Slavica Shares The Creative Process Behind Her Life Drawings

What is Life Drawing you may ask?

Also known as 'figure drawing', it's an art form that represents the human shape in all its postures.

We had a conversation with Slavica to learn about the inspiration behind her collection Life Drawings, her process and the mediums she uses to create her art.

What inspires your life drawings?

The beauty of the human form in it's most natural state. My aspiration is for people to relate to and identify with this through my art and embrace their own beauty.

What's your process before you begin drawing?

I take a moment to observe the light on the figure, shadows, forms, angles, face and the hands as they're all important elements for me to convey a story and mood. I look at the model to see if it's an interesting pose. If not, I move, change position and search for a better angle. I know if a painting/drawing is going to work and that I’ll be happy with the artwork before I start to draw.

What medium do you enjoy using for your Life Drawings?

I love using pastels, charcoal, and lead pencil when doing nudes. These mediums allow me to work quickly as some of the poses only last for a few minutes. Unless it is long pose, there is no time to mix the paints or wait for them to dry. By using the side of the pastel or charcoal I can make broad strokes to cover a large area; press harder to get a deeper tone and create shadows, rub back or erase to create highlights. Pastels and charcoal are very versatile I can create contour lines and fine detail if I want by using the tip.

Your wooden case of pastels has a lot of character, talk us through your tool box

Pastels in particular also allow me to introduce colour to the drawing. They are also great to travel with and ideal for Plein air sketching. I treasure my Faber-Castell wooden case that I've had for over 30 years. It houses these beautiful pastels many of which are worn down into tiny little pieces. Once they are too small to draw with, I crush them and use them to cover/colour the background. I then can draw over or rub/erase back to the white of the paper to suggest the light source, create form and depth.

When time allows, I use mixed mediums, a combination of pastels and charcoal and acrylics, or glue strips of paper to add texture to create semi-abstract pieces.

View Slavica's collection of original Life Drawing's.

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