Cossetta Seated Print

Italian dancer, Cossetta, would grace us not only with her vibrant personality and her own personal music library as we drew, but also some wonderfully poised poses. Here, in a 25 minute seated pose viewed slightly from below, she raises her right leg to rest the foot on her left knee and holds it with the same side hand, looking intently forward. The pose has a very powerful but at the same time graceful feel to it. The piece is done with a mixture of black gouache mixed with brown acrylic, and colured acrylics on brown, textured craft paper (the reverse side of which is smooth). I used the gouache for sketching out the figure and then I worked over the top with the acrylic to add some skin tone, going back in with the gouache a lot to add strong shadows and create contrast. I love using gouache for this as with a dry brush effect you can vary the tone of the shadows, and here the lighting was so strong that it was vital for chiaroscuro - emphasising the contrast by darkening the shadows nearest to the light. The shadows themselves were very hot and so I used deep oranges and browns to imply this. The final touch of adding the white behind the model really pops her forward and emphasizes the contrast. It was done at the Wednesday evening Life Drawing sessions held at Illumination Mac Guff, Paris, where I worked as a Character Animator for over three and a half years. The studio is known for such films as Despicable Me, Minions, The Secret Life of Pets and The Lorax. The room that was used was extremely tiny and it was a challenge to work so closely to the model, but the slight upward view really adds to the poses strength. All of my figure drawings are from life - no photos were used at any point in their fabrication. The model is in front of you and you have a definite amount of time to get down as much information as you can or see fit. Because of this, each drawing is truly unique and a complete one of a kind, containing a spontaneity that can never be duplicated through photo inspired drawings/paintings. For more pieces with Cossetta, and other great Parisian based models, please take a look through my personal work.

Print:Giclee on Fine Art Paper

Size:9 W x 12 H x 0.1 D in

Size with Frame:14.25 W x 17.25 H x 1.2 D in

Delivery Time:Typically 5-7 business days for domestic shipments, 10-14 business days for international shipments.