Draw-A-Thon

On Saturday the High School of Art and Design held a Draw-A-Thon fundraiser. We had a nice turnout of NYC Urban Sketchers at the event. As in previous years once you pay the admission you are given a wristband which is color coded. One color has access to both rooms and the other is for underage students who cannot enter the "nude" room without a parent. 

I started off sketching in the room with the nude models. There were usually 5 models posing at the same time. One was in the same pose for the entire 9 hours, but a few do much shorter poses. This model started with short 5 minute poses but quickly moved up to 15/20 minute poses.

Then she was joined by another model.

This was the model that held the same position for the entire day. I couldn't pass up sketching her hair

...it was wonderful!

Then I moved to the second room which had costumed models. I got there just in time for a long break for the models so I started sketching the sketchers in front of me. When the models resumed posing I added them.

My friend and I were there from about 10:30 to 4:30. If it wasn't such a long ride home we probably would have stayed until it ended...and joined the pizza party that is held at the end of the day.

Draw-A-Thon

 As a fundraiser the High School of Art & Design in NYC holds a Draw-A-Thon each year. From 10 - 7 there are 2 rooms filled with nude or costumed models. You pay your admission and sketch away for as long as you like. The NYC Urban Sketchers take part in this event even though it is NOT urban sketching.

I started out in the nude room. There were 5/6 stations with models posing. It has been a long time since I drew nude models and I have to say I felt very rusty with the proportions of the human body. The models were great...and so were the sketchers. I worked in a variety of media...some more successful than others. Here are a few of my sketches.

I sketched in graphite.

I tried one in watercolor.

I did one in water-soluble ink and included some of the sketchers. The room (their gym) is kept really warm for the models. All of a sudden we noticed our model start to sway. She nearly passed out from the heat! People got her seated and brought her lots of cold water. After that she only posed sitting down. I was midway through sketching her...just down to her boot tops when it happened so I had to finish her legs from memory.

After lunch I moved into the costumed room. There were people in a variety of odd costumes but I liked this one the best. I am sure she was from some show or program but I have no idea of who she was supposed to be. I originally did this as a broader sketch but realized that my body proportions were so off that I cropped out most of her arms. I find I make the heads of the models too large for their bodies.

Lunch time came along and I sketched one of the sketchers in the room before returning to the nude room.

The model I had been sketching earlier was gone and two models were posing together on that platform.  The guy was so tall and skinny that I really had trouble with his body proportions. The woman had a lot of tattoos which were fun to draw.

I had gone in with my friend, Suzala and we lasted from about 11 - 5 ... not a bad day of sketching.

Draw-A-Thon

Twice a year the High School of Art and Design in Manhattan has a Draw-A-Thon as a fundraiser and the NYC Urban Sketchers usually attend. It starts at 9 AM and ends at 5 PM. There are two large rooms set up with models. One has nudes and the other has costumed models. Once you pay your admission you can sketch for as long as you want during those times. It is grueling to sketch that whole time, so my friend, Suzala,  and I got there about noon and sketched until about 4:30.

I started off in the room with the nude models. This one woman captured my attention. She was big and had a shape that was fun to sketch. There were some 2, 5, and 10 minute poses. The first two pages were the quick poses and were done mostly in watercolor pencils and are very light so they don't show all that well.

These were done with my Elegant Writer pen and each was a 10 minute pose.

Then I moved into the cafeteria where the costumed models were posing. This particular model held the same pose all day so that people could do a complete painting of her. She had great dreadlocks. This probably took me about an hour.

Next I sketched the people around me in the room as well as the two other models who were doing what I believe were 15 minute poses. The one in the black and white on the left did several costume changes but the one more toward the middle I only saw in one outfit.

Draw-A-Thon Part 2

The Draw-A-Thon at the High School of Art and Design has a room of costumed models in addition to the room full of nude models. These are appropriate for any age sketchers. A few of the models were doing short poses, but there were some that were doing the same pose for the day. I would think that as a model that must get boring but these models happily went back to the same pose after a short break and did that all day. 

The models for this sketch really attracted me. They worked so well together and I felt like I was capturing their story. She was so cute and had her headphones tucked under her hair and inside her kimono. Their costumes were really colorful and coordinated well. The only thing that was strange was that they were sitting on a chartreuse green inflatable sofa. lol I probably worked on this for about an hour and a half and was really happy with it. It is about 5 x 7.

There was still time before the event was over so I moved down by another model also in a kimono. The kimono was hard to sketch because it had such a detailed Japanese design on it. I liked the way this one came out too. Again it is about 5 x 7.

The poses ended at 6 pm when pizza was delivered...boxes and boxes of pizza. That is part of your admission...to get pizza for dinner. I think a lot of the people who are there sketching never seem to take a break and have been there since the morning. By 6 pm everyone is starving. Sketching makes you hungry. While everyone eats they do a big raffle for products that they sold tickets for. There were a lot of art materials that were part of the raffle, dinners to restaurants in the city, and this year's grand prize was an iPad. I think this fundraiser made the most money ever for them. It was a lot of fun to do!

Swag Bags and On to the Draw-A-Thon Part 1

I know some of you were wondering what we got in our swag bags from Blick. Let me just say that they were prepared with about 100 bags in case we had a big turnout. Some of the merchandise was from the store itself but Caran d'Ache had their own little bags for us filled with art treasures. I arranged everything we received on my kitchen table this morning. My hubby was impressed with what I came home with. This includes the extras that Caran d'Ache gave us too.

In addition all customers coming into the store had the chance to spin a prize wheel and get a gift ranging from gift cards, paints, sketchbooks, aprons, etc. I got a small set of some kind of acrylic paints that I will gift to some artist that will use them.

After lunch I won a watercolor pad and a set of koi watercolor paints. We shopped at the store for a while and I'm sure they made money off of us since everyone I know that was there bought several things. lol (We never do seem to have enough supplies.) All I know was that my backpack weighed a ton and I had to carry it into the city.

From Brooklyn many of us headed into Manhattan to the Draw-A-Thon at the High School of Art and Design on 56th St. This is one of their big fundraisers. You pay a fee to enter and there are two big rooms with models posing from around 9am until 6pm. One room is strictly nudes and there are 4 areas set up. Two are for long poses and the same pose is held all day long. In the third area the model does mostly quick gesture poses that last from 2 - 10 minutes. The last area the model poses for about 10 minutes each time. I went to that area and sketched for about an hour and a half.

During a short break I started sketching the woman to the left of me who was sketching with her legs resting on a chair. I sketched the model when she posed again but at one point she was down on the platform and I couldn't see her from where I was sitting, so I went back to sketching some of the other people sketching in the room.

When I got tired of the nude models I went to the other room which was much more fun...but that's for tomorrow.

Draw-a-Thon

On Saturday after sketching in Union Square I headed uptown to the High School of Art & Design which was having a Draw-a-Thon fundraiser. Several of the NYC Urban Sketchers were already there since it had started at 10 am. I didn't get  there until about 3:30. I did a few warmup sketches and then did two of the models in their setting in the room. This was the second Draw-a-Thon I've gone to and I didn't get a chance to sketch any of the costumed models since the event winds down at 6 pm when pizza is served and raffles are drawn. It was a fun event!

Draw-A-Thon

Here is the second part of my day last Saturday.

For the last few years the High School of Art and Design in Manhattan has held a Draw-A-Thon as a fundraiser. They have nude and dressed models that are posing from 9 am to 6 pm. Each room probably had 5 models posing at a time. Students, artists, and people in-between come for the day or part of the day. Students have to have parental permission to sketch the nude models who are in a separate room, but the clothed models are available to everyone. Once you pay your admission you are given a band to wear on your wrist and we were free to move from room to room or leave the building for a while and then return. This isn't an actual "NYC Urban Sketching" kind of outing but many of our members came for part or all of the day. We went after Sotheby's and arrived about 3. Some of our members have gone to this in the past but this was my first time attending.

I went to the room with the nudes first. They posed for assorted times, sometimes 5 minutes and sometimes much longer. Here are the nudes I sketched. Most of these (except for the woman) were done with a water soluble graphite pencil.

These were all quick poses so I did them all on one page.

I sketched a few of the artists between poses.

Then I moved to the other room. This character did long poses and always returned to the same pose for those who were doing complete paintings. He was fun in his very interesting outfit.

Then at 6 pm the sketching stops and they bring in free pizza for everyone...It was quite a day!