Paying attention

figure drawing and My Chemical Romance

I went to a figure drawing session last week after a very long time. It was great. The model that night started off with 40 second long poses, doing ten of them in a row. After that, she did a 8 minutes long pose, and then took a 15 minutes break. On the second round, she did 8 one minute long poses, then two 4 minutes long ones. After another break, she did one last 8 minutes long pose, and then we were done.

There were more than twenty people drawing, sitting around the model, and after all the drawings we all started to check each other’s sketches, noticing the similarities, the differences, the visual solutions, which materials were used. I drew with a brush, which is my fastest tool. I took some brush pens in case I thought dipping the brush on the ink pot was taking too much time, but in the end it was faster because the ink would flow faster than any other pen.

On the longer drawings, I could notice more details. I could pay a little more attention to the light source, and, in the case of the model, in her many tattoos. I was especially curious about the dancing rabbit in a dress holding a fan which covered the side of her left thigh.

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I wanted to decompress a little after I finished my last job, so I went to the beach on Thursday night. It’s been a while since I spend so much time offline. Half of the time, the weather was brutally cold, but I wished for a peaceful time to recharge, and gradually the weekend turned around and on Sunday the sun shone and the angry sea calmed down and opened its arms. And I dove in.

Late on Sunday night, I was catching up with the World and I saw that the My Chemical Romance American tour started this past weekend, and as I had already noticed on their European tour, Gerard keeps transforming himself from show to show. On their kick-off show on Saturday, he had a clown make-up on his face. I was inspired by the pictures of the show that I saw online and I drew the above sketch. After the figure drawing session on Wednesday, I decided to keep the band sketch loose, scribbly and minimal. Just to record the occasion, the immediate impression I had. I have always liked the theatrical energy of Gerard’s performing persona. I’m curious to see how extreme and creative he’ll get as the tour continues.

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Have you been feeling different lately? Like something is coming? Like change is coming?

Do you think you’re paying attention to notice when it arrives? Are you ready to be present?

Are you waiting, or are you making?

Be safe. Be kind. Be curious.
Pa-ZOW!

Fábio Moon
Moon Base, São Paulo
August 22nd, 2022