As some of my art friends know, I've been working on a self-guided program to really learn how to draw the human figure. Drawing people has always been my weak spot as an artist, and the only proper way to learn to draw people is to go to life class and draw from the live model, time and time again, as much as you can. But the logistics of my life here in the big city make it difficult for me, as I would have to drive to an art school, find parking, and be walking outside after dark. And it would also cost money which I don't have, to pay for live classes.

So I have taken to drawing figures from model picture books. There are many of these, including newer ones for artists just like me who need models to draw from. There are also model photo Websites like this one which feature loads of well-posed nude and clothed models, though in order to use most of the site's pictures and resources, you have to pay a fairly large (for an artist) subscription fee. I haven't tried it, but it may be worth it.

What I do is select a picture from one of my model books and pretend I am looking at a live posed model. I start with a rough sketch just as I would in a life class, except it is rather small because it has to fit on a sketchbook page, which is then scanned for my records or for further Photoshop work. If I want to, I then refine the rough sketch and make it sharper and more defined. I work in pencil, because it's the easiest medium to use, and I can also erase it. I am not sure whether you are supposed to erase when doing life drawing, but I do it anyway.

What I then have is a virtual figure drawing. By the standards of "classical realism," as put forth by the various neoconservatives in the art world (such as these guys), it is not real drawing because I am not working against the challenges of a time-limited model pose, it's not something three-dimensional but a two-dimensional "flat" photograph, and I'm not drawing on the traditional large-format newsprint with charcoal, or pastel paper with chalks. I am using the spawn of the machine devil, that wicked contraption the computer with the equally wicked magical spell of Photoshop. But I believe I am finally learning to draw a human figure that does not look like a building.

Posted at 2:37 am | link