Tony Ryder Workshop - Part 1

I have included some photos from week 1 of a 2-week Portrait Drawing I am currently taking with Tony Ryder. This has been a pivotal experience for me as an artist; Tony's teachings have helped to fill in some much needed gaps in my understanding of drawing and the structure of living forms. I highly recommend studying with him if you ever get the chance; he is insightful, practical, & remains faithful to the groundbreaking teachings of his former teacher Ted Seth Jacobs.

The first two hours of every day were devoted to a demo by Tony. Here's the progress of the drawing he worked on this week:

(forgive the quality, the first few pictures were taken with my cell phone)

Tony is a master at manipulating graphite. He achieves his atmospheric modeling by describing form with what he calls 'controlled linear fuzz', soft washes of tone applied with minuscule circular motions of the pencil. His approach is Vermeer-like; accurate but optical. Lines are used to describe the beautiful outer contours of forms but are subordinate to the description of the effect of light. Lines are not used when the 'fuzz' can better describe the vagueness of the small undulations in the facial structures. 

Here are some process shots of one of my 2-day drawings from class:

More to come soon! Looking forward to Week 2!