Figure drawing 203 is the next step to becoming an accomplished artist.

Many artists use the phrase “life drawing” interchangeably with “figure drawing”. These both mean the same thing. This can be confusing to newer artists who are often told to draw from life. Artists take a variety of approaches to draw the human figure. They may draw from live models or from photographs, skeletal models, or memory and imagination. Most instruction focuses on the use of models in “life drawing” courses.  Figure drawing is needed in every part of the production.  Take Storyboarding for example! Have you ever heard of Heinrich Kley?  

What if I don’t have a life drawing model?

The use of photographic reference—although common since the development of photography—is often criticized or discouraged for its tendency to produce “flat” images that fail to capture the dynamic aspects of the subject. Drawing from imagination is encouraged for the expressiveness it encourages and criticized for the inaccuracies introduced by the artist’s lack of knowledge or limited memory in visualizing the human figure; the life drawing experience of the artist with other methods has a large influence on the effectiveness of this approach.

You can use both imagination and photo references.

That’s right! Use both! Draw people wherever you are. No people around? Draw from your imagination? Can’t think of anything? Draw from a memory of a person! It works every time! Therefore, use this class to propel you to the next skill level of figure drawing. As a result, you will find yourself constantly sketching people. and, you will develop your life drawing observational skills too! Consequently, you begin to enjoy the process. That is to say, at first it will be hard. In other words, You will struggle, and that’s good. To clarify when you don’t feel like drawing you should draw the most! Just like Heinrich Kley!, He drew from everything except a living model! His drawing was all from his head! You know, Heinrich Kley don’t you?

Who is Heinrich Kley?

Heinrich Kley (15 April 1863 in Karlsruhe – 1945 in Munich) was a German illustrator, editorial illustrator, and painter.

Kley studied “practical arts” at the Karlsruhe Akademie and finished his studies in Munich.^[1] His early works were conventional portraits, landscapes, still lifes, city scenes, and historical paintings. From about 1892 he won a reputation as an “industry artist”, painting manufacturing scenes in oils and watercolors. They proved his deep understanding of the modern machine world.

In the next 10 sessions, you will see how much we have to learn from Kley!