Tuesday, January 12, 2016

More Concert Sketching Questions

Aria from Met Opera’s Le comte Ory, Supracolor II pencil
The new issue of International Artist (#107) answers lots of your questions about sketching in live concerts. Here are a couple more:

Corin: How long does it take to draw a portrait in a concert? 
Corin, I take as long as the opportunity gives me. The program usually gives me a pretty good idea of how much time I have for a given sketch opportunity. For example, opera arias last only a few minutes, so in the little sketch Aria from the Metropolitan Opera’s Le comte Ory, I limited my ambitions just to getting the basic silhouette of the singers in their costume.

For some concerts I might have the luxury of 90 minutes or more to work with. If I’m not sure how much time I have, I might start with one performer and build out.


Pierre Fontaine: Have you ever had any mishaps while sketching at a concert?
Pierre, yes, one time at the opera, I was all dressed up in my suit and I was sketching with the ink brush. And then I dropped the cap.

That left the inky tip exposed right near my white shirt. Where was the cap? It must have hit the floor! As the grand arias continued, I reached around with my foot until I put a toe on it under the seat of the lady in front of me. When the intermission came around, I got down on my hands and knees between the rows of seats until I got that cap back.
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 International Artist (#107)

6 comments:

Tom Hart said...

You may have answered this before: Has a fellow audience member ever complained for any reason? (Not that they should!)

James Gurney said...

Tom, I'm super careful not to make any distracting sounds or motion, and to keep the drawings down in my lap. The only comment I've gotten is from people (especially people with kids) saying they enjoyed looking over my shoulder.

Tom Hart said...

Excellent. That'a just as I hoped. (We'd all love to look over your shoulder. That's why the videos are so great!)

Luke said...

James, i just want to point out that if you click on the instagram picture, we get redirected to your twitter and not your instagram. I do not want to be rude, just so you know this, and might be able to fix it.
Ps I can not wait to read the article

James Gurney said...

Luke, thanks! I'm glad you told me. I think it's fixed now.

Mark Martel said...

Another late question--do you hear the music?