How to Draw in Life Drawing Class

During my undergraduate years I majored in Art as well as Spanish and French. I have been drawing since I was three and actually drew comic book heroes and story boards.
I took Life Drawing class to learn the action, origin and insertion of every muscle in the human body as well as the skeletal structure, as well as draw from a live model.
I had never drawn such intense drawings with so much detail in such a short time, that is, with timed drawings.

Things You'll Need

• Bring all your drawing skills, any previous experience and a positive outlook that you can draw anything.
• Bring your drawing board
• Bring your best charcoal or conte crayon or lead pencils
• Avoid talking about your work, if it is good, others will do it for you. The work will stand for itself

Instructions

How to Draw in Lifedrawing Class

1. Bring all your drawing tools and enthusiasm. Stand or sit at your easel aside your drawing board in full view of your model of the day.

2. Size up the drawing situation and look for as many details such as lights and darks that you will add later after you capture the form.

3. Fill the page or canvas with your form that you have rendered from the model. Prepare your eye much like the lens of a camera and be able to capture quickly any position the model takes with reasonable accuracy.
   Rely on your researched knowledge of the muscles and their relationship with the human skeleton and portray them as accurately as possible. Draw with confidence without pressing too hard with the charcoal. Reserve any dark tones for the end product, that is, when the form has been captured.

4. When the form or figure of the model has been captured, while filling the page, all proportions basically correct and represented well on the page. Pay attention to the positioning of the head, hair, hands, shoulders and feet as these areas depict well who the person is. Ultimately, complete the drawing by adding all the proper dark and light tones to identify completely the form.

Tips & Warnings

• Nothing helps more in life drawing than knowledge of the muscles and skeleton of the human body. Without precise knowledge your success especially with the draped form is doomed to failure making the work look awkward, lopsided or just plain off the mark.

• Caution yourself as an artist to make note of using the head as a unit of measurement, especially in the standing figure. Respect especially the knowledge required of the muscles and skeleton. Reliance on the eye as a camera lens adage stems from having done due diligence with that knowledge. It is truly part and parcel, at least it was form me, and still is.