The Ryder Studio – Day 7

Copyright 2011, Anthony Ryder

The Ryder Studio

Day 7

Santa Fe, New Mexico

On the seventh day at The Ryder Studio we learned about noses.  Just look at the detail in the picture above that can be seen on the nose!  Amazing!

Noses, in general, are wider into the forehead.

A nose has shadows that run at right angles to the direction of the light.

Nostrils are not drawn as exhaust pipes…o o

The tip of the nose has a furrow in it.

The nose is a projection of the skull.  It turns with the head.  The turned portion of the nose is far shorter than the side closest to you.  There is no contour to the opening on the far side.

People like lines because it creates ownership.  Do not fence the shadows of the nose in.  ie; the nostrils

The mouth is a spherical form.  Roundness comes up to meet the bottom of the nose.   There is a slight curve at the bottom of the nose as it sits on the top of the lip.  The philtrum has sub-forms.  The philtrum is wider at the top, toward the nose.

Do not draw a fence around the nose highlight.

Pay attention to shadow shapes and form shapes.

Form is a shape.  Shadows have shapes that form from the shape of the form.

Think of the nose as an upside down tree.  It has roots going up into the eyebrow areas, way up into the forehead.

Copyright 2011, Anthony Ryder 

The eye is built from the same kind of rhythms coming out of the nose.

The nose is kind of knit into the head.

The light side of the nose has light shadows.  Do not make them dark!

Do not overmodel…learn how to integrate the forms into the drawing by being subtle.

Think of the head as a bus and the features are like passengers on the bus.  Wherever the head goes, the features go too.

Something to keep in mind…Draw the light on the form and not the skin pigment.

The Ryder Studio – Day 6

Copyright 2011, Anthony Ryder

 

The Ryder Studio

Day 6

Santa Fe, New Mexico

Day 6 began the second week of studying with Anthony Ryder at The Ryder Studio!  This week proved to fly by in a hurry.  Now that I’m home and trying to draw from a live model, I find that I still have a lot to learn.

On Day 6, we learned how to draw eyes.  Anthony Ryder began the day by reminding us that the eye is basically a hollow sphere.

 

Copyright 2011, Anthony Ryder

The upper eyelashes are thicker than the bottom eyelashes.

From the side view, the triangle shape of the eyelids are foreshortened.  The more the person is turned away, the more foreshortened the feature.

Things to think of when drawing -

-  The upper lid catches the light.

- The downward facing surface of the upper eyelid is dark, (rounding down).

- The upper side of the bottom eyelid is light.

-The upper eyelid is casting a shadow on the eye surface.

- Highlight is toward the light source on the upper part of the pupil.

-The lower part of the iris will have a smaller highlight.

-The highlight on the pupil (closest to the light source) has a slight anti-halo around it, (sitting on the cornea).

 

Copyright 2011, Anthony Ryder

 

I learned a new term – truncate – to remove part of a geometric shape.   Now I can’t remember why I learned it!  Guess I need to go back to the studio…

It is very important to get the shape of the eye correctly.  It gives the position of the head.

When drawing the highlight of the eye, put a little fence around it.  The highlight “floats” in the dark space of the pupil.  The highlight is the only part of the portrait that he puts a fence around.

“Iris” is the Greek word for rainbow.

The bottom of the top eyelid line is the “porch”.  The eyelid is the “roof”.

The upper eyelid is non-parallel.

Check the angles of the facial plane very carefully.

When setting the eyes on the head, the width of the bridge of the nose- there is a funnel shape from the forehead to the bridge of the nose.

The term “terminator” is the form shadow edge of a shape.

Notice the spinning around shape of the head.

The upper eyelid curves down into itself.  It creates a soft edge.  The nose edge is almost another form.  You will see this in the photo at the top of this post.

The shape of the light is the critical part of the drawing.  Kind of like the beef of the hamburger.

The curve is inside of the beautiful shapes.

The pathways of the human form are like flowing curving movements of music.

Celeste Ryder sat with me in the afternoon while I was drawing.  She gave me some helpful tips.  When drawing the nostril, tuck in the shadow.  Ask yourself where is the shadow and where is the light on the form?  They eyeball is sitting on the inside of the eyelids.  Wrap shapes around and marry it to the form.

The Ryder Studio – Day 5

“We don’t have to be superheroes to have an incredible experience as an artist.” – Anthony Ryder

Copyright 2011, Anthony Ryder

Day 5

The Ryder Studio

Santa Fe, New Mexico

By the 5th day in class, the demonstration that Anthony Ryder was working on began to take shape.   The hair became life-like.

Tufts of hair come out of the forehead.  To draw hair this way, you need to work on the negative drawing.  Toned paper works best when drawing hair.

Draw what you see.  Draw the fuzzy edges.  Don’t draw what you “know” is there.

A strand of hair has a fullness about it.

Multiple hair strands are a little like the Blue Ridge mountains, going off in the distance.

When you draw the parting of the hair, you can draw it kind of like a valley.

The line and the light need to agree.

The funny overlap and gaps are what you need to look for when drawing hair.

To make the tonal direction of the hair, go across the grain of hair.

When drawing ears, watch for the movement within the ear.  The way the ear functions is kind of like a radar dish or trumpet.

When drawing the nose, the highlights of the nose are no fly zones.

Anthony & Celeste Ryder studied under Ted Seth Jacobs while learning the technique of drawing light on form.  Ted was born in 1927 and studied during WWII.  Ted created restructured realism. 

Ted Seth Jacobs has written several books.  Drawing with an Open Mind is one that has been popular with artists.  He has a new one that I would someday hope to have in my library, The Dictionary of Human Form. 

I had finally moved past the block-in stages of drawing into the shading.  We had worked on “Cheryl” for two afternoons.  Here is what I accomplished during that time.

Copyright 2011, Valerie Jones

The Ryder Studio – Day 4

Copyright 2011, Anthony Ryder

“The human body is like a symphony.” – Anthony Ryder

Day Four

The Ryder Studio

Santa Fe, New Mexico

On the fourth day at The Ryder Studio, we learned a lot about the whole drawing process.

Draw the nose using very minute details. Draw moment by moment. Minute details are used to capture the likeness of the model.

Don’t draw exact lines parallel to the other lines. Pay attention.

The teeth are a portion of a sphere. Think of the mouth being a section of an orange.

Don’t put as much focus in your drawings. Think of how Vemeer captured the likeness without too many details.

Create soft edges, not hard edges.

The Florentine and Renaissance masters had complete drawings of a subject before putting them onto canvas.

Anthony Ryder has always been drawn to softness of the Florentine style.

Pay attention to the distribution of light across the form.

Light doesn’t stop – it continues on across the form.

Think of the tear ducts as being part of the nose.

Take time, slow down, and enjoy the process. Drawing is not mindless creativity, as some people think. Every form on the surface of the body is unique. Every pencil stroke is thought out, it is not mindless.

If you just draw value change, you don’t get the shape of the form. Think pixels.

Star Bracelet & Necklace

Star Bracelet, 8”, $45 US Dollars

Due to extreme enjoyment at The Ryder Studio, I decided to start a fund to help with tuition costs so I can attend the summer class in 2012.  To help with the funding, I am making jewelry.

This set of a bracelet and necklace is made from light pink, purple plum, and jade green colors strung with Wildfire thread.  It comes to you with a star design.

 

Star Necklace, 22” $60 US Dollars

Star Close-up View

If you are interested in purchasing one or both of these items for yourself, a friend, or your spouse, you may do so in my store.

The Ryder Studio – Day 3

Copyright 2011, Anthony Ryder

Day Three

The Ryder Studio

Santa Fe, New Mexico

On the third day at The Ryder Studio, we learned about hair and ears.

We learned to pay attention to where the hair sits on the edge of the face. Do not merge it into the side of the face. This will flatten the image.

In a painting, what touches us the most is the feeling of depth.

The better we understand the subject, the better artist we become.

Give the subject more “brain” capacity. Don’t make the head too small.

At this point, I made a note to myself. What I learned in the first three days was that the first block-in and shading will not be perfect. Adjustments are necessary and that is okay.

When adjustments are necessary, call in the ear moving company or whatever company assists in what needs moved!

Ears are tilted out, not straight up and down on the face.

The rim of the ear has variations in width.

It doesn’t take any longer to draw something the way it looks than it takes to draw a simple shape.

The parts of the face are not separate (like Mr. Potato Head). They are all integrated into the face.

When drawing hair, draw first the gradation, then the strands.

Ellipse has a flattest part and a most curved part.

Do not overly define areas that are not definite to us. Draw what you see!

Let go of the perfect perception.

Leave some areas of the paper untouched for the brightest highlights.