Last night I joined a local figure drawing group. This group met for two hours– slightly shorter than the usual 2 1/2 to 3 hour sessions I’ve been to before. The time flew, but I was still there long enough to be reminded again of how out of practice I am! This was my best attempt –a 25 minute pose (one of the longest of the evening).
I really liked the model…she was very dramatic, which made drawing her lots of fun. She was also quite the trooper, lying on what looked to be a very uncomfortable low bench, with her head supported by a wedge-pillow thingy. I felt happy that I at least started to get some of the weight of her pose. But not much else in the way of detail. I think I’ll be sticking to charcoal on newsprint paper until I can get myself to a point of more speed and accuracy, which is only going to come with practice and understanding.
 To that end, I’m studying proportion and human anatomy as best I can on my own for now, through books. I picked up a book by Andrew Loomis at the library called “Figure Drawing for All It’s Worth“. The book was originally published in 1943, and is one of a series of books by the author on similar topics. Loomis was a well known illustrator back in the day and is still referenced by a lot of figurative artists today as a good source for basic and accessible information on human proportion and figure drawing in general. Sadly, his books are now out of print, but you can still find some of them online (another resource is here  ) and possibly at your local library.
Loomis makes some interesting opening comments in the book about “Beginner’s Work”. There are several telltale signs he lists, but I took note of this one, as I definitely see this occurring in my own figure drawing:
“An overabundance of small fuzzy line:Â Do not “pet” in your line, draw it clearly with a long sweep. Do not shade with a multitude of little “pecky” strokes. “
Ya. So in addition to all of the other stuff on anatomy and proportion, one of the things I want to work on is quality of the contour and line. I think the sketchiness comes in part from a lack of confidence/familiarity with the subject. It’s much easier to make sketchy marks as you try to find the right placement and proportion. It’s something else altogether to put meaningful, lyrical marks in just the right place!
Jennifer
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Harlow Landphair was an instructor in the college of architecture at TAMU. He said to me once something like this “….. Make the bold line. If it is wrong your eye will recognize it, and then use the wrong one as a guide line. The eye will recognize the right line and forgive the wrong line as texture. That way you get used to making the right bold line.” Harlow was in a good mood that day!
Good for you! Jump right into those goals and this a great one. Can’t wait to see your progress. I’m like you though that I’d feel very rusty if I was in that class!!!
This is a very good start. I do feel her weight and the pose is very graceful. I even see some BOLD lines!!!!
Thanks you two. Yeah there are a few bold lines in there among the “pecky strokes”. LOL! I do think some “decision-making” marks can actually add interest to drawings, but the marks on her breastbone are the most unresolved and bothersome to me. For now though, I’ve decided it’s better to stop noodling with the drawing as soon as the model stops the pose and just leave them as is, as records of my current state of knowledge and understanding. In any event, at this stage I’m less concerned with a finished drawing than I am with learning how to navigate the landscape, so to speak. Though, at some point, a good, finished drawing would be nice
This is a really interesting conversation to listen to. Since I’m a photographer, I work with other tools/techniques to capture human form. I struggle with “what looks natural” all the time when posing subjects, or helping subjects find comfortable poses that look flattering but not too stiff or overly posed. The human anatomy is so challenging. When it comes to placing people in comfortable/engaging poses, the best I ever worked with was Emory Waldrop, who also happens to be a registered nurse! All those anatomy courses he took in nursing school gave him a real advantage.
Hi Elaine,
Interesting. I never really thought about the photographer’s need for anatomical understanding (or shall we say, anatomical sympathy?) I think even some life drawing models could benefit from this, as sometimes they will put themselves in a pose that becomes apparently increasingly difficult to maintain for very long. Maybe for them it’s just a matter of having more body awareness rather than an anatomy lesson. (Yoga?)
And then there’s the whole other level to the human subject, which is portraiture…to capture a not only the sense of correct form and proportion and a “naturalness”, but a likeness and personality as well. Me, I’m still just trying to get the boobs right.