Smoking Figure part 10

I got to the Studio this afternoon and found it full of people- Molly was just finishing up a class with a group of Girl Scouts and had neglected to warn me in advance. While the girls were pulling their final prints and cleaning up, I ate my lunch and was ready to work. At first I had expected that I would begin coloring the third proof of the shower room print, at least the stuff that I was sure about, but there was too much activity in the room for me to set up all that. So I went with the other option- getting back to work on my smoking block.

I have known for a long time that there were issues with the face, especially the nose. What I had drawn was a very nice nose, but it was a little small for the face, and not centered between the eyes. It needed fixing, but it's not too easy to erase ink on the wood, so the goal is to fix as little as possible and still make it work. So I just traced the line of the nose (bridge to tip) and just moved it over a quarter inch or so. Adjusted the nostril location accordingly. After studying a photo of the model in the pose I came up with another change, the contour of the cheek on the right side. In the earlier version the furthest out point on the curve was near the cheekbone, but I noticed that it should really be further down, more on the level of the tip of the nose. I tried the correction on a piece of masking tape. Much better- the less sharp contour takes away some of the extra age the drawing had given the model. The result can be seen above.

I've shown this block in multiple critiques and to individuals, and while almost everyone likes the drawing of the figure, so far no one sees the figure as an employee on a smoking break outside based on just the drawing itself. However, that is the point of this piece, and I want it to come across without requiring viewers to read the title. One idea that I've been considering for months is giving her a name tag, since pretty much people only wear name tags when at work. What I've seen most is ID's worn around the neck on lanyards, so I'm trying that idea first. Last time she was in the studio I had the model put on the same blouse and an ID lanyard and got a few reference photos. Had a sketch of that with me today. To see how that would work out I used strips of scrap paper taped to the block. A finished version would not stand out as much as this bright white paper on the natural wood, but it shows about where the lanyard would drape on her. On the positive side, I think it would clear up all the confusion about the subject. On the other hand, I'm not crazy about the way it cuts through all the horizontal lines of the torso and arm. The other option would be name tag pinned to the upper chest. I'll try one of those next time.

Made some other minor adjustments, all in the area of the skirt. A lot of people have been seeing it as a pair of shorts, probably a combination of where the bottom of the block cuts off and a heavy dark line that extended far up from the hem line. I can't erase it, but a little fine grit sandpaper lightened it enough to see what effect eliminating it would have. I will keep the results in mind when it's time to cut the block.