I've been hitting the Cleveland Institute Of Art's wednesday drawing group for years, although it doesn't happen with enough regularity anymore. Fifteen bucks gets you 2 hours of a naked (or nearly naked) person to draw from. The room isn't air conditioned, There's no instruction. and the lighting is piss poor compared to the time I spent at the Academy Of Art, but I'll take it. There's nothing more cathartic than you, a model, and some heavy metal.
The last pose is always an hour and a half, and it's really pushed me to a new level. Before and even during school, I always drew just enough to get by, and then I'd run out the clock before it got too hard. I didn't get into this art nonsense to work hard, after all. With this longer format, I've got no choice but to do something with the time. I wish I would have done it sooner, because it's the most rewarding thing I do nowadays.
I've been working with this format for a little over a year (the previous instructor preferred short poses), and I think in the coming months I'm going to switch to a heartier paper. While the price is right on newsprint, I've honestly only stuck with it to not give my work too much importance. You never have to explain a mistake on newsprint, because it can always hide under the guise of a "sketch"
While I've got a lot to learn, and a ton to grow, I feel like these are drawings that I'll want to keep for a while. Hopefully to look back at how much I've grown in the coming years.
