Struggles with figures: Life drawing part 3

Having spent all day locked in the studio trying to catch up on some still life work and with rain and gales rattling the windows, I almost talked myself out of going to life class this week, but eventually reminded myself that at the very least I was going to fill a sketchbook (at the rate I'm now working on larger sheets, that may take some time).

I found it very difficult to settle this time, and my first couple of attempts definitely lacked a certain anything.

My first attempt took several attempts to get the mass of the right leg vaguely accurate, and I couldn't get to grips with the overall proportions. I also found the model's long hair really interrupted the lines of the neck and shoulders and made it far more difficult to get these correct.

The second attempt was a little better although I haven't really got the sense of her sitting on the block- she appears to be levitating slightly. I decided to change to larger paper for the next pose.

This was a lot better although I still fell into my usual trap of not getting the feet placed correctly. On the plus side, I managed not to fall off the page while fitting the model to the picture plane.

I was rather relieved to make a good fist of this fourth pose, although I now see as I write that the half hidden leg suggests a rather fatter shape than it should be. By this time I had also realised that the model's bone structure was showing clearly and that I should capitalise on this to describe the form of the body.

Everthing went downhill again with this one, though, while there are several parts which look pretty good they are all too disjointed or out of proportion to add up to a whole.

This second standing pose was also off, and I concentrated on getting the twist of the torso right.

The reclining pose which followed was one I should have liked to have a longer time for. I opted to work in white conte and charcoal to emphasise the tonal shapes on the foreshortened torso. I felt it was coming together quite well when I ran out of time!

I came similarly unstuck on the next pose, where I found it very difficult to get the bunched muscles in the bent knee, and spent too long trying to rectify this that the rest of the drawing suffered from inattention.

Consequently the hips are too wide, the arms too thin, the head misshapen- I could go on but I'm sure the reader can see the faults for themselves!

Finally, I rather liked this study of her back, but wished I had managed to fit it on the page as it is a really good pose which could be worked up into a painting.

Overall it was a rather frustrating night, although I was not the only one struggling to get into the flow. I felt that I could have got much more from it had I not been bogged down by trying to get the overall picture- and as a result I think I will concentrate on particular sections of the body next week if I find something particularly appealing or interesting, rather than always trying to draw the entire pose.