Drawing Crowe, telling jokes

Crowe is always a great model to draw. And he tells lots of jokes throughout the sketch session. I never remember jokes, but today I made it a point to remember one.

Every sketch session begins with a bunch of one and five minute poses, and then a 15 minute pose which I captured here in chalk and charcoal on toned paper.

And then it was time for the long pose, broken up into 20 minute sessions. Instead of working on a long piece, I did a piece a session today, all of the same pose. This one in chalk.

And then one in watercolor using that Rosemary & Co. Dagger brush that I’m loving so much. Thank you, Liz: that brush has been my best gift ever! Between gifts from my artist friends and being inspired by their work and tools there is so much to learn and play with. The line in the piece below is done with a Stabilo CarbOthello Pencil which when used over wet paint gives you such a fun, juicy line. If you know Lynne Chapmann’s work, you’ll know this pencil well!

Here’s that last pose again. I usually draw more of the figure, but wanted to crop in and draw just some of it this time. So I first did a quick outline contour to think about the negative shape on the paper and then used it, loosely, to compose the other two pieces.

Oh, and that joke I remembered goes something like this:

A photon walks into a hotel. The guy at the front desk says, “Welcome! Can we help you with your luggage?” The photon says, “No thanks, I’m traveling light.”