Art Class

So I took an art class this Spring, on illustration, whose last class was today.  There were only 3 people in the class (see last picture) and it was very free-form, and I didn't really know what I wanted out of it, until the teacher, Alla (a nice Russian lady from whom I've taken life-drawing classes before) introduced me to these fancy markers that come in shades of grey (and different KINDS of grey) grade by 10% points from 10 to Black.  Then I rediscovered my love of drawing faces (that has lain dormant lo these 40-odd years).  Observe my progress:

This one's the first one, on 26 March.  It's James Baldwin.  The greys are "cool"

Columbo (AKA Peter Falk).  I really think I caught his likeness, but the cigar disappeared somehow.

Samuel Beckett.  Glasses are hard, and this one looks particularly amateurish, what with the squished head and all.  However it's the first one in "French Greys" which I ordered online.  (More sepia-ish.)

I did this one before the above, still in cool greys.  It's Bessie Smith, but the picture I was working from was too small and blurry.

Now we're into April and I "honoured" Martin Luther King with a portrait on the anniversary of his death.  I like the shadows but his head was a funny shape and his ear ended up tiny.  I remember the film we were watching (all but the first were done at home while watching telly) was "Jabberwocky".

This is probably my fave in terms of not making him look more alien than he does already.  It's Tom Waits.

I think this looks okay, except the hair was way too dark.  It's Billie Holliday.  It doesn't look like her, but at least it looks like a person.

This one's meant to be John Coltrane.  I went overboard on the shadows.  He looks a little bit like Ike Turner.

Iggy Pop.

I didn't have my laptop so I used my album of "Bookends".  Poor Paul Simon got his eyes squished together.

Again, this looks like SOMEONE, just not Cary Grant, whom it is supposed to be.  It''s a bit Leonard Rossiter-y somehow.

This is the main actor in a film called "Fists in the Pocket" from the book that came with our box set of Criterion films.

I realized I hadn't done enough women, mainly because I worry that I make them look unattractive.  So I picked one where that wasn't a problem.  If you've watched Presidential press conferences, you might recognize her.

Now we've switched to "warm" greys, because I used up the 10% and 20% of the French pack.  (Meanwhile they give you 3 blacks and I never use them.) I was really pleased with this one when I finished it, but then I held it up and it's slightly warped.  I think because I draw at an angle on my knees.  Still, it looks like Mifune, at least.  Also I regret the dark corner of his mouth, which was gilding the lily.

We were watching Night of the Hunter, so here's Robert Mitchum.  Again, I think I caught him, but his face looks a bit wonky.

I think it looks like Bogart but it looks, I don't know, cheesy somehow.

Jean Paul Belmondo.  With ever-so-slightly wall eyes.  But compare it with the first one and I think I've made progress.  (However, looking at them all laid out here, I don't feel as proud as I did before.  Maybe they look better on paper.  Anyway - YOU try it - it's HARD!)

Here is Alla's rendition of the three of us.  She nailed us, I fear.  (Although I like my hair - a bit less sparse than reality.)