Initially I had some difficulty with this as what I envisaged in my head was different in reality.
The first attempt was therefore quite lame (first image below) – even the position adopted was not very dynamic. I was more successful when I actually showed my model examples from the text book of what was sought and he helped in coming up with a pose which was almost in mid flow of movement (second image below).
Although I was happier with the second image I felt I could gain more, and therefore asked my model to make the full range of movement whilst I took several photos. I consider this to be cheating somewhat, but in reviewing those photos I was able then to produce the sketch below which I felt was much more dynamic.
I was most happy with my use of shading and blurring to help show the reach back as well as potential movement of the model. I’m a bit disappointed that I used photographs to aid this exercise, but I think it was in fact a good combination of both live observation and photography that produced the best result.
Deborah McAulay 