[xXxPZxXx]

I think I am going to be heading off to my first life drawing experience later this week. I am kind of nervous considering I am not the best drawer in the world. (but thats WHY I am going. to get better right?) grr I hate intimidation.

What are some tips for maximizing my time? I have read that it is good to do quite a few quick gesture sketches to warm up which seems like a nice way to start. I am going to be there for quite a while so how do I go about getting better faster? I have a habit of getting in to detail fast, should I not be doing that?

I asked this question to the good old search function and some really good stuff popped up from a year ago so I thought I could bring it up again.

Oh and what materials should I bring? Charcoal pencils/sticks? Conte? Markers? Will I look like a big dorkus with my "Artbin" Ok I don't care about looking like a a dork with my artbin cause I love that thing.

-PZ-

**oh and there is no instruction that is why I need the help. it is just one of those free sketch type of deals. Thanks everyone!

[Grim911]

Well, about rushing into details... Let the details be the pay off for heard work. Save the details till last... get everything in correct perportion to eachother first. nothing is worse that doing and awsomely detailed arm and then having to erase it because it is out of perportion to the resot of the body. Use the models head as a unit of measurment. Hold your pencil in your hand verticle straight out from your boyd. Line the top of your pencil up with the top of the head and use your thumb to mark where the bottom of the head should be. Then use that measurment to say measure the arm (of the model) then go back to your drawing and compare the size of your head to your arm, get the idea? Work loosly, you controle the work!!! Don't let it intimidate you, you don't have to be the best as long as your learning somthing!!!

Well, hope that helps!

[Brad Tyner]

Nah, I don't think you'll look like a dork with an artbin. I have a small one I put in a bag that holds stuff like erasures, markers, cloths, rulers, etc.. I'm in a Life Drawing class right now and we use China Markers a lot for warming up doing quick sketches.

This is my first Life Drawing class also and the best advice my teacher gave me was on how to "search" out the figure in the beginning. When using like a china marker or vine charcoal, hold the very end of it so you draw lightly and don't accidentally make dark marks. Basically you just start out by getting the flow of the form down. So if it's a compressed pose you might start drawing circles designating the proportions in the compressed pose. If it's not a compressed pose but a more relaxed or rigid pose you would want to start looking for relational information, such as angles and widths between certain body parts and features.

Remember ALWAYS work on the INSIDE. Don't draw the edges till you have a well searched out form. That way you can make accurate marks that look like you know what you are doing and not have "scratches" of line where you weren't quite sure where it was going. A solid flowing line is much more attractive-looking then lines that look like they are sewn together or something.
Example of Searching:
http://www.realizedesign.com/strong_dancer.jpg

Also, if you are going to be there for a while.. don't be afraid to take a break and look at what other people are doing.. maybe watch them work if they are doing some nice looking compositions/drawings. Look at how they create the form. Do they do any searching in the beginning? Do they measure? Once they get the form layed out.. Do they look for the "shadow shapes." Shadow shapes are shadows that can be defined by a solid mass.

Example: http://www.realizedesign.com/standing_nude.jpg

This is one of the drawings done by my teacher. Notice how most of the back is a solid shape of shadow. That's what you have to look for. It will make the task of shading a lot easier and less messy.

One last thing.. If you are going to use Charcoal for Life Drawing, use Hard Vine Charcoal for the initial sketching/layout then go to possible compressed charcoal for the hatching/shading. Reason being, is compressed charcoal has a binding to it that makes it very difficult to erase. Vine charcoal is meant to be moved around and worked with.. Not sure how knowledgeable you are so I'm just letting you know everything I know from this class. =)

Anyways, I think thats all I can think of off the top of my head.

-Brad

[ March 04, 2002: Message edited by: Brad Tyner ]

[ March 04, 2002: Message edited by: Brad Tyner ]

[MadSamoan]

For your first uninstructed drawing workshop, just bring some charcoal/charcoal pencils, a kneaded eraser and newsprint. Artbins are perfectly fine. It really doesn't matter what medium you use as long as it doesn't intrude on others like bringing in ridiculously big canvases or mediums that have obnoxious fumes like turpentine and certain design markers. After that, you can just watch what others bring and learn various techniques from them.

[James Bradford]

This is my method, it may work for you it may not.

I go to life drawing sessions every friday here. I usually bring 2 pencils (b and 2b), and 2 creicolor graphic sticks for thick/quick shading. In my opinion the best way to learn human form fast is do as many 1-3 poses that you can. Spend a good 2-3 hours each sessions ATLEAST. Spending 30 minutes will only confusing you when you have hardly warmed up. Think about 1 stroke lines, and getting the line of action down correct (the curve of the back; this helps so mcuh). A good way to learn proportions better is to draw the head and the feet first, and fill in the rest; atleast in my experience.

[glody]

well for one thing i wish our models werent so damn fat!! not that i have anthing against fat people...just....when naked its not cool...at all.

[Kaete]

Great suggestions, guys.

My tip is to not worry. Just have fun.

Really, life drawing is tons of fun and totally relaxing. I wish I was still at school where we had a free session ever other week.

Materials - I usually bring one tiny sketchbook to warm up in and a nice big (really big!) pad for the more serious study.

Bring whatever drawing tool that is your favorite. My addiction was oil-pastels, just because I loved smearing the colors together. But also bring along some extra stuff in case you feel like changing to something else. (You never know when you'll suddenly be in the mood for pencil or charcoal!)

Bringing the art-bin is totally fine, as long as it's not a huge cabinet on wheels or anything like that.

Also, remember that this is about experimentation, not about getting the prettiest picture in the class. Try drawing in all kinds of different ways.

Do a picture that's just shadows, or dots, or even contour lines! Whatever you do, just don't get wound up thinking "Must do beautiful work! Must be perfect!"

Good luck, and have fun.

[Kaete]

quote:

---

Originally posted by glody:
well for one thing i wish our models werent so damn fat!! not that i have anthing against fat people...just....when naked its not cool...at all.

---

Oh, glody... *shakes head*

That's just sad. Really sad.

If you're that desperate to see hot nude women, just buy some PORN or go to a nudie bar.

Perhaps when you're older you'll realize the best life-models are often the fat old women. It's about learning how to study the beauty and diversity of the human form, not how much blood rushes to your penis. Mmmkay?

[vurx]

i would suggest staying away from charcoals for a while, charcoal is more like paining than drawing. if you do decide to do charcoal, try putting the form down in pencil first then shading with the charcoal.

what i was/am beign taught is to draw the planes of the body, draw through the body, stick to the one line method (avoid lots of lines over each other making the outline fuzzy) reduce the human form to the most simple shapes as possible, boxes and spheres. add detail later.

my favorite things now is working on mid-tone paper and working with charcoals and white chalk.

inspirational image:

Pierre-Paul Prud'hon

one of my favorites

-- vurx

[Duckman2]

I have a pretty accurate sketching eye from practice so I just rub in a midtone ith powdered charcol, then I use a shammi to define the lighter areas, then I just draw the really important lines, but I don't outline whole forms, for instance where the value of the background and the figure is the same I won't touch it. Then I'll shade some more, shadows and darker midtones. Then with an eraser I'll pick out the lightest lights

[Tillek]

wow, these are some great tips. *bookmarks page* I just wish I was in college or taking some actual art classes so that I could do life drawings too.