For years I've gone to life drawing groups to practice working from a live model. It's good practice, but these groups only go for 2 hours, minus model breaks, so I pretty much never get to finish a piece. Remember that most of the time I'm working with a ball-point pen, and it takes a long time to cover an 11" x 14" piece of paper or vellum with just a Bic pen. The charcoal pieces shown here were also done in life drawing sessions, and in these cases I was able to finish because charcoal can cover a page a lot more quickly than pen. The trade-off is that I lose the ability to do fine detail work, for which a pen is my best instrument.
![](https://format.creatorcdn.com/16dbd380-173a-4cb9-afd7-239150007496/0/0/0/0,0,1254,989,1254,1200/0-0-0/9284e648-c08a-4ff8-9633-ea3222dbe7bb/1/1/Fig2.jpg?fjkss=exp=2037527930~hmac=8626dcc842ca7da064b0d3c59ee946ff2dd9123fa9281ee8e555948396f35de6)
Figure drawing (unfinished). Ball-point pen on paper, 14" x 11".
![](https://format.creatorcdn.com/16dbd380-173a-4cb9-afd7-239150007496/0/0/0/0,0,534,723,1600,723/0-0-0/a21ab9ce-bd95-4836-a5e3-dfd1ef03df92/1/1/Angel2_small.jpg?fjkss=exp=2037527930~hmac=2c77f8ee83f11d23f35abb3e0655c6602434414db75bd4880ba812289eef58b9)
"Angel," charcoal on newsprint, 11" x 14".
![](https://format.creatorcdn.com/16dbd380-173a-4cb9-afd7-239150007496/0/0/0/0,0,638,874,1600,874/0-0-0/351a051e-c4f4-4841-9307-eb815f36c537/1/1/UnfinishedFig008_5.jpg?fjkss=exp=2037527930~hmac=825e4edc9bdccef98414b22e71ee77699f8a74fe2f5f26138d572e43e2632f6e)
Figure drawing (unfinished). Ball-point pen on paper, 11" x 14".
![](https://format.creatorcdn.com/16dbd380-173a-4cb9-afd7-239150007496/0/0/0/0,0,541,816,1600,816/0-0-0/1d645c2d-e705-4aca-91ae-242d10d4e18e/1/1/UnfinishedFig005_5.jpg?fjkss=exp=2037527930~hmac=cde73d5f707281408278068f3f9f6c6b5a75af04294d900b852ea78a15e4cbe0)
Figure drawing (unfinished). Ball-point pen on paper, 11" x 14".
![](https://format.creatorcdn.com/16dbd380-173a-4cb9-afd7-239150007496/0/0/0/0,0,648,623,648,1200/0-0-0/712d52df-d755-4e64-a6a9-fc878494faa9/1/1/UnfinishedFig004_5.jpg?fjkss=exp=2037527930~hmac=0931ca89b2488c78ec9a30073d0b09d4b7e5a0a1486c58ed208c2ede63522e49)
Figure drawing (unfinished). Ball-point pen on paper, 14" x 11".
![](https://format.creatorcdn.com/16dbd380-173a-4cb9-afd7-239150007496/0/0/0/0,0,967,732,967,1200/0-0-0/4d8e0009-ca3a-4081-83bd-af6355e87ef1/1/1/Eve_small.jpg?fjkss=exp=2037527930~hmac=b6077d7429c75a60efd43ba122a9f101518dd7e6e4d0aec5ac95b4489a363fc6)
"Eve," charcoal on newsprint, 14" x 11".
![](https://format.creatorcdn.com/16dbd380-173a-4cb9-afd7-239150007496/0/0/0/0,0,555,744,1600,744/0-0-0/244e6ebb-0ff4-4bee-8f8c-f43e95a852fc/1/1/DesertGrail_small.jpg?fjkss=exp=2037527930~hmac=e9a37d08a817646ec1aa27cd03b62f4155bca12aa7eb0df8940b714682d037d2)
"Desert Grail," charcoal on newsprint, 11" x 14".
![](https://format.creatorcdn.com/16dbd380-173a-4cb9-afd7-239150007496/0/0/0/0,0,1233,1746,1600,1746/0-0-0/08ef4064-df8d-461c-9c30-5aeddd1a8254/1/1/DanMoranSample15_JPG.jpg?fjkss=exp=2037527930~hmac=5b7c779b77cae32cf56c3a4d68107a2528e5edd588c7198abb844f3209d21b1a)
"Angel #4," ball-point pen on paper, 11" x 14".
![](https://format.creatorcdn.com/16dbd380-173a-4cb9-afd7-239150007496/0/0/0/0,0,769,1084,1600,1084/0-0-0/b0cd1265-592d-4fa7-ad92-3d2509589f08/1/1/Fig18_small.jpg?fjkss=exp=2037527930~hmac=f169975e2b15593387348af6f793c551c74e3dec5ee4bdabf10df52faaa4640c)
Figure drawing (unfinished). Ball-point pen on vellum, 11" x 14".