Kevin’s Coaching Page | June 2025

Quick 30 second hello!

Hi again, Lane! Thank you again for your awesome feedback from my first message. I’ve been unpacking, and practicing it since then, particularly your note about connecting areas of interest as a whole rather than leaving them isolated. I feel like it’s had a truly transformative impact on what I see when I’m drawing and I can personally see a significant difference in my drawings before and after your advice.

I wanted to share some of the drawings I’ve made since then, and also ask about a couple new areas for feedback.

Current goals

I shared my goals last time but I thought I would just recap and write a bit about how I think they’re going:

• Improve composition, shape design, and atmosphere in figures and portraits – I suppose this is just an eternal goal! I think I’d like to explore this even more and experiment with pushing in different stylistic directions (like the low resolution drawings you shared recently).
• Develop more confidence and fluency in physical charcoal - I think this is happening as a result of just spending more time on paper rather than the tablet, and I’ve benefited from setting up a nicer tilted drawing desk area at home that is more comfortable than an easel.
• Create more developed and intentional collections of portraits and figures in charcoal / sanguine / oil – I think this is going well, will share drawings below!
• Learn new ideas to support my own students and the life drawing sessions I host – Learning a ton from your feedback and Patreon posts!

Challenges

• I’m struggling a bit with simplifying portraits as a component of a figure drawing! I admire how you’ve mentioned you often spend a long time on the portrait in a figure drawing and how it brings the figure together, and I’m looking to practice that more. Will share some examples below.
• I find my portrait drawings in general tend to be a bit hit and miss. My theory is I tend to rely slightly too much on intuition and visual observation and I feel the results are better when I remember to give myself more structural underdrawing. But I’m curious for a fresh perspective and advice!

Drawings

Sanguine studies

I’ve been making studies using a sanguine stick that’s similar to a compressed charcoal stick. I tend to take my time with these, maybe 40-60 minutes, and I’ve been focusing on both of your points of feedback related to connecting disjointed areas and creating long gestures. I’d say this is taking a “Steve Huston” approach with a lot of material laid on the page and heavy blending into the paper grain. I’m quite pleased with these and I’m curious for your general feedback! I haven’t spent a lot of time studying the structure of knee joints and muscles, so I’m guessing there are some anatomy improvements I could make. Looking at the references now I may have also compressed the overall length / width ratio to fit the page ¯_(ツ)_/¯

18 x 24 in., sanguine on 80lb. drawing paper

18 x 24 in., sanguine on 80lb. drawing paper

18 x 24 in., sanguine on 80lb. drawing paper

18 x 24 in., sanguine on 80lb. drawing paper

Portraits, big and small

I’ve been drawing a few portraits to practice connecting areas of interest, as well as practicing small, simplified portraits that could be a component of a figure drawing. As I mentioned, I find a pretty variable success rate with portraits lately. Looking for feedback on portraits in general and any tips related to portraits as part of a figure!

I was trying to apply the rendering and composition of this Sargent drawing. Approx. 9 x 12 in., vine and charcoal pencil on 80lb. drawing paper. (Reference from Bryce Liston.)

Studying your own portraits in figure drawings, which I’m sure you recognize! Charcoal pencil on newsprint

Not as satisfied with this one, struggled with a likeness and structure. Vine and compressed charcoal on 80lb. drawing paper. (Reference from Croquis Cafe.)

Gestures

I think I made a small breakthrough in my short post gesture drawings, integrating your feedback and revisiting a few sections of Henry Yan’s book. Just sharing a few random samples from the last few weeks, mostly 2 min. gestures and a longer study.

18 x 24 in. newsprint, vine and charcoal pencil. Reference from Croquis Cafe. Again referencing the rendering of a Sargent drawing. I was lucky enough to find this out of print Sargent book at the local library! Was great to see your thoughts on the show at the Met, I hoped to make a trip out myself but not sure I will make it.

Thank you!!

Thanks again, Lane! Looking forward to your feedback and hope you’re having a great summer.