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.