Two men fighting

This weekend I went to Adele Wagstaff's life drawing day. Having two life models is a luxury that gives challenging interactive poses, including the traditional wrestler poses. Short sketches of as little as three minutes meant the models could give dramatic poses with real momentum, whilst seeming to throw blows they were often leaning on each other for support.

I worked in light ink washes with a big brush as this enabled me to capture the essential gesture without being weighed down in detail. I admire the movement in Rodin's watercolours, and the simplicity of Anthony Gormley's figure drawings. Sculptor's drawings are often remarkably light and free, in contrast to the weight and permanency of their sculptures, almost as if they are reacting against the boundaries of their usual medium.

For the longer pose I moved round the models drawing different angles. After blocking out their forms with an ink wash I used charcoal to pick out the contours of their figures.

For example, above you can see the reclining figure from the side, below from the head,

And below from the feet. It was great to study a strong African physique next to a contrasting Caucasian one. As well as being a professional life model, Matthew Oghene has also been on the Undateables on channel 4 and the Big Painting Challenge on BBC One.

I experimented with ink, chalk and charcoal, and used a wet brush to blend.