Life Drawing: the human body
Please read through the entire list of instructions before beginning the exercise.
You will need your sketch pad and ebony pencil
Use a separate page/sheet for each sketch.
You will make a gesture drawing on each page and time yourself: 5 minutes for each drawing
It is important to be quick because that is the point of figure drawing: you are trying to find the essence of the form, the movement of the body.
Think of this exercise like “scribbling.”
For each 5 minute gesture drawing, follow these steps:
Start your drawings with the side of your ebony pencil.
Use a light pressure so that your marks are not too dark.
Draw the longest line of the body. This is usually the line that travels from the neck through the spine to a weight-bearing leg.
Then draw the line of the shoulders and arms.
From here, begin finding the form and proportions of the body, making quick, light gestural marks, still with the side of your pencil.
Add a few carefully observed contour lines to define the edges of the body.
We will draw from Nude Live: Sydney Dance Company (~4 min) --- linked below
Just a heads up, the dancers are nude. Please make sure you're in an age-appropriate, suitable viewing environment.
Put the video in full screen. Watch the video so that you can see the movement of the body.
Around these times in the video—0:10, 0:17, 0:34, 0:48— pause the video and make a timed 5 minute drawing following the steps listed previously.
If you prefer to draw clothed bodies, you can do this exercise by pausing a video still of any human body.
These are exercises in trying to capture the movement and essence of the body. They are not finished drawings.
Save your drawings!
Optional -- Life Drawing: living bodies (not human)
Please read through the entire list of instructions before beginning the exercise.
You will need your sketch pad and ebony pencil
Use a separate page/sheet for each sketch.
Repeat the above exercise, this time with any living (non-human creature).
You can draw a pet or find videos of animals online.
Make 2 non-human gesture drawings, 5 min. each
Life Drawing: the human body
Draw from Nude Live: Sydney Dance Company (~4 min)
Put the video in full screen.
Watch the video so that you can see the movement of the body.
Around these timestamps— 0:10, 0:17, 0:34, 0:48 —pause the video and make a timed 5 minute drawing (following the steps listed previously).
Youtube link: https://youtu.be/_zrThhA__DE