Week 1: Introduction to Life Drawing

Welcome to Life Drawing I!This week we'll be getting acquainted with the drawing studio and the tools and supplies typically used for this course. Please bring AT LEAST a pencil and a sketchbook (minimum 9x12 inches) for the first class. We will discuss the textbooks and the goals of the course.In total there are Eight Assignments worth 10% each, and a Final Project worth 20%. The assignments are:

Week 1: Assignment 1: Hands
Week 2: Assignment 2: Human Skull
Week 3: Assignment 3: The Foot
Week 4: No assignment: Homework: Two contour drawings at home.
Week 5: Assignment 4: The human skeleton
Week 6: Assignment 5: Muscle Group
Week 7: Assignment 6: Three layer Limb
Week 8: No assignment
Week 9: Assignment 7a: Muscle Progression or 7b: Drawing from Life
Week 10: Assignment 8: Faces
Week 11: Final Project Due Week 12
Week 12: Hand in Final Project


Some great reference images for drawing hands: Taken From Bridgman's Complete Guide to Life Drawing:

Week 2: Gesture Drawing and the Skull

This week we begin drawing from a live model and will focus primarily on short gesture poses, 30sec-1 min. For homework, the assignment is to draw a human skull as realistically as possible from the front view, using a photograph as a reference. Here are some I found on a google search. The first is a drawing, so it's not the best place to start as a reference, but the drawing is very well executed.

Week 3: Short Sketching Techniques/Anatomy of the Foot

This week we'll go over some methods of improving our proportions of the figure, including measuring, looking for angles and half-way points, and our homework will be a study of the anatomy of the foot.

Reading: Art of Drawing Anatomy pp102-103
Drawing Human Anatomy pp 68-77

A drawing of the bones of the foot by DaVinci.

The next few are taken from Bridgman's Complete Guide to Drawing From Life

Note how he has analysed the basic shapes and used them to build very solid drawings.

These two images are from Atlas of Human Anatomy for the Artist (S. R. Peck), and should help with completing this week's homework assignment. Good luck!

Week 4: Contour and Longer Poses

This week we'll be doing some contour drawing. A contour is the line which defines a form or edge - an outline. When doing a contour drawing, you place your pencil on the paper, look at the subject, then move the pencil as if you were drawing on the surface of the subject. Try not to look at the paper until you come to a point where you need to re-orient your position. The drawings will look strange to you, but they are a great way to improve 'seeing' your subject. Here are a few images I pulled off of a google search.



We'll also go through some demos on tackling longer poses, measuring, looking for anatomy landmarks, and getting the drawing mapped out before we start adding details.

Week 5: The Skeleton

This week we'll be referring to the skeleton for reference while we are drawing. We'll start by blocking in our pose with a gesture drawing, and then look for anatomy landmarks to construct a simple skeleton beneath the pose. Examine the images below.





For homework, you'll be drawing a FULL FRONTAL VIEW of a skeleton, ideally from a photographic reference of a REAL skeleton. It's best to refer to both an actual photograph and then see how artists have handles drawing the skeleton. Try not to simply copy the artist's drawing.

Week 5 Part 2: Notes About Rendering

I dug up some good references for handling the rendering of form, light and shadow etc from a variety of sources. Hopefully this will help you when you tackle longer poses this week. Remember to try and see the shapes of the forms and shadows, work lightly at first, to block in those shapes and gradually build up the tone to render the form. Good Luck!

Week 6: Human Musculature

In this class we'll be doing a very brief overview of the major muscle groups, without going into too much detail. When looking through anatomy books, don't be overwhelmed by all the muscles and their names, try to focus on groups of shapes and landmarks that will help construct a more convincing drawing. Knowing anatomy in great detail can' hurt, but it's not as important as making good observations from your subject while drawing.

You'll be doing a homework assignment where you will be drawing muscles based on the style in your "Art of Drawing Anatomy" (see pg 47). Please bring that text to class so you can follow along.
For additional reading, pp63-87 give an overview of the musculature of the arms and legs. The images in these pages will be used for completing your assignment.

In addition PLEASE BRING CONTE with you to class, either pencils or sticks. We'll be experimenting with conte as a new medium for life drawing, for both short and long poses. Conte is not as easy to work with as charcoal, it has a more 'clay' based content but it can be blended and erased. The trick is to use a very light touch and build up your drawing in layers, and use the side of your pencil to block in the shading.