Prompt
Complete six hours in total of gesture drawings of human figures. We recommend that each drawing session is a minimum of one hour so you have time to warm up and sharpen your skills.
Use a timer and make two, five, and ten minute drawings. Start with the two minute ones and progressively increase to ten minute drawings.
Examples
Toaster, Tent, Steen, Pat McIlroy
Reference images
- Full figure stills from Eadward Muybridge’s Human Figure in Motion
- Full figure nudes by photographers
PHOTOGRAPHERS
- Pieter Hugo, Alfred Stieglitz, Dario Calmese, Diane Arbus, Dorothea Lange, Edward S. Curtis, Herb Ritts, John Edmonds, Peter Lindbergh, Richard Avedon, Sebastião Salgado, Steve McCurry, Vivian Maier, Yousuf Karsh, Zanele Muholi, Robert Mapplethorpe, Walker Evans, Catherine Opie, Dorothy Norman, Irving Penn, George Platt Lynes, Guglielmo Plüschow, Edward Weston, Francesca Woodman, Franz Grainer, Imogen Cunningham, Laura Aguilar, Ruth Bernhard, Clifford Owens, Bruce Weber, D’Angelo Lovell Williams
Recommended media
Sketchbook that is around 9″ x 12,” pencil, colored pencil, Caran d’Ache Neocolor I Crayon
Inspiration
Look up figure drawings by Raphael, Pontormo, Paul Cadmus, Rembrandt, Peter Paul Rubens
Two minute Gesture Drawings
This video demonstrates how to do two minute gesture drawings using stills of figures from Eadweard Muybridge’s book The Human Figure in Action. Prof Lieu explains how to capture the most essential masses and forms of the human figure within two minutes. Demo led by Art Prof Clara Lieu.
Top Figure Drawing Mistakes
Avoid these mistakes when drawing the human figure! Common mistakes are tracing the outline of the figure, drawing too dark too soon, leaving the hands and feet to the last minute and more.
See these mistakes demonstrated, and followed up with showing more effective and efficient techniques for drawing the figure. Reference photos from Eadweard Muybridge’s book The Human Figure in Action.
- Watch the 3 min. version
- Watch the 80 min. version
- Video Walkthrough & more
- Submit your track images + info via this upload form.
- You can choose to receive a hard copy certificate from us via snail mail. (this includes international people)
- We’ll feature your track work in an Art Prof Share segment in one of our live streams on YouTube.
- We’ll post your name, a link of your choice, your slideshow, and video feature on the corresponding track page in our student gallery area.
