Most artists know there’s value in drawing from life. Many understand that value. But there are a lot of us who simply don’t do it for one reason or another.
The apparent complexity of drawing from life is what kept me from practicing this particular art form for so long.
But you know what? It doesn’t have to be difficult or complex.
Drawing from Life in 3 Steps
In a recent email drawing class, I broke the drawing process down to three basic elements. Elements that apply to every form of drawing, but are especially helpful in life drawing.
Even if you’ve never drawn from life before.
Lines
The most basic element is the mark you make on the paper with each pencil stroke: otherwise known as a line.
When you begin a drawing, you start with lines, which are also known as “strokes.”
Lines can be straight or curved, long or short, thick or thin. No matter what type of line you draw, they all have one thing in common.
They’re one-dimensional. That means they have a beginning and an end. They have only length.
And yet the line is the foundation on which all art is built, especially two dimensional art—also known as flat art. Paintings, sketches, prints, and drawings are all forms of two-dimensional art, and they all begin with a simple line.
“Even the most complex drawings?” you ask.
Yes. Even the most complex drawings. Here’s how it works.
Shapes
Everything around you—living or not, naturally occurring or man-made—can be broken down into one or more of three basic shapes.
That’s right. Circles, squares, and triangles.
Take a look at the things around you. Chairs. Tables. A cup of coffee or glass of soft drink. An apple, orange, or bunch of grapes. What shapes to do you see?
Even complex things like animals and people can be reduced to these basic
shapes.
Shading
Lines are one-dimensional (they have only length.) Circles, squares and triangles are two dimensional. They have width and height.
The paper you draw on is also two-dimensional.
Almost everything you draw is three-dimensional. It not only has
width and height, but it has depth. It takes up space.
How do you draw something that looks three-dimensional on something with only two dimensions? The answer is shading.
Shading is the process of adding shades of gray (or any color if you’re working with color) to the shape you’ve drawn. These “shades” are known as values.
Shading is what turns this…
…into this.
When you shade a shape, you make it look like light is striking different parts of it to different degrees, and that creates the illusion that the object has form or mass; that it takes up space.
