This is a great exchange!
I started teaching a new course yesterday called Figure Drawing: Part by Part. We are narrow focusing and obsessing, then broadening to wider areas of drawing. I am taking a dialectic approach, so from very academic to contemporary methods to copying figures from other traditions.
Yesterday we focused on the eyes.
First we copied 3 from Bargue drawings.
Then, we set up 2 rows of chairs facing each other, did blind contour drawings staring into each others eyes. After 3 minutes, everyone rotated one chair to the left. Then drew again. We repeated this until they had drawn a wide number of others eyes and started to come away with observations.
Next we rotated one row of chairs to be perpendicular, took turns drawing partners in profile. Then mixed partners and drew again.
After this, everyone drew their own eyes in a mirror.
Finally, we copied with ink and brush from a Chinese ink painting copy book of eyes, and looked at the work of Lea Bontecuo, which inspired some to draw interpretations from their earlier drawings.
The other thing I am encouraging is a daily sketchbook. So, they start by gluing in on the left hand side pages of the sketch book some quick thing to copy, or they write something in. None of these should be too ambitious to start, just something they can easily complete on a daily basis, and something that they won't avoid doing. If they want to take more time, they can repeat it. They do this on 7 pages at the beginning of the week. Emphasize that they don't need to go in order, and that they can return to them if they like. The idea is to establish a "habit" of drawing, which is where they will find their own voice.
Please comment!
Patty