The decision to make regular life drawing part of my weekly routine was aimed at improving skills in a number of areas I felt were deficient. Namely being able to draw the human figure to correct proportions consistently, developing the skills required to work from life rather than photos and understanding how to work quickly and accurately.
While there has been definite improvement in these areas, there has also been unexpected additional benefits resulting from this consistent practice. These include opening my eyes to experimenting with different materials and techniques I wouldn’t have otherwise been exposed to, and encouraging a mindset of exploring and developing a personal style.
Being around other artists and seeing first hand the decisions they make leads to questioning the decisions you make yourself. Initially I assumed my focus should be to capture the full pose from head to toe with the most accurate line-work I could achieve. But witnessing how other artists chose to represent the figure in their own individual style highlighted the many varying opportunities to experiment and develop the piece.
Sure, there is a full figure in front of you, but who ever said you had to draw the entire person. Perhaps just focus on the head and torso, or just the head and facial features for instance. Instead of working your way around each component of the figure in tight line-work – drawing an arm, a torso, a leg – concentrate instead on blocking in areas of tone to indicate the variances in light and shade to imply the form, and be open to losing edges, allowing the distinction between foreground and background to merge.
It is liberating to break from this perceived mindset and explore with freedom – experimenting with gestural sweeps and smudges. This has only been a recent watershed moment for me and I wont pretend that I have found the holy grail that defines my style, but each successive session gives me another opportunity to try out another idea or thought and feel free in the knowledge that every ‘failed’ drawing is another step closer to finding the thing that makes whatever I do exhibit unique characteristics of its own.
Here are some great examples of some figure drawing styles that I love the look of. These definitely offer some interesting food for thought on how to approach a figure drawing.
Henry Yan (www.henryyanart.com)
Ryan Woodward (ryanwoodwardart.com)
