Archive for the ‘Figure and Life Drawing’ Category

Constructing and Articulating the Outline and Shadow Shapes on a Figure

Thursday, December 18th, 2008

This is the second part of a free online tutorial which guides you through the various steps taken to produce a classical figure drawing. I have learnt and adapted this particular method from studying at the Angel Academy of Art, Florence.

Construction Stage

The construct outline and shadow shapes form the next stage. The 2B pencil is kept sharpened like a needle of graphite, as it facilitates more precision. It is safest to work on the paper as lightly as possible so that there is room for adjustment with the putty rubber if needed.

The outline of the forms which the figure makes are carefully observed, and the previous gesture stage gives a decent (albeit simplified) measured base to use for guidance with this construct stage. The construct lines should be lightly-sketched small straight lines around and along the gesture lines, indicating changes in direction.

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Using Rhythm – The Variety of Line Shapes, and their Relationships

Thursday, December 18th, 2008

(From Harold Speed‘s The Practice and Science of Drawing)

Line rhythm or music depends on the shape of your lines, their relation to each other and their relation to the boundaries of your panel.

In all good work this music of line is in harmony with the subject (the artistic intention) of your picture or drawing. (more…)

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Observational Figure Drawing and Comparative Measurements

Monday, August 11th, 2008

This is the first part of a series of free online tutorials which guides you through the various steps taken to produce a classical figure drawing.

2B and HB graphite pencils are my main two grades of pencil. Some people also prefer to use a 2H, although I would not initially recommend using hard pencils like the 2H because they are more prone to irreversibly damaging the paper through indentation.

By using a mechanical pencil and changeable, replaceable leads, you gain a number of advantages:

They are quicker to sharpen to a finer point; They are more portable (lots of leads and different grades can be carried easily); The leads cost less than wooden pencils; There is no need for a blade (Xacto knife or craft knife) to shave off the wood and there is less waste produced from sharpening. Although there are all these benefits, some people still prefer to use normal wooden pencils, as they feel that the weighting is different and they are more natural.

To sharpen the lead a two-grade sandpaper pad (made by Faber Castell) is used. A grey (not white) putty rubber is good for erasing, as it is less destructive to the paper.

Drawing tools wooden box including a putty rubber, masking tape, red measuring cotton, sandpaper pad, mechanical pencil, graphite pencil leads and a stubby brush for subtle shading techniques

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Basic and Essential Drawing Tools and Materials

Sunday, August 10th, 2008

If you want to start drawing, and haven’t done it before, you’ll probably need to get a handful of inexpensive drawing tools before you begin!

First of all, you’ll need a pencil. If you can, I suggest you buy a mechanical graphite pencil with interchangeable leads. You’ll need HB and 2B Graphite leads.

If you can’t get hold of a mechanical pencil with interchangeable leads, you’ll need a small craft knife or Xacto knife for the first stage in sharpening your wooden pencils.

The fundamental drawing tools you'll need to learn to draw academically

The fundamental drawing tools you’ll need to learn to draw academically, minus the drawing board.

You’ll also want a small, usually wooden sandpaper pad for sharpening your pencil, and a grey kneadable eraser (putty rubber).

Also, get a Drawing board (about 50cm/18-20 inches on the longest side). This is small enough for you to rest it on your knees and lean it against your desk, but also large enough to use for medium-sized life drawing on an easel.

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Loose Figure Sketching – Five Minute Poses

Friday, August 8th, 2008

Life drawing can be very technical, with all the measuring, checking and super-smooth shading techniques. One break-away exercise from this is very short life poses. I’ve put a few recent 5-minute sketches into this post.

Five minute partial life pose 01

Half a figure is really enough to cope with for these short poses, essentially capturing the gesture of the pose and if there’s time, some spontaneous construction and articulation. If i’m lucky with how the speed sketch has gone, I have time for some basic tone.

Five minute partial life pose 02

Of course it is possible to grab a quick snapshot of the entire pose, but this is more difficult and can just become a useless scribble.

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