Artist Daily : Drawing, figure drawing

Discover the Enduring Appeal of Sketching

Courtney Jordan — Mon, 06 May 2013 03:33:00 GMT


Attitude by Patricia Hannaway, 2006, pastel sketch drawing, 21 x 12.

Human figure sketching, especially learning how to sketch from a model, is one of the most rewarding ways of practicing art because it can enhance your abilities in ways that are both practical and inspirational. It's practical in that creating figure sketch drawings develops skills that will serve you again and again as an artist—contour, shading, line, and the relationship of parts to a whole. It's inspirational in that the landscape of the human body contains almost every form, texture, shape, and curve that an artist could possibly want to recreate, and there is an endless array of ways to do so.

Sketch drawing figures is not just about drawing anatomy, though that knowledge certainly helps me recognize why the body looks the way it does and the reasons for its movements. But drawing figures is often about finding an emphatic action or gesture that animates and energizes the rendering. For artist and animator Patricia Hannaway, that means finding and accentuating the action line of a figure. “My thought process as I’m drawing is, The model is sort of doing this and kind of doing that," she says. "I become engaged with what the model is doing and mentally take the pose myself, feeling the movement in my own body. This is transferred to the page via an energized line; the drawing proceeds outward from an inward feeling."

Using a model as the stepping off point, Hannaway creates sketch drawings that emphasize pivotal moments of action where the figure is about to move or is in the act of doing so. Perfecting your ability to render the human form means practicing doing the same thing. As you get stronger in identifying the angles of motion in a figure, your skill in sketching that motion will likely increase as well, making for more productive and dynamic sketching sessions.

Drawing magazine is our top resource to help solidify your drawing skills with articles in every issue that give you insights on figure drawing, sketching, and so much more. You'll see in every issue how rendering well and seeing dynamically are two essentials every artist needs to have in order to capture the essence of his or her subject, so enjoy your subscription!

Step by Step to a Virtuosic Figure Drawing

Courtney Jordan — Fri, 03 May 2013 03:30:00 GMT

Seeing a painting or figure drawing progress from beginning to end allows the finished artwork to be understood as a series of discrete steps leading to a virtuosic whole. During a recent tour of the Grand Central Academy (GCA), in New York City, I observed instructor Joshua LaRock developing a drawing of Michelangelo's marble sculpture Dying Slave, based on a cast bust of the master's sculpture.

LaRock approached the human figure drawing as if he were sculpting on the page, striving for a trompe-l'oeil sense of form in space. He documented his progress along the way and shared his approach with us.

		When preparing the figure sketch setup of the bust, it was critical to have one isolated light source on the cast. LaRock's rule of thumb is to position the light source at a distance from the subject that is approximately two to three times the length of the subject's largest dimension. The artist sat eye level with the bust and positioned it to emphasize strong, clean lines. He also took note of the exact placement of the bust and his position in relation to it, to prevent even the slightest change in perspective from sitting to sitting.
		The artist began his figure drawing very loosely to get the general proportions of the bust and develop points of stability-the height and width of the subject and any comparative measurements that could act as visual points of reference throughout the process. LaRock then produced the "block-in," in which every element is defined, from the thin and crisp contours, form shadows and cast shadows, to loose and lightly valued plane changes.
		Once the block-in was complete, the artist stepped back to evaluate the overall hierarchy of light and dark over the form, asking himself what the brightest and darkest regions were, the second brightest and darkest regions, and so forth. LaRock points out that assigning these demarcations while drawing figures isn't guesswork but is done in direct relation to how perpendicular a particular feature of the object is to the light source, with the brightest piece being the most perpendicular to the light.
		Once the darkest and lightest areas were established, the illusion of three-dimensionality was created, and it became possible to see the full arc of light over the face of the figure. In this stage of the figure sketch, LaRock focused on preserving the spectrum between the two extremes with minute changes made with pencil and eraser.
		In the final stage of the drawing, LaRock wanted to answer one crucial question: Does this two-dimensional drawing seem to sit in space and suggest the gesture of the figure? Are the figure drawing proportions correct? He went back to his initial rationale for the drawing-a desire to accentuate the long arc of the right side of the figure's neck as it leads to the ear and continues around where the hairline meets the forehead. To accomplish this successfully without creating unnecessary distractions, LaRock went back in and played with the left side of the face, darkening certain areas so that they seemed to sit back farther in space and lightening other areas so that the right balance of volume was created. All of this involved very minor touches of graphite and also making a point on the eraser and using it as a drawing tool, hatching as you would with a pencil.

LaRock's expert drawing is based on sound understanding of light and form and skilled execution of those principles. His willingness to break down his approach to every eye-deceiving "curve" is similar to the "real life" exploration and instruction you can receive with a copy of Life Drawing: How to Portray the Figure with Accuracy and Expression. You'll gain access to thoughtful instruction on the basics of figure anatomy, proportion, and design that puts you on the road to being your artistic best. Enjoy!

They Can Be Moody, Too

Courtney Jordan — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 04:12:00 GMT

I'll admit that in the past I have been guilty of thinking of colored pencil art as colorful and bright and not necessarily able to be coupled with serious subjects or moody narratives. But that was my own bias. As I've spent time looking at sketchbooks of draftsmen creating colored pencil art and figure drawings made using colored pencils, I've discovered that the medium is as diverse as any other.


	Seeds Of Memory by David Suff, colored pencil drawing, 20 x 28.

My blind spot with colored pencil drawings largely has to do with the way I've seen the implements used. I've seen drawings where the paper is literally covered with dense layers of color, which can make the surface waxy, unusable, and uninteresting.

But recently I've seen life-drawing sketches of figures made with colored pencils that show how much depth and subtlety the medium is capable of when light hatchmarks are used. Colors are built up in controlled layers of line, and the lightness of the paper underneath is allowed to shine through and illuminate the marks.


Colored pencil sketch by James Jean, detail.

In figure drawings, this is an exciting prospect. I can apply what I already know about drawing but add color into the mix, all while making the motions and marks that I love. So you can draw a dusky, moody figure with colored pencils of orange and blue and red, applying line over line to create passages that are unexpectedly complex and show a lot of depth. And, when used on paper with a lot of tooth, colored pencil art can have a truly interesting surface that dispels all of my past biases completely.

To gain more insight on colored pencil techniques--from the basics and beyond-consider Janie Gildow's newest DVDs, TK and TK. Gildow is a colored pencil drawing expert and really shows how to make the medium shine. Enjoy!

4 Tips for Drawing People

Courtney Jordan — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 04:42:00 GMT

I was recently on the train with a friend who caught the attention of an artist sitting across from us. She started drawing my pal. We were thrilled! It was an exciting moment as we watched my friend's face appear on the paper in front of us. As the artist went about her work, I observed her in action--and then went home and did a little more research to pull together these tips on how to draw people that might be useful.


		Self Portrait by Jon deMartin, 2011, chalk drawing on toned paper, 17 x 14.

Different lines are essential when drawing people--denoting volume and light and dark means remembering the diversity of line. It can be thick or thin, jagged or smooth-edged, dabbed and dotted or unbroken. Figuring out how to draw someone's face with just line is a lesson in itself in how useful and dynamic lines really are.

Move your hand--and the paper. I was initially surprised at how often the artist drawing my friend would move around. But in hindsight, this makes perfect sense. The gesture of our hand when staying in one place can only change so much, so altering the position of the hand or the surface we are drawing upon can help you get the marks you want.

You are not connecting the dots. My impulse is always to draw people starting with a bold outline that goes all around their body or face. But that's an elementary urge, and in reality I don't need a rigid enclosed outline to create dynamic drawings of people. I can use intermittent lines, marking the nose or the hand for example, and the viewer's eye will often fill in the rest.


Julie in Profile by Jon deMartin, 2009, chalk drawing on toned paper, 24 x 18.

Crosshatching is never extreme. When I first learned about crosshatching, my teacher reinforced again and again that it should never be too crossed. What I mean is that the two lines of the mark should not be drawn perpendicular to each other so you have a true "+." Instead, the lines of a crosshatch are usually at a much more acute angle to each other.

This is only the tip of the iceberg of what it takes to learn how to draw a person, but it's definitely a place to start. For more in-depth instruction on drawing people, consider Dan Thompson's DVDs, Figure Drawing: Anatomy of the Head and Figure Drawing: The Gesture. As a bundle, the two DVDs are available to you for $65. Enjoy!

Make Your Mark, But Make It Different

Courtney Jordan — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 04:26:00 GMT

Recently, artist and our contributing blogger Daniel Maidman wrote a really insightful article about varying your mark making that I want to share because it seems like so many of us are refocusing our interest to drawing, and this is a great approach to internalize as we do that. Enjoy!


Piera 1 & 2 by Daniel Maidman.

I've been thinking about ways I personally switch up techniques. The first one I think of is variation in mark making. Consider these two drawings. Both are from the same life-drawing workshop. The first is a 40-minute pose, and the second is a 20-minute pose. In the first figure drawing, I followed my ordinary practice—the one I use for repetitive skill building. This involves tight drawing, line work as accurate as I can make it, and a patient building up of light and dark values. I have a ways to go with this approach, but getting even this far has been a work of years. These kinds of drawings were really not very good at all when I started.

The practice involves subtle marks and focuses on details. This technique promotes a narrow vision of parts, and I decided to change my mark-making for the next pose. Instead of tight rendering of individual structures, I aimed for catching the entire figure. Accuracy was a lower priority. I wanted to get the feeling of dynamic tension, the overall play of light, and the energy of the model. The pencil marks were correspondingly rougher, larger, and more visible.

As you can see, I'm nowhere near as good at that as I am at the tighter mode of drawing.

But the purpose of these kinds of exercises isn't necessarily to make a presentable finished piece. It's to force your mind, your eye, and your hand to tackle the problem of picture-making differently. By zooming back to the entire figure, I train myself to see the entire figure even in the tighter drawings. By focusing the marks on energy, I import energy back into my native drawing practice. This is one of several ways to shock the system—to encourage yourself to grow faster and stronger than repetition alone allows.

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Another way to shock your artistic system in the way Daniel is talking about is to pursue art practice techniques in detail, and our latest studio essentials—Modeling with Light and Drawing on the Dark Side—allow you to do just that, explore the topics that hold your interest with nothing else getting in the way. And check out our newest topic page on drawing basics—an overview of all the ways drawing is the gateway to all great art. Enjoy!

Do You Know All Your Lines?

Courtney Jordan — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 04:33:00 GMT


Two Women with Still Life by Willem de Kooning, pastel and charcoal on paper, 22 1/4 x 18 3/4 in., 1952.

The artifice of line is one of the aspects of drawing that I am most in love with. The fact that we can take line—which doesn't exist in the natural world—and create works of art that look incredibly real or full of fakery, depending on what we want to do with it, is enthralling.

And artists do so much with it. I mean, just think of all the various types of line that you might use in any given pencil sketch.

You could start with a something elementary like an outline drawing with rectilinear lines that are straight with pointed angles. A cube or an architectural blueprint comes to mind, as does Michelangelo's design of the Medici Chapel in Florence.

But that's only the start. Sketching with curvilinear or organic lines that are curving, oftentimes gestural, and free-flowing can produce drawings as various as those of Willem de Kooning or Raphael or Bouguereau.


	Michelangelo's design of the Medici Chapel in Florence is based on rectilinear straight lines and clean pointed angles.


	Egon Schiele's contour line drawing, Mother with Child (1910).

Look inside any artist's sketchbook and the drawing sketches you find will usually find yet another kind of line—broken line. Quick figure sketches often have short slash marks or hatches that are almost essential in a contour drawing, and when multiplied and layered these broken lines can become crosshatching that gives a sense of volume to a drawn object or figure.

In contrast, a continuous line can be used to great effect in a drawing because the line takes center stage. Schiele was a master with continuous line, making the whole thing look animate and alive—as much as the subject he was depicting!


Self-portrait by Raphael, c. 1495.

And then there is implied line, which is tricky to point out because the line is not actually there and the lack is what often animates a drawing. Picasso's drawing of a bull shows how exceptionally the artist uses line and the implication of line.

After talking through these concepts I feel as if I'm seeing lines everywhere, and one place where I know I can further my knowledge and passion for line while seeing great art as a final product is in the pages of our best drawing resources: Drawing: The Complete Course and The Best of Drawing. With these, I've started to better understand how I can use many kinds of line in my drawings and how other artists have used them as well. Enjoy!

3 Paintings I'd Take in a Heartbeat

Courtney Jordan — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 03:21:00 GMT

Unknown Woman by Thomas Wilmer Dewing, 1890,
pastel painting on paper.

I love the effects and colors you can get with pastel paintings . . . at least I do now. It wasn't too long ago that I felt like I had some kind of weird complex where I could appreciate the work but I couldn't really see how they were created, which was frustrating for the forever art student that I am content to be.

But a friend of mine gave me some good advice: "Look at a few works you love and really study them," he said. "I mean really study them—for a good, long period of time. Your mind can wander but don't look at anything else."

I did! It was odd, like having blinders on, but in a good way. And once I settled down and just let my eyes rest on the work, I could see a lot of things I missed before. So here's what I saw:

In Unknown Woman by Thomas Wilmer Dewing, I realized the delicacy of pastel. This pastel figure drawing has such an ephemeral, barely-there quality that it seems like the delicate layers of pastel were blown on rather than put down by hand. It is the veil-like transparency that I'm drawn to, and lends a real sense of atmosphere rather than form to the work that I would love to imitate.


Flower Clouds by Odilon Redon, 1903, pastel painting.

When I look at Odilon Redon's Flower Clouds, one word reverberates in my head: glory. This painting makes me gasp and open my eyes wider and wider trying to take it all in. After the initial heady sensation of just looking, I did begin to notice that despite the otherworldly response I have to this pastel drawing, there was a lot of physical effort from the artist—stumping, incising, and layering brushwork—to create the overall effect. That was a revelation. I hadn't thought about interacting with the medium in such a way before.

Dog Woman by Paula Rego, 1994, pastel painting on canvas.

To me, viewing Paula Rego's Dog Woman is like being slapped in the face. It is that much of an assault on my senses. But sitting with it for a while, I am mesmerized by how varied the mark making is. The chalky, almost crusty surface of the figure's face is a contrast to the taut stretched skin of the knee and shoulder. And the colors in the skin are incredibly blended, especially in the exposed leg. The shadowed areas evoke thoughts of bruises, aged skin, dirt, and sunburn in my mind, and the fact that all of that was churned up with just blended pastel is extraordinary to me.

Having these works and the pastel painting techniques that created them swirling around in my mind has been incredibly beneficial in terms of trying to push into this medium, which is pretty new for me. Our new eBook, Pastel Essentials has been such a boon in its capacity to give me great basic instruction on the medium, so now I can begin to gain confidence in using pastels, and then move further in my own creative direction. I wish the same for you! Enjoy!

And what are your favorite pastel paintings? Leave a comment and help me discover more!

15 Beginner Drawing Tips on Learning How To Draw People the Classical Way

Brian Riley — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 09:00:00 GMT

Ramona

by Tony Ryder, 1995, graphite,
24 x 18. Private collection.

My father has been in the construction industry for nearly 40 years. When I was younger, one of my favorite things to do was visit him on the job site before a building was finished and walk around, checking out what it took to put a building together. I was fascinated with all the things that needed to be done before a project was complete. It was during those trips that I learned the importance of building a strong foundation, a lesson that I’ve applied to multiple aspects of my life—none of which require me to wear a hard-hat. Art is no exception. When painting, whether in pastel, oil, watercolor, or acrylic, artists are almost always better served when they are building on a foundation of drawing skills. It’s a concept that is touched upon time and time again during our conversations with artists; learning how to draw is a building block to creating more successful artwork.

That’s why our new free eBook is such a useful resource. Drawing Basics: 15 Beginner Drawing Tips on Learning How To Draw People the Classical Way provides readers with the information they need to make better figure drawings and help build that foundation for creating superior art, regardless of medium, In the eBook we present artist Tony Ryder’s three-step approach toward figure drawing: Envelope, Gesture, and Block-In; Contour; and Inside Drawing. The goal of this method is to tame the barrage of visual information presented by the human figure. There are countless traps a person can fall into when drawing people, and these tips will help you stay on course.

So download it now, and get the drawing lessons you need to help build your foundation for better figure drawing and better all-around artwork.