Sketchbook 37: Basic Inquiry & Mutek Forum

Apr 27, 2025 · sketchbook

Lines racing across paper, bodies captured in moments of stillness, color washing through form - the beautiful rush of life drawing

There's something electric about live drawing sessions. The pressure of limited time, the silent concentration in the room, and the strange intimacy of studying another human being so intently. These sketches come from recent sessions at Basic Inquiry and at the Mutek Forum, executed with a combination of charcoal and alcohol markers.

I've often heard people insist that to draw the figure properly, you need a comprehensive knowledge of anatomy - muscles, bones, proportions. While there's value in that knowledge, I've come to believe something simpler: the painting is already done by the light. We're just copying what we see - the shadows defining form, the highlights catching on edges, the midtones creating volume.

When I focus on simply recording the light as it plays across the subject, the anatomy takes care of itself. The body makes sense because light makes sense. Those moments when the model shifts into a particularly striking pose - spine arched, limbs extended - become studies not in anatomical knowledge but in how light reveals form.

The alcohol markers bring their own challenges and joys - the colors bleeding slightly, the inability to erase, the way they capture a gesture in one fluid stroke. I find them particularly suited to these brief poses, where the goal isn't perfection but energy.

Half of these were caught on the move, the subject never knowing. The trick is to look more than you draw and keep the pen going when the pose breaks.

I keep the rough ones in on purpose. A sketchbook that only shows the polished work is lying about how it was made.

Some of these took thirty seconds, some took an evening. You can usually tell which is which, and that contrast is the whole point of the book.

Switching tools mid-page keeps the hand curious — ink one day, soft graphite the next, a ballpoint when nothing else is in reach.

The French speakers at Mutek Forum (captured in these red line drawings) added another dimension to the practice - the challenge of capturing someone in motion, speaking passionately, gesturing to emphasize points. Here the focus shifts from careful observation to rapid recording, letting intuition guide the pen.