Baseball

The body in motion presents challenges, especially for someone like me who never took a proper life drawing class. If you aren't a trained artist the human figure becomes a set of clothes pieced together, the body and bones inside being incidental. The contortions of a baseball player present this challenge in the extreme. An interesting puzzle to piece together with pencil and paper. I remember seeing the famous photographs of Sandy Koufax and thinking he must have been throwing his shoulder out of joint with every pitch.

This high kicking pitcher I did for Harper's is more reminiscent of Juan Marichal. Few lines, long limbs, an improbable posture, but instantly real. I learned that it became easier to draw an athlete in action if I made a point of loosening up too, giving the hand free play, not worrying so much about the specific points of accuracy in order to capture the larger gesture. Sports are full of exaggeration anyway. The art director was Stacey Clarkson.