Burlesque Drawing

Posted on August 18, 2011 by | Leave a comment

As part of my ongoing quest to learn how to draw figures I tried a different kind of drawing class this week – Dr Sketchy’s Anti-Art class. This is life drawing with a burlesque twist.  The evening had a “Bond Girl” theme, with the model’s dressed accordingly.  There was no tuition, but there was a fully functioning bar.

The session was much like regular life drawing classes: short poses of 2 mins, then 5 min poses, then a couple each of 10 and 15 minute poses.  There were breaks to get to the bar, and say hello to  your fellow artists, and even a fan dance. There was even a quick-draw competition which I was pleased but somewhat embarrassed to win.

Because of the changed location my drawing was somewhat different to my usual.  I was drawing with different media.  No easels here, just a pad on your knee, so I was using pencil, with fine ink pen.

Another difference was the models were clothed.  I found that made it harder in some ways than nude life drawing.  With the nude you can see the line of the body, whereas clothes made that less clear.  I found myself building the body up from a series of sections  of visible body, and the shapes of clothes.  Once I found myself doing this I tried to sketch in the whole body quickly – I used a stick figure scaffold (see technique #5  in this blog) to help get the overall shape first.

Here’s some of the pics from that evening.

2 min sketch "Bond Girl crouching with gun!"

I think this was a 5 min sketch. The model was great, managing to put some gesture and life into each pose.

It had been a while since I had drawn with a pencil on a pad (A3) - usually it is charcoal on large paper. I had a fine-lined ink pen that I used to help me define some of the line.

It took me a while to get going on this last drawing. I got happier with it toward the end and was frantically putting in the ink line...but as you can see I ran out of time.

I’m glad I made the effort to go along.  Check to see if there is something similar near you.

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Fixative

Posted on July 17, 2011 by | Leave a comment

If you’ve ever drawn with charcoal you know it can get messy.

The charcoal that leaves such a great mark on your paper will also leave marks on your hands, and the charcoal dust will drift down the page, onto your easel and the floor. Because the charcoal powder is not fixed on your page you can use it to great effect by using an (already dirty) finger, or cloth or tissue, to smudge and smear the charcoal to create tone and shading.

But if you want to preserve a drawing, or even make your drawing easier, you may want to consider using fixative.

Spray fixative for fixing charcoal drawings

Fixative comes in spray form. You simply point and spray over your picture. The instructions on the can recommend you spray from side to side, ranging over your picture, and then repeat at a cross angle to ensure coverage. It dries in seconds, and the charcoal on your picture is then “fixed”. You can draw your finger over the drawing but the charcoal remains in place.

You may want to consider cleaning up your drawing before fixing. Not too much cleaning though, as the mess often adds to the character of the drawing! I fixed a few old drawings recently, and used a kneadable eraser just to clean up some of the margin area which had become smudged.

You can also use fixative to help keep a drawing clean and fresh while you are working on it. For example, if you had some dark lines or tone on your drawing, and you were concerned that your hand was going to smudge this as you continued drawing, you could fix that part in place before continuing. If you’re in a class make sure you ask first – this stuff has quite a strong (but not unpleasant) smell.

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Drawing and Painting the Figure – A practical and inspirational guide to professional drawing and painting techniques

Posted on June 4, 2011 by | Leave a comment

Books on Drawing and Painting will clearly be good resources to anyone learning how to draw figures. I found a copy of this book while browsing my local library. Drawing and Painting the Figure – A practical and inspirational guide to professional drawing and painting techniques, Stan Smith & Linda Wheeler, Quantum Publishing, London, 2002

There were parts of this book I found interesting, and parts I didn’t like so much, but it was certainly worth a read. The introduction gave an historical view of figure drawing and figure painting, with a good view of the ranges and styles of drawing. The book contains lots of great illustrations for each section

The anatomy section was useful for me, providing a good analysis of the use of knowledge of human anatomy in drawing. There was a good summary, plus some practical rules of thumb – for example, using triangles to outline torsos – for women the hips provide the base of the triangle, and the neck the apex; for men the triangle is inverted, with shoulders wider than hips. Other interesting and practical sections included a view of the differences in aging human skull, and the geometry of human faces.

I learned some new words: buccinators, zygomaticus zygomaticus, platysma. Try running an image search on your favourite search engine to see what these facial muscles look like – and try drawing them while you’re at it to help consolidate what you see.

The book also contains some step by step guides to creating drawings, which I didn’t like so much, but they did provide useful commentary and tips. You might find it a worthwhile exercise to try a similar drawing yourself and compare results.

Try following the Dewey Decimal system in your own library to number 740 (Arts, Drawing) or 750 (Arts, Painting) to see what useful books you can find there that will help you learn how to draw figures.

Drawing and Painting the Figure – A practical and inspirational guide to professional drawing and painting techniques

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How to Draw Figures – Field Trip – Archibald Prize 2011

Posted on May 22, 2011 by | Leave a comment

A great way to learn how to draw figures, or to improve your approach to drawing is to see the work of other artists. Looking at the figure drawing and painting of other artists allows you to see different styles, different perspectives, different media, and different focus. You may like what you see, or may not like it – but every opportunity for you to see a new way of drawing can help provide you options for your own work.

Sydney, Australia has an annual portrait painting prize – the Archibald. This a popular, well publicised event that attracts many into the grand building of the Art Gallery of NSW.

I was able to see the exhibition yesterday, and came away feeling a little more energised, and wanting to tackle some new work of my own. There were forty-one exhibits. I’ve described below some of my favourites, and what I liked about them or learned from them.   Click on the thumbnails to see the Art Gallery of NSW page.

How to Draw Figures - field trip - Marcus CallumMarcus Callum’s “Portrait of a seated woman” seemed a traditional approach to painting, with a realistic style that could have been executed two hundred years ago.  While realistic the style seemed almost muted – compared to other exhibits, there were no clear brush strokes, or startling effect – just the figure shining out of the canvas. The artist had captured a quiet grace in the subject that made this picture stand out for me, good to see the emotion of the figure standing out.

How to Draw Figures - field trip - Adam ChangThe best picture for me was Adam Chang’s portrait of John Coetzee. This was a huge portrait, something like ten feet wide, hung high and attracting the attention of those at the exhibition. I loved the brushwork of this painting. The choppy, multi-directional blocks of paint that make up the face, stand out against the horizontal strokes of the background. And I liked the approach of using shades of just one colour, but filling the whole spectrum of that colour from deep tones to white. I had to keep going back for another look.

How to Draw Figures - field trip - Craig RuddyCraig Ruddy’s portrait of Cathy Freeman was interesting for its use of alternate media. Part of this was painted on glass suspended over the canvas. The picture seemed to change depending on the distance from it. There was a raw, rough effect which I liked.

How to Draw Figures - field trip - Ben Quilty

The 2011 winner of the Archibald prize was Ben Quilty’s portrat of Margaret Olley. A deserving winner, this portrait left me thinking the artist must have spent many hours sketching and preparing. The paint is pasted on in thick patches, leaving a pristine white background to shine through. I felt the artist must have sketched and sketched to have enough familiarity with that face to then paint with such boldness.

How to Draw Figures - field trip - Del Kathryn BartoDel Kathryn Barton’s “Mother (a portrait of Cate)” is a highly ornamented painting, with a stylised view of the figures. The figures are very expressive nonetheless. I liked also the fine, fine lines on the figures’ skin suggesting (at least to me, perhaps because I draw these sometimes), the edge of a shadow, or a change of tone.

How to Draw Figures - field trip - Abdul AdbullaAbdul Adbullah’s portrait of Waleed Aly was striking for its composition, the head placed centrally, with a clear background.

How to Draw Figures - field trip - Amanda MarburgAmanda Marburg’s “DA” was humorous, but still showed a figure with emotion.

The key thing about all my favourite paintings was that they portrayed the figure’s emotion. They portrayed people, not just figures. Whether they were realistically drawn, or sketched roughly, the person, and their feelings shone through. That’s something I’d like to get better at in my own drawing.

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How to Draw Figures – technique # 5 – Stick Figures

Posted on April 2, 2011 by | Leave a comment

Stick figures, you cry! Stick figures! I didn’t come to this site to learn how to draw stick figures! Hold on, maybe these stick figures can help. One of the most difficult challenges when learning how to draw figures is how to get the proportions of the figure right. It is frustrating to complete a drawing, even if this only takes you five or twenty minutes, only to find that the leg is too long, or that the figure has a pin-head, or an arm that is too short.

The stick figure can help you overcome this problem by forcing you to consider the stance, gesture and proportions of the figure very quickly, and early in your drawing.

Use twelve (yes, just 12) lines to capture the figure.

  1. Draw a line to represent the spine. But don’t just draw a vertical line, look at where the figures back is, look at the angle, the curves, and draw that line. But draw it quickly.
  2. Now draw a second line to represent the shoulders. Again aim to capture the angle and curve, but also consider the size of the line – it needs to be in proportion to the spine as you see the figure.
  3. The third line should represent the width of the hips. And by now you know to watch the angle, curve and proportion.
  4. You can draw a circle or ellipse for the head. Don’t just draw it on top of the shoulder line. Draw the line where the head is on the figure, is it lifted from the shoulder by a neck, crossing the shoulder line?
  5. Arms – two lines each. One shoulder to elbow, the second elbow to wrist or hand. Think about the proportion. Use the other lines as anchor points – hang the upper arm from the end of the shoulder line. Use the other lines as guides: where is that elbow – halfway down the spine line, below the shoulder, out to the side?
  6. Legs – same deal, two lines each. Hang the upper legs from the ends of the hip-line.

There, twelve lines, that you can complete in 15 seconds. You can use this an exercise to help you observe and capture poses. Or, you can use this stick figure as a framework on which to draw the figure more fully.

Why does this work? Drawing the stick figure forces attention on the whole figure. We should never focus on a single part of the figure, as it can become overworked, and can lead us to neglect the overall pose. But when you are trying to capture the light and tone and colour and shape of that arm it is easy to neglect the direction and size.

Drawing the stick figure first works because it helps you break down the drawing exercise and get size and overall pose down straight away.

A couple of other points to help you along:

  • Don’t allow your preconceived notions of what a stick figure looks like to get in the way of what goes on paper. If the pose is such that the spine line will be short (maybe the model is leaning forward, towards you), then draw it that way. If the shoulder line is short because it is parallel with your line of sight then draw it that way.
  • I often add four more lines, small ellipses, or even squiggles, to capture the hands and feet. Sometimes I will use tiny circles to capture the knees and elbows, so my stick figure looks more like a small maquette. But the principal is the same.

Practise this next time you have a model, and I think you will be pleasantly surprised at how well it helps you to consider and capture the proportion and gesture of the pose. Twelve lines, fifteen seconds.

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Figure Drawing Tools # 2 – Shading your Paper

Posted on March 16, 2011 by | Leave a comment

When learning how to draw figures we often start with a blank sheet of white paper, and something to draw with.  That approach will take your drawings in a particular direction, perhaps making you focus more on line, than tone.

The figures you draw will be in differing surroundings and in differing lighting arrangements.  The model may be well lit, or have a lot of shadow.  You may wish to emphasise the shadows on the model, or a dark background.

Preparing your paper with a background of tone can help you take your drawing in a different direction, helping you to focus on tone first, rather than as an afterthought.  The darker tones can become a more integral part of your drawing – before you even start drawing the model.

To do this, use the side of a piece of charcoal to scrub tone all over your paper. Try using willow charcoal to do this.  Willow charcoal has a lighter tone than compressed charcoal.  This will allow you to use compressed charcoal to create line and darker tone on your drawing as it develops.  You can also use your kneadable eraser to pull the light willow charcoal off the page to reveal highlights.

Your aim here is provide a background on which you can build other tones.

Preparing your paper this way will not be right for all drawings, but it is one of the tools in your artists toolbox you can call on when needed.

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Figure Drawing Tools # 1 – Kneadable Eraser

Posted on February 14, 2011 by | Leave a comment

The kneadable eraser was something of a mystery to me until I attended my first life drawing class and learnt how to use it.

The kneadable eraser works exceptionally well with charcoal. It operates in a different way to the kind of rubber pencil eraser we have probably all used. The pencil eraser abrades away the pencil marks, and perhaps some of the underlying paper, and some of the eraser itself. The kneadable eraser operates by absorbing the charcoal – the particles of charcoal are lifted from the paper, and stick to and become embedded within the eraser.

Over time the pristine white eraser will become black with the charcoal it has lifted. But you can continue to use the eraser for a surprisingly long time. I tend to use some of my older, grubbier pieces for any heavy duty work, and use a newer, cleaner piece for cleaning up lighter areas.

Why kneadable? Because you squash and re-squash the eraser in your fingers until it is soft and the shape you want it to be. When you have used it to clean an area of your drawing, knead the eraser to absorb the charcoal, and re-use.

Because the eraser is malleable you can shape it as you please – for example you can shape a fine point to clean a small area.

And the eraser is not just there to correct mistakes. (I hope you’re not correcting mistakes in your drawings anyway!). Use the eraser as a drawing tool. It is perfect for cleaning up areas of highlight on your figures, revealing the clean paper underneath. Used this way you can create stark contrasts.

Here is an example where a kneadable eraser has been used to clean up any stray charcoal to create clean white highlights:

So, if you haven’t used your beautiful, square, mint-condition eraser, now is the time to have fun tearing it up, squishing it, kneading it, and getting it dirty!

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Collect Figure Drawing examples

Posted on January 28, 2011 by | 2 Comments

You will face challenges when learning how to draw figures.  One challenge will be to find ways to expand your repertoire of techniques, and to find new, interesting and satisfying ways of approaching your drawing.  Another challenge is to maintain interest – to keep your level of interest and enthusiasm high so that you continue practising.

One way you can help to meet these challenges is to seek out and review the figure drawing of other artists.  Their displayed work is likely to be their best, and gives you an opportunity to see the results of their training, their practice and their approach to drawing.

A simple way to do this is to use a search engine such as Google, using the option to search for images, looking for terms such as “figure drawing” or “life drawing”.  Just scroll and page through the returned results to see hundreds of examples of other artists’ work.

As you look at these drawings, select the ones you like.  Work out why you like the picture – is it the lighting, the style, the use of materials, the line, the tone.  Think about how you could try out a similar approach yourself.  You might take a copy of the site’s address (url), or bookmark the page so that you can return to it later.  Or you could make some brief notes on why you like that picture to help you think through and record your impressions.

I’ve included thumbnail pictures of five drawings selected from doing just such a search, and why I like them.  Please click on the pictures to see the orginal sites and the drawings.


I liked the way this drawing has captured the action of the pose, the bold lines, and the speed of drawing

I like the gesture of the pose, the vibrant colours – quickly captured.

I like the contrast in colour, the strength of the lines and the fact the artist has captured the face and hands, the bits other artists sometimes leave.

I like the way contrast has been used to make the drawing clear and bold

I like use of colour, contrast, and the sparse thin lines. Good blog post too, about enjoying your drawing.

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Posemaniacs

Posted on October 16, 2010 by | Leave a comment

The best way to improve our drawing is to practice.  We all know that, but we don’t always have a life model to work with.  So even if you want to practice your ability to learn how to draw figures might be limited.  That’s why this site could be a great help to you.

www.posemaniacs.com holds a seemingly unlimited number of poses for you to see and draw.  The poses are anatomical – so you can see all of the muscle groups, something you wouldn’t see so clearly even on the fittest life model.  You can choose male or female poses, full body or face only.

You can select the pose you want from a selection of thumbnail pictures, or from a menu. Once your pose is selected you can vary it further by dragging the pose with your mouse so you can ‘view’ the pose from alternate angles.  In the example below you can see this, and in the last example you can see that you can add a grid which might help you to draw this to your paper, and you can expand the pose to full screen (though can this can be a bit pixellated).

The site also has a lot of tools which allow you to explore how to draw negative space, how to draw hands, thirty-second drawing etc.  These tools are very useful and I’ll cover these in another post.  For now I encourage you to check out www.posemaniacs.com – but with paper and a drawing tool in hand.  Don’t just browse this site – use it as a tool to improve your drawing.

Of course, this site won’t necessarily help you with light (though it does have cool shadows), tone etc but will be fantastic for quick and easy practice on the form and anatomy.

Not near your computer – don’t worry you can also get a random pose iPhone app.  This app presents a random pose which you can expand and draw – anytime!

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Charlene Chua

Posted on August 28, 2010 by | Leave a comment
When you’re learning how to draw figures you should always be looking at how others draw to see alternate styles and approaches. I love Charlene Chua’s drawings and illustrations and it’s always a treat when I see something new.  In these sketches you can see some faint construction lines, especially on the face of the last drawing.  If an artist like Charlene can use construction lines we can too. Charlene Chua Illustration

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