I haven’t posted a figure sketch in a very long time, so tonight’s the night. I was working on a painting (agonizing, is more like it) and it’s just not going to be done tonight. So the heck with it! Here’s a figure drawing instead. Continue reading “Quick Nude Sketch (NSFW, obviously)” →

Yay, GotART has resumed its figure drawing sessions, every other week. I’ve missed figure drawing so much. It’s my belief that every artist (especially figurative artists—but seriously, every artist) needs to return to the fundamentals, and one of those is figure drawing. It’s one of the hardest things to draw (so they say) and so it’s a wonderful way to keep on your toes.

We had a new artist join us last time. She said she hadn’t been doing any sort of art that long, and she was worried that her life drawing wasn’t good. She said it was the first time she’d ever attempted anything like it. Well, I thought she was awesome, especially considering her relative lack of experience. She knows she needs to practice (don’t we all) but I think she’s off to a great start.

That’s something I feel very (VERY) strongly about. That you get started and you don’t give up. Even if you don’t think you’re very good, you’ll never get any better if you don’t keep working at it. I hold great respect for anyone who plants their butt in a chair and struggles through something difficult like figure drawing. It doesn’t matter how well their drawings turn out, but that they’re THERE. Doing the work. Improvement will come in time. What matters is the commitment to doing the work. Without that, there’s no hope, is there? That’s true for everything.

Okay, here’s a few of my sketches from that session. Done in my 9×12 sketchbook, with one of those mechanical clickie pencils. Most of the poses were maybe 5-20 minutes, I think. I was not feeling very perky (it’s always hard coming back to figure drawing after an absence), but it’ll be better next time.

I found this old newsprint sketchpad from a figure drawing class I’d attended years ago at Glendale College. The paper was in pretty bad shape, but I took photos and tried to Photoshop some of the sketches into something presentable. Here’s my favorite of the bunch:

I am a big believer that every artist, especially those who are going to draw and paint representationally (not abstracts) should take some figure drawing classes. There’s nothing quite so humbling and challenging as drawing the figure from life.