After my last research point I was really inspired by Freud’s Male nude portraits. I love their vulnerability and the way he paints their flesh in such a revealing and almost private and personal way. These men seem exposed and I, the viewer feel almost like I shouldn’t be looking at them.

For this exercise I was asked to complete a 1 hour study of my model (my husband) so I thought this was the perfect opportunity to try to experiment with Freud’s style.

I asked my husband to pose without his top on, and I tried to capture him in a vulnerable unflattering pose where I had opportunity to study his skin. Because this was an hour study it was important he was comfortable so I sat him on a comfortable chair. However I asked him to slump his shoulders and arms forward so his belly rolled forward. He was sat in front of a window so the light was coming from behind but still managed to create shadow on the rolls of his stomach. He was not happy with this pose, however I felt it showed that sense of vulnerability that Freud manages to capture.

I worked a3 size on orange sugar paper. I started with charcoal and then added colour with chalk pastel.

I started by drawing out small marks on my paper trying to work out the outermost points of the figure, I did this in order to work out the figures proportions and where everything was in relation to everything else.

As I was drawing I kept checking that the body measurements were correct in relation to each other. When I was happy with my basic outline that’s when I began to add colour.

I struggled when I started to apply colour, especially as I was also looking at Freud’s work, wondering why my work was not looking like his. I decided to not worry too much about working in the style as Freud (especially as he worked in oils and I was working in chalk pastels.) Instead I just tried to concentrate on my model and trying to show form and shadow through colour whilst at the same time trying to capture the characteristics of the pose.

Below is my drawing and my process of completing the drawing.

I ended up spending longer than an hour on my drawing, in hindsight I think adding colour made my drawing more complicated. And I ended up re working and re working areas. Long after my hour had come and gone my husband refused to sit for me for any longer so I finished my drawing with just a rough outline of the chair he was sitting in.

Overall I do feel like I have captured the characteristics of the pose. I also feel to some extent I have captured my husbands vulnerabilities within this pose, which is what Freud inspired me to try to achieve. Even though my actual drawing technique is not reminiscent of Freud’s work, I feel the vulnerability I managed to capture in my husband is down to being inspired by Freud.

To a certain extent I feel I have got the proportions relatively right, however the proportions and tonal works around my husbands nipples seem wrong. I also think his shoulders should be broader?

In future to try to rectify this I think I should also take photographs, this way I have a permanent reference point? I also think I could spend even longer at the beginning of my drawing marking out proportions and accuracy.