[TheRealT]

Hey guys,
Lately I've been feeling a big urge to do some life drawing... But the problem is I have no model.... I thought about paying a model to model for me, but eh, hehhehm, I don't think they'd be comfortable with modeling nude for me in my room for money! Seems a little prostituty. hehehe
I'm wondering if you guys know of any good nudes books. I found some at the bookstore the other day, but most were TOO arty... Like the page is pitch black and all you see is two butcheeks floating in midair Just wondering if you know any that just has a million poses by men&women in different positions, usable size, and usable lighting...
Or if you guys can suggest anything else that would be good too

[Basse_Ex]

Most nude books are way too artsy. They're not very good references.

If you want a none-artsy book, the only I can think of is those picture series by Edward Muybridge, where you get thousands of pictures of naked people walking or running or sitting down, frame by frame. But their poses are a bit stiff. Anyhow, it's a good reference that can be used to a whole bunch of things.

Other than that, well, I guess you can try magazines. Fashion, sports, body-building, and porn magazines all feature many more or less dressed persons.

But, you should see if there are any art-schools or art classes near you where you can sneak in on the life-drawing classes. Mostly, art-people are very agreeable people, and I don't think they would deny you entry.

You can ask good friends and familly too. Familly can be quite good to use.

Uhmm.... that's it, I think...

[scylla]

Definately check out what's happening around you - schools/colleges etc which run life drawing. I live in Perth, Australia and well, there's not much here! But even we have a small gallery in the city which runs Life Drawing on Tuesdays. I've never been (actually, not sure if they still run it even! haha)...the figures were probably clothed anyway.

The day will come when i'll want to draw/paint nudes from life myself, so i've kind of thought about how i'd go about it.

There's no way i could ask my friend's to take their clothes off for me! (unless maybe they were draped in cloth). I could do myself (i'm female), but that might be uncomfy sketching in a weird pose....or i was thinking of asking my friends to maybe pose in their bathers/bikini.

Do you have any friend's who'd do that for you?

[TheRealT]

*is about to sound like a loser*
I dont have any friends. Loooong story....
And the prob with school stuff is my job makes me a nightowl. I'm up while the normal world sleeps.... And I also have very little time to go anywhere... Which is why I'd either need a model to come to my place, Or a good book....
DO models do housecalls?

[convoyrider]

I have like tow people I'd call friends, and I don't see them that much either. Prefer to be by myself cos they don't really follow what i follow.

[scylla]

hrm, you could try a prostitute? They do housecalls :P

hehe

[Ko]

'allo

You should try going to to a lifedrawing class!

Even one without a teacher should greatly enhance your figure drawing skills. In Aarhus, Denmark where I live, there's a few places where one can come bringing only pencils/paper and a few bucks for the model (usually an art student) - then you can paint various poses for an hour or so... great and cheap!

Something like that must surely be possible in Toronto!?!

- Ko

[jezelf]

You could try one of these books. I've got some good Japanese reference books which are photo posed collection books 'combat action pose collection' 1&2 - girls nude and clothed with guns, basically.

I couldn't tell ya the publishers because its all in Japanese, but the ISBN are

ISBN4-906436-96-X (combat action pose collection 1- battle suit)
ISBN4-906436-97-8 (combat action pose collection 2 - nude)


Or perhaps get you hands on a copy of Poser. I got Poser 3 'free' on a cover of 3D world a while back, as poser 4 is out now. Perhaps their website would have a downloadable version or contact details?

of course, it's never a substitute for the real thing :-)

Incidentally, if anyone is interested, after years of character design from scratch, I discovered poser is a real quick tool for character concepts and also comic strip help from basic poses to those difficult, but dramatic perspectives.

I worked out that I was spending unnecessary time getting weight and body types sorted out, when I could do all that in about a quarter of the time with poser. you can play around with gestures and present more of a character's 'character' faster than even sketching them.

with poser you can also import props, or if you have a 3D package, import the posed model and you can create basic, customed shaped props and, say armour, etc.

It means you can concentrate of weight, lighting, proportions etc. to enhance the character in a fraction of the time.

Then just print it out and light box it. Now you can do the more exciting concept work on the character and let your imagination take off sooner - of course depending on how you use poser - I don't use it in depth - just as a tool, the way your pencil/brush/Photoshop/3D package etc are tools.

Additionally, it means you can draw multiple angles at a faster rate, simply by rotating the poser figure on your pc.

but it's important to remember that poser isnt a true representation of reality. you still have fat, weight, muscles, etc to consider to have a beliveable image - (if you are going for realism)

hope Ive been of some help. good luck
jez

[TheRealT]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ko:
'allo

You should try going to to a lifedrawing class!

Even one without a teacher should greatly enhance your figure drawing skills. In Aarhus, Denmark where I live, there's a few places where one can come bringing only pencils/paper and a few bucks for the model (usually an art student) - then you can paint various poses for an hour or so... great and cheap!

Something like that must surely be possible in Toronto!?!

- Ko

---

Thanks for the suggestion, but like i mentionned a little firther down, I live at night, when everything's closed.... Dont have a choice, It's for my job. I dont think there's ant 3am life drawing in any school. heheh.

And Jezelf. Thanks , I'll order them asap. You couldn't by any chance scan a few pages to show me what kind of pics there are could you? Would keep me from buying a book I might end up not using But you said the magic word : Japanese. Anything japanese is awesome by my books

[wigin]

doing life drawing from books isnt really good... BUt if you REALLY REALLY REALLY half to then that would be a great solution. Yeah too bad you cant do life drawings at schools. IN toronto there are many choices.. Hmm Sheridan College in Oakville , Ocad, Art institute... im sure theres a shit load of other places......


Oh You could also try a Strip Club. they're open late right??? Anyways i did some life drawing at a strip club before and it was pretty good actually...

Anyways good luck

[jezelf]

Real-T...

Sure - Ive just scanned a couple of pages - but just sorting out a link - I'll post back here when Ive done it.

cheers
jez

[jezelf]

hopefully this works. the book is in B&W, BTW
the only color is on the covers

[MadSamoan]

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0789302349/qid=1019498898/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_3_1/104-8993504-1409556

This is a book called 'Divas & Lovers'. It's all nude/erotic black and white photography images from the 30's Hollywood. The models are attractive and the images have just the right balance of contrast to do figure studies from and you can pick up the book used for as little as 10 bucks

[TheRealT]

Jezelf: Cool Gotta love those Japanese girls! thanks, I think I'll guy those now!

MadSamoan:Hmmm. that book seems interesting too

[ April 22, 2002: Message edited by: TheRealT ]

[a0]

The best nude reference book I've seen is a new one by DK...

Anatomy for the Artist:



You can order it on-line, or check it out at the Indigo Bookstore in the Eatons centre.


Girlfriends come in handy for these kinds of thigs

[ April 22, 2002: Message edited by: a0 ]

[Novacaptain]

Maybe you could go to your local sports-arena and sit in the locker-room with a sketchpad and pencil...let me know if you survive it and i might try it too. You can always go to strip clubs but you'll probably only manage to do gesture drawings because of all the movements. If all else fails get a manequin or a "silicone-sex partner" that you can draw from.

If you get a model on the phone and talk to him/her i'm pretty sure you can talk about your situation...it's it might happen that he/she may have done a similar job before and won't feel too uncomfortable with your arrangement. A lot of people do study at night...you can't just discard your possibilities before exploring them. Find out for sure that there arent any night drawing-claseses. if there aren't, you can possibly find people in the same boat as you that are willing to start one.

Sorry for making up such silly suggestions...i just felt a little inspired

[jezelf]

Ive got another book which might interest ya. It's a small and inexpensive book containing over 100 poses of male and female figures. The sort of stuff you'll get in a life drawing class.

Poses range from glamorous pin-ups to classical stances inspired by materpieces of art

"The concise illustrator's reference manual - Nudes"
ISBN 0-7475-2306-1

publisher - Bloomsburry

I picked it up in a bargin bookstore for �5 (7.24 USD)

Its a small book, about 15x20cm. the pictures are in colour, but the satuation of them has been taken down.

I would scan ya some pages,but I cant use it today - but it's similar to the one I scaned above . not Japanese, though same approach.

[Snorkles]

www.free6.com
Lots of models there. Seriously, its good training drawing porn from the internet. Easy accessable and doesnt cost anything.

[TheRealT]

Thanks guys Those whould all hold me till i can get a hold of a real model

[conceptus]

try this i found hundreds http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=japanese+pose+books

cheers

[egerie]

quote:

---

Originally posted by a0:
The best nude reference book I've seen is a new one by DK...

Anatomy for the Artist:



You can order it on-line, or check it out at the Indigo Bookstore in the Eatons centre.

---

I've seen this book at Indigo as well and fell in love with it. All copies disapeared within a day here in montreal and if you really want to get serious with anatomy, this is definately a good reference.
Learning anatomy isn't a walk in the park. You have to study in order to learn. But all in all it's fun (imo) and greatly rewarding once you can pull a realistic figure off.

Cheers !

[Basse_Ex]

I've found it!

It's amazing!

NetNude

It's nude people of all ages, sizes, bodytypes, under extremely many light conditions!
It's nude people playing tennis, nude people drinking beer, nude people hiking, nude people making coffee, nude people in the snow, nude people and their nude dogs, nude people brushing their teeth, nude people building garages, nude people in cowboy-boots, nude hockey teams, nude grandmothers, nude dinner parties, etc,etc.
From the somewhat sexy, to the downright repulsive, this site has got it all.

Only problem is that there a lot more pictures of men than of women, but there's also quite a few women if you bother to look(And women are generally easier to find references of on the net anyway).

Anyhow... awesome site... if you want anatomy training, this site has got it all!

Whoah!

[Dr. Bang]

my eyes just gone blind!!!! PENIS OVERLOADED!!!!!!!

haha, i found this....



anyways, moving on........

[isthmus nekoi]

this is a little late but...
life drawing in toronto

on Spadina and King:
Studio M (416) 703-6877. Sometimes they have night classes which is cheaper. Weekends. Also Life drawing w/o instruction. Small school, w/pretty good teachers.

TSA (Toronto School of Art). Just cross the street towards Queen. Night classes w/o instruction.

As for housecalls, I'm sure you could approach a professional model. But I imagine it would be much more expensive than going to a class - not more than $10/session if there's no teacher.

Hm. If all else fails, drawing gestures in public places where there are people doing different stuff isn't a bad idea. You'll internalize the movement and posing will become very natural if you keep up the exercise. Eaton's Center isn't bad b/c it's always packed and you can draw ppl from different levels (and then they won't know you're drawing them :P)

ROM isn't a bad idea either. Tons of skeletons for comparative anatomy and free Friday nights when they host different events ea week. I have a membership there b/c it's a great place to draw. (you can even get a fold up chair!)

AGO also has pay-what-you-can exhibits. They have a lousy collection, but I'm sure they have some great masters stuff there.
------

As for getting into life drawing, I find too many people jump into anatomy way too quick. They know all the muscle groups and may know a thing or two about kinesiology, but they have no 'feel' for the body if you know what I mean. If you're only interested in anatomy, books would probably be a cheaper and more convenient way to go.

[Asurfael]

here's an url for some neat books:
http://www.howtodrawmanga.com/htbooks.html

Ignore the how to draw manga department, just browse down and there are several japanese pose collections. I think that at least the schoolgirl sportswear, campaign girls and swimsuits, men in combat action and chinese martial arts books could be helpful.

[richtoon]

I have this book which isn't too bad. Unfortunately they were a little gong-ho with the design aspect and actually cut out some of the pics so that the contours of the nude models are inacurate.

Other than that, its pretty good.

The Nude Figure: A Visual Reference for the Artist.
by Mark Edward Smith
Watson-Gupill/New York

ISBN 0-8230-3232-9

He apparently has a book called the FIgure In Motion.

Never seen it though.

Hey here is the link!! http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0823032329/ref=pd_sim_books/002-3724479-3813620

Check out these too!!
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1841882100/ref=pd_sim_books/002-3724479-3813620
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0289800900/ref=pd_sim_books/002-3724479-3813620
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0823003035/ref=pd_sim_books/002-3724479-3813620#product-details
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0471396966/qid=1021674844/sr=2-3/ref=sr_2_3/002-3724479-3813620

Let me know if this was what you were looking for.

Richtoon