Degas and the ballet

I visited the Degas and the Ballet exhibition at the Royal Academy in London at the weekend. It was interesting to see Degas' style change towards more muscular and dynamic poses. I drew the sketch below in the gallery from a sculpture - it was near closing time so it was a bit quieter. I finished it on the coach home. I think I've captured something that was in the original. Click to zoom.

Ballet dancer drawings

My favourite model posed for us this week at the Stamford Arts Centre. Maggie is a ballet dancer and teacher, and dressed appropriately in a blue tutu. Only colour would do this justice so I drew three pastel drawings. Two on coloured pastelmat paper and one on white ingres paper. I did some finishing at home, but tried (particularly with the first one) not to lose too much of the spontaneity. The first drawing reminds me of Watteau, which can only be a good thing. I may get theses professionally scanned and proofed to offer as limited edition prints. Watch this space and contact me if you want to pre-order. As usual click image for a larger version.

(c) Mike Todd 2011

(c) Mike Todd 2011

(c) Mike Todd 2011

Dancer drawings - Stamford

We had a beautiful model at the Stamford Art Centre this week, who is a professional ballet dancer. She held poses for 30 mins. Drawings below (click for larger image).

Graphite pencil on Ingres paper (c) Mike Todd 2010

White conte pencil on green Ingres paper (c) Mike Todd 2010

Carbon pencil on Ingres paper (c) Mike Todd 2010

Charcoal pencil on Ingres paper (c) Mike Todd 2010