model-- I was the only surprised one. I'm too immature to handle nakedness appropriately.
After class I ran home and told my boyfriend, "Hey guess what! We're going to be drawing NAKED people in class can you believe it?"
"Can I come?" he asked.
"It's a full class," I said, wondering about the possibility of sex offenders infiltrating the classroom and trying to remember if any of my classmates looked like possible sex offenders. None of them stuck out as potential sex offenders.
"Wait," he said, smartening up. "Naked guys or naked girls?"
"Well they alternate the models each week," I tell him.
"I only want to come on the girl nights," he said.
I wondered if he'd be any good at drawing but then I remembered the time he tried to draw us on a card using stick figures. He ended up getting too frustrated and then scribbled out the limbs but wrote an explanatory note with an arrow that said, "those are fingers" because you honestly couldn't tell.
So for the next few weeks I went to figure drawing class on Tuesday nights and drew naked people with charcoal and pencils.
It was so awkward for me at first! I felt so rude drawing the nipples and penises of complete strangers. And the most awkward part of the whole thing is that I'm the only one in the room who feels weird about it. Everyone else is so mature and blase. I can't even say the word poop without giggling.
Here's how it works: The model comes into the class, whips off the clothing, turns on a timer and a space heater and takes a naked pose as the teacher arranges the spotlights above to bring out the highlights and shadows.
Then, you set to work scrutinizing this stranger's completely naked body and trying to make it look realistic on your paper.
What's amazing is that the models hold the pose for 10 or 20-minute increments. I can't even hold a yoga pose for 2 full minutes without aching in agony.
The models take breaks in between and join the students as we walk around the room. Then we all judge each other's drawings to see how good we are at drawing and who's the best artist in the room. At least that's what I'm doing when I'm walking around. I'm usually somewhere in the middle.
Obviously all the artists have different levels of ability and different drawing styles so the images look wildly different depending upon who drew it.
I always wonder what the model thinks of the drawings. Are they offended when someone draws them really short or if the artist accidentally gives them a humongous head? Would I be offended if someone drew my penis too small? Not that I have one of course.
To combat my awkwardness, I tried to start saying hello and chatting with the (clothed) models before class as they waited for everyone to arrive but that only made things worse for me.
I'm neurotic. Eye contact freaks me out sometimes.
Especially because when I'm feeling anxious all I'm really trying to do is project the exact opposite. So here I am trying to act cool as a cucumber all the while wishing the model would look somewhere else so I can draw her damn boob without her watching me do it.
That's when the instructor comes over, surveys the drawing I'm working on and taps his finger to his lips in disapproval saying, "You really need to start developing this area," as he gestures to the blank spot on my paper where her vagina and lower body should be.
He takes the charcoal from my hand and starts broadly blocking out the body parts saying, "Look for the lights and darks." He erases my nipple, pointing to where it should be, then says, "Try to see the interior shapes in her body."
I'm upset because I'll have to draw the nipple again.
That's naive, I know, but I just thought we were going to learn about skeletons, musculature arrangements and proportions.
At the first class, when the instructor broke the news that every week we'd be drawing from a different live nude model-- I was the only surprised one. I'm too immature to handle nakedness appropriately.
After class I ran home and told my boyfriend, "Hey guess what! We're going to be drawing NAKED people in class can you believe it?"
"Can I come?" he asked.
"It's a full class," I said, wondering about the possibility of sex offenders infiltrating the classroom and trying to remember if any of my classmates looked like possible sex offenders. None of them stuck out as potential sex offenders.
"Wait," he said, smartening up. "Naked guys or naked girls?"
"Well they alternate the models each week," I tell him.
"I only want to come on the girl nights," he said.
I wondered if he'd be any good at drawing but then I remembered the time he tried to draw us on a card using stick figures. He ended up getting too frustrated and then scribbled out the limbs but wrote an explanatory note with an arrow that said, "those are fingers" because you honestly couldn't tell.
So for the next few weeks I went to figure drawing class on Tuesday nights and drew naked people with charcoal and pencils.
It was so awkward for me at first! I felt so rude drawing the nipples and penises of complete strangers. And the most awkward part of the whole thing is that I'm the only one in the room who feels weird about it. Everyone else is so mature and blase. I can't even say the word poop without giggling.
Here's how it works: The model comes into the class, whips off the clothing, turns on a timer and a space heater and takes a naked pose as the teacher arranges the spotlights above to bring out the highlights and shadows.
Then, you set to work scrutinizing this stranger's completely naked body and trying to make it look realistic on your paper.
What's amazing is that the models hold the pose for 10 or 20-minute increments. I can't even hold a yoga pose for 2 full minutes without aching in agony.
The models take breaks in between and join the students as we walk around the room. Then we all judge each other's drawings to see how good we are at drawing and who's the best artist in the room. At least that's what I'm doing when I'm walking around. I'm usually somewhere in the middle.
Obviously all the artists have different levels of ability and different drawing styles so the images look wildly different depending upon who drew it.
I always wonder what the model thinks of the drawings. Are they offended when someone draws them really short or if the artist accidentally gives them a humongous head? Would I be offended if someone drew my penis too small? Not that I have one of course.
To combat my awkwardness, I tried to start saying hello and chatting with the (clothed) models before class as they waited for everyone to arrive but that only made things worse for me.
I'm neurotic. Eye contact freaks me out sometimes.
Especially because when I'm feeling anxious all I'm really trying to do is project the exact opposite. So here I am trying to act cool as a cucumber all the while wishing the model would look somewhere else so I can draw her damn boob without her watching me do it.
That's when the instructor comes over, surveys the drawing I'm working on and taps his finger to his lips in disapproval saying, "You really need to start developing this area," as he gestures to the blank spot on my paper where her vagina and lower body should be.
He takes the charcoal from my hand and starts broadly blocking out the body parts saying, "Look for the lights and darks." He erases my nipple, pointing to where it should be, then says, "Try to see the interior shapes in her body."
I'm upset because I'll have to draw the nipple again.