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the
DRAWING
TUTORIAL
September
2007
Back to the Studio
In this issue:
Congratulations to all of you who took
• Editorial us up on our August “Draw Till You
Drop” Challenge and have been work-
• August Draw Till ing hard on improving your drawing
skills over the summer with the exer-
You Drop Chal-
cises presented in the July and August
lenge Winners!
drawing newsletters. Check out the
winners and their efforts!
• “ASK MIKE”
answers to your For those of you who have been away
questions or busy with family over the holidays it’s
now time to get “back to the studio”,
• Back to Studio revise your goals and set up a schedule to make sure you are on track
Special offers & to reach them as the end of another year gallops toward us.
September
Super Draw! To get you started on the right track we are offering a great incentive to
invest in your art education this month with our big September Back
• The September to Studio Super Draw and free shipping worldwide plus value added
bonuses and discounts. Don’t miss the details in this newsletter.
Drawing Tutorial –
Introduction to
And to really get your juices flowing I am starting you off with an all new
Figure Drawing Introduction to Figure Drawing lesson.

Let’s Get Serious! Michael.

1-800-427-2468 © 2007. All rights reserved.

August 2007 “Draw Till You Drop” Challenge Winners
In our August drawing challenge we invited you to send in your drawings based on the exercises
in the July and August tutorials “The Paper Bag” and “The Old Shoe”. Participants were
allowed to send 1 drawing each in either category and each entry was awarded a ticket number.
The entries were not judged but instead tickets were drawn from each category to encourage
all levels to enter and for all artists to have an equal chance at winning either category.

The winners kindly gave us permission to reprint their entries.

And the winner of “The Old Shoe” drawing

challenge and a $100 Gift Certificate from
Artacademy.com is ...

Carol Ingberman
Libertyville, Iowa USA!!!

In her own words: “The Old Shoe” Carol Ingberman

Michael, first, I have to tell you how thoroughly I enjoyed these exercises and how much I
learned from doing them. The more I looked, the more I saw and could have spent hours more
on these drawings. Over these past years of study I had gotten quite good at copying the Mas-
ters but drawing from life still eluded me and was a frustration until your courses and especially
the exercises in Beginning to Draw which made a major difference for me. In the past when
I’ve tried to draw a paper bag I got overwhelmed with information and was unable to transfer
what I saw to the two dimensional paper.

These exercises were a completely different experience and now I feel I’m headed in the right
direction. Drawing paper bags and shoes etc. are great for learning especially because there
can be fewer preconceived notions . The shapes and planes are always new and challenging.
I’ll certainly be doing these subjects as an ongoing exercise. I’ve wanted so much to be able
to draw from life and now you’ve given me the tools! Thank you!!!

© 2007. All rights reserved.

Feedback from Michael

Carol congratulations on both your drawings.

In the “shoe” we wanted a contour drawing using only line and you have convincingly rendered
the shoe in the especially difficult foreshortened frontal view which is a great exercise in break-
ing down those symbolic preconceptions because from this viewpoint you had to overcome the
fact that the height of the shoe is longer than the length of the shoe.

The artist deals with this visual mindbender by accurately measuring the height to width ratios
and then has no choice but to fit the shoe into what feels like a very small space. If Carol had not
established these ratios and her compositional boundaries first she may have found her shoe
growing off the page as she struggled to come to terms with what she knows and what she was
seeing.

Carol has also used varying weights of line to indicate depth to the viewer and to accentuate
areas she feels are more important. These tonal variations in the lines make the drawing much
more interesting and lead the viewer around the pictorial surface.

Bravo Carol. As you mentioned, you have achieved a great deal in this exercise and your lines
will become cleaner and more confident as you continue to practise.

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Michael Britton
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today 1-800-427-2468
And the winner of “The Paper Bag draw-
ing challenge and a $100 Gift Certifi-
cate from Artacademy.com is ...

Marilyn Dueck
Steinbach, Manitoba Canada!!!

In her own words:

I learned a lot from doing this drawing, and

will probably try another one, using a stron-
ger light source and not crumpling the bag
quite so much. Maybe I tried to put in too
much detail.

I have begun working on the Beginning to

Draw lessons and wish I had more time
to do so. It’s the first time I’ve understood
the “measuring with a knitting needle/pencil/ “Paper Bag” Marilyn Dueck
paint brush” principle.

I am getting better at striking the arabesque ...

just need to continue practicing.

Thanks for the great lessons. I’ve been enjoy-

ing the newsletter since 2003.

Feedback from Michael

Excellent work Marilyn. There are a lot of good things here. The Paper Bag was, among other
things, an exercise using line and tone. I like how you have drawn the top zig-zag edge which
is something I think everyone would assosiate with a paper bag and your arabesque is looking
very good. You’ve firmly planted the bag on the ground with a good strong shadow and your
2-point perspective reads accurately.

You have also nicely delineated the various creases although you may have overdone some
of the hard edges. If you look back at the lesson you will see that I have some sharp-edged
creases but most of the tonal work has been handled with cross-hatching which eliminates hard
lines especially for form shadows which have a soft edge.

I’d also like you to observe how far I pushed the tones and really go for it next time and see if
you can get a greater stretch of tonal values from light to dark. You’ve taken a complex job and
made it look easy. Keep up the great work.

© 2007. All rights reserved.

 ask mike!
In our new ASK MIKE column, Michael answers your questions on art, the
DVDs, materials etc. Send your questions to queries@artacademy.com and
type ASK MIKE in the subject line.

Re: Time frame to complete realist portraits.

q: Hi Mike,

What is a reasonable amount of time to complete a realistic graphite por-

trait? Are there certain expressions that are preferred in creating a por-
trait? I don’t remember seeing any with smiles with teeth showing. I
personally prefer drawing portraits without a big smile, but some clients
want a big smile. What do you think?

Your feedback is much appreciated.

Thanks,
Jennie Moscatelli, USA

A: Hi Jennie and thank you for bringing up these interesting questions.

In short, there are no set rules for time-frames to complete a portrait.
Realist portraits can be done very sketchily in 20 minutes or can take
months to complete depending on how realistic it is, the method and
materials you are using, it’s size etc.... A good drawing done by carefully
building up tone in layers as in my technique will take from four to 30 solid
hours to complete or much more, depending on how far you push it, how
complex the hair is and what elements you choose to include such as
clothing, hands etc etc...

Most artistic portraits don’t include teeth because generally a toothy smile
speaks more of family photos rather than a serious work of art which
these days is often a socio-political statement of some kind or a com-
mentary on the human condition. Teeth in portraits have to be extremely
well executed to work and they usually don’t look that great and can come
across as sacharin. Although baring teeth doesn’t always mean a smile.
But Frans Hals, the great Flemish master, pulled off some great smiling
and laughing portraits and was one of the few who could. Take a look at
some of his work.

Commissioned portraits however are at the whim of the client and if they
want big happy smiles, they are probably not wanting a work of art as
much as a photographic image and what they think of as a personal
memory of the subject. Hope this helps, Michael.

1-800-427-2468 © 2007. All rights reserved.

© 2007. All rights reserved.
 WIN
my Art School
Revolution
Collection

September marks the beginning of the school year in many countries and we want to really
encourage you to GET SERIOUS about your studies.

So for this month we are proud to announce a fantastic opportunity to win an entire Art School
education with our September Back To Studio Super Draw! Every investment in your art
education during this month gets you tickets in the draw.

One lucky artist is going to win!

The entire Art School Revolution Collection ($597 US) – that’s all our painting and drawing
fine art programs and valued at over $1700! Plus the winner will receive a full refund on their
September purchase of any DVD, CDr or Collection included in the prize!! It’s huge!!!

Plus everyone’s a winner with free shipping worldwide on all orders this month and value
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At Artacademy.com we like to make everyone a winner so for the month of September it’s FREE
SHIPPING anywhere in the world on all orders!
 the
DRAWING
TUTORIAL
September 2007

Lesson 3: Introduction to
Figure Drawing

H
istorically, the human figure has been considered the
highest endeavor of realist drawing. Figure drawing is
complex and challenging – for the beginning artist the
figure can be daunting. So in this lesson I will endeavour
to give you some tips to get started.

Where then should the beginning artist begin? First, the concept of pro-
portion must be understood and acquired through training. Second, the
ability to accurately ascribe shape and its correct proportion is the sub-
sequent skill to be developed. Understanding plasticity (the construction
of 3-dimensional form) then follows.

1-800-427-2468 © 2007. All rights reserved.

 These are the critical skills that are acquired
through training. This is the reason the first two
hours of my Beginning to Draw DVD Work-
shop concentrates on training you to accurately
assess proportion and ascribe shape. Striking
an arabesque is the synthesis of these two
inseparable skills.

When we draw a portrait or a still-life object the

arabesque is first struck, then measured and
verified, and then we proceed to work up the
drawing from the ‘outside in’. Figure drawing
requires a different strategy.

For this lesson I am using a small replica of a sculpture by Edgar Degas.

Pictured here is a full bronze casting from the original Little Dancer -
Aged 14, 1889. The story of this sculpture is interesting and speaks
volumes of late 19th Century French society.

The 14 year old model for this sculpture was Marie Van Goethem, one of
three daughters of a tailor and washer woman. Marie was not a pretty
girl but she did possess a strong and defiant character. Her young ambi-
tion was to become the most famous dancer in the world.

Alas, her ballet career ended when, at age 17, she was fired from her
ballet company for not attending rehearsals and classes. It is assumed
that she turned to prostitution to make a living. She had no employable
skills and this was the fate of many single working-class women at that
time.

The critical reception of Little Dancer was mixed. The majority of critics
considered the sculpture ugly – that it looked like a museum specimen –
and compared young Marie to a little monkey.

Today Little Dancer is one of the most popular 19th Century sculptures.
Replica sculptures of Little Dancer can be purchased at many museum
gift shops. You can also order it online (prices range from $37 to $114
depending on size and quality) at museumstorecompany.com (just enter
‘Little Dancer’ in the Quick Find Box).

1-800-427-2468 © 2007. All rights reserved.

 Of course, you do not need to have a
Little Dancer replica in order to do this
lesson. Any proportionally accurate fig-
urine or plaster cast at hand will suffice
to practice from. If you live in a city
you could go to your local museum and
draw the sculpture there or if there is
a smallish statue in a local square you
could use that. Or attend a life drawing
session and draw from life if there is
one in your area.

If you are really stuck you could use a

small wooden artist’s mannekin or for
that matter a Barbie Doll. In this exer-
cise we are more concerned with how
to think about drawing the figure, the
overall concept of placing the figure and
establishing the initial gesture of the
human figure so we are not too con-
cerned about what model you use.

The first step in drawing the figure is

to determine the size of the figure on
your pictorial surface. The beauty of
this method in which we use relative
sight-sizing is that you can make the figure whatever size you want
according to your desired composition so it matters not whether your
model is six feet or six inches tall.

But for this exercise I would recommend drawing your figure no more than
8-10 inches high. So make a mark to indicate the top of the head and the
lowest point you can see on your figure which in my case is the dancer’s
left foot or toe.

A critical component of figure drawing is the gesture. And to capture the

gesture we use an armature. The armature in art is the skeletal frame-
work such as that used in sculpture to suggest the gesture of a pose
before the bulk of the figure is massed out in clay. And it’s a good idea
when drawing the figure to think in those terms.

1-800-427-2468 © 2007. All rights reserved.

 Your primary concern when sketching in the armature is the stance of
the figure. Ask yourself ‘How is she standing? Is she leaning more to one
side? What leg is carrying most of her weight? etc.’ Take note of the
angle of the shoulders and the angle of the hips and imagine the models
spine. Make some light rudimentary lines to suggest the gesture and
angles you are seeing.

In my demonstration drawing I am using sharpened black conté and

drawing quite lightly on beige cartridge paper which is inexpensive paper
that is a little heavier than newsprint. Newsprint sheets or pads are also
good for practising the figure.

From the armature I now develop

the construct. The construct is
an elaborate arabesque that engen-
ders numerous shapes synthesized
into one cohesive gestalt.

This is no mean feat. You can clearly

understand why I stress the impor-
tance of being able to accurately
assess proportion and shape.

The good news is that the skills

required for rendering the figure’s
construct can be acquired through
proper training.

A common error is to draw the head

too large. The head is actually quite
small considered against the much
larger mass of the torso and legs.

1-800-427-2468 © 2007. All rights reserved.

Another common error is to initially
check your proportions using head-
lengths. The smaller your unit of
measure, the greater the likelihood of
error. Head-lengths are best used later
for larger drawings and for verifying
smaller proportions such as the width
of the shoulders.

It is more accurate to divide the figure

into quarters. First, verify that your
drawing’s halfway mark corresponds to
that of the figure. The same should
be true for the first and second quarter
marks.

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© 2007. All rights reserved.

 The caveat, however, is that you should
verify your proportions after your initial
construct is sketched in. It may seem
like a good idea to pre-measure first but
the result will be a stilted drawing. And
second, you will be cheating yourself.

Every time you draw your construct then

check its proportions by sighting and
then correcting, you are training yourself
to accurately adjudge proportion and
shape.

An important consideration in figure

drawing is weight and balance. The
straightened back leg is supporting most
of the figure’s weight. The result is the
the hip is being pushed upwards and
consequently the upper torso must com-
pensate this unequal weight distribution
by leaning into it.

This is a balancing act that we do uncon-

sciously. If one hip is pushed up, it’s cor-
responding shoulder will dip down. The
term for this is contrapposto.

An invaluable tool for figure drawing is the plumb bob which can
be purchased at most hardware stores or you can make one
yourself using string and an attachable weight such as a fishing
sinker. I discuss and demonstrate the use of the plumb bob in my
Beginning to Draw and Mastering Portrait Drawing DVDs.

Plumb bob’s are used for verifying vertical alignments, for exam-
ple, how the heels of the feet relate to the head of the figure.

1-800-427-2468 © 2007. All rights reserved.

 Using my plumb-bob I discovered that
the outstretched leg was, well, too out-
stretched. Therefore I corrected it.

This is as far as I would recommend that

a trained beginner should go when initially
studying from figurines or small casts.

What I mean by a ‘trained beginner’ is one

who has acquired the rudimentary skills
of proportion and shape and has spent a
reasonable amount of time drawing still-
life objects. In dealing with the mechanics
of the human form it’s best to first have
your foundational drawing skills solidly
established.

Using small replica sculptures or figurines is an excel-

lent way to begin your studies of the human figure.
I do not recommend drawing the figure from photo-
graphs for beginners due to the inherent distortions.

Once you are comfortable with the strategy of drawing

I have presented in this lesson you can push forward.
Spend about 10 to 15 minutes on each pose.

I will be making a complete “Drawing the Figure” DVD

workshop in the near future in which this subject will
be fully demonstrated and explained.

Michael.

1-800-427-2468 © 2007. All rights reserved.

 SIZZLING SUMMER
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