FIGURE DRAWINGS

 INTRODUCTION TO DRAWING
People are such interesting and varied subjects to draw. With this compilation of projects from some of the most popular titles in our How to Draw and Paint series, you'll find in-depth information on every aspect of drawing people. Featuring instruction from four accomplished artists, this book is filled with step-by-step demon­ strations that show you how to re-create a range of people of differing ages and ethnicities. You'll find plenty of helpful tips on tools and materials, shading, and other fundamental drawing tech­ niques, as well as important information about the influences of bone structure and musculature. And detailed examples of facial features, hands, and feet will help guide you through the most chal­ lenging aspects of drawing people. With practice, you'll soon be able to capture amazing likenesses of family and friends in your pencil drawings!

Figure Drawing

Think of this part as your first day in a class for your favorite subject. This part tells you what tools you need to start drawing the figure and includes some basic drawing exercises to get your brain and your hand moving.

Off to a Head Start

Here I show you how to draw the essential components of the head and its facial features (eyes, ears, nose, and mouth). I devote the entire part to the muscle structure behind the facial features and how to form various types of facial expressions. In addition, I go over basic hairstyles (I wouldn’t want to leave you stranded over that issue!).

Building the Body

This part covers the basic proportion and anatomy of the human figure. I introduce you to drawing stick figures and mannequins, and I break down the figure’s muscle structure. In addition, I go over various action poses.

Sharpening Your Figure-Drawing Skills

Ready to take your figure drawing to a higher level? In this part, I cover various types of clothing and shoes. I also provide advanced shading techniques, fun drawing exercises, and basic perspective tips and tricks that give a more realistic, three-dimensional look to your figure drawings. In addition, I share composition templates that add narrative to your fig- ures’ poses.

The Part of Tens

In this part, I share various tips based on personal experiences. Here I list ten places to study and draw the figure. In addition, I present ten ways to organize, store, and present your figure drawings. You can use the tips in this part as a starting list, which you can modify or build upon to suit your needs.

Getting a Grip on Drawing Basics

 Before you dive into drawing the figure, you need to warm up your drawing muscles. Flip to the exercises in Chapter 3, which are simple and fun to do; in addition to serving the purpose of loosening up your wrist, you’re also training your hand to become more familiar with using your drawing tools. Here’s what you can expect:

 I start with exercises on lines, curves, and basic geometric shapes.

 I introduce basic principles of lights and shadows. By changing the light source, you change the narrative mood of the figure.

 The types of hatching and other shading techniques that I apply to the figure enhance the illusion of a three-dimensional object “popping” off a two-dimensional flat surface.

 Part of what makes figure drawing so spontaneous is that you don’t have to completely erase the lines that may appear to be errant. I demonstrate tips you can use with or without your kneaded eraser.

Drawing the Head

No part of the human figure draws more attention than the head. It’s the area we use to recognize one another. The features that incorporate all five senses are also located on the head. In Part II, I give you a heads-up on the following topics:

 The head’s basic shape: In its most simple form, the basic head shape is essentially a spherical object that at first glance looks like an egg. As the figure matures from infancy to adulthood, the bone structures adjust to the growing proportion of the body in part by fusing together. In Chapter 4, I walk you through different techniques for drawing the basic shape of the head at different ages and from different views.

 Facial features: When you examine the head more closely, you’ll find that it consists of a series of complex interlocking bones covered with cartilage for the nose and ears and multiple layers of muscle groups that control the movements of the jaw and mouth. And don’t forget the eyes! I explain how to draw all these features realistically in Chapter 5.

 Hair: Although hair consists of hundreds of individual stands, they cluster together in an organized fashion to form waves and curls (or they simply cascade down like a waterfall). In Chapter 6, I walk you through exercises that explore using different tex- tures to add realism to the hairstyles and types without worrying about drawing every single strand (that’s an in-hair-ently insane task).

Facial expressions: Our facial muscle structure is literally skin deep! Just the slightest twitch or reaction gives away the most subtle thought going through the mind (I, for one, have a terrible poker face!). However, these nuances make the face the center of attention in most figure studies. In Chapter 7, I describe the muscle structure of the face and give you pointers on drawing a wide variety of facial expressions.

Putting Together the Body

Creating and piecing together the body is similar to a putting together a jigsaw puzzle or playing a satisfying game of Tetris. Individual shapes snap together to form a larger shape. Check out the following topics in Part III, which is all about building the body:

Bone structure, shape, and proportion: Understanding the basic proportion of the human figure helps the artist not only measure the head-to-body ratio, but also estab- lish how large or small other figures need to be drawn in situations in which you can see more than one figure. Learning every bone structure of the body isn’t important for understanding the overall structure. Rather, identifying certain “landmark” points, where the bones and joints protrude out of the body, is more essential. Chapter 8 explains what you need to know about bones, shape, and proportion.

 Assembling a stick figure: Resist the urge to think of the stick figure in Chapter 9 as a crutch or symbolic substitute for drawing the human figure (like a hangman). Sculptors create a stick figure (commonly referred to as armatures) out of wire as a base around which they build the figure form. In Chapter 9, I also demonstrate how to use the stick figure as a basis to draw and build basic geometric body shapes.

 Muscles: If you thought the number of bones in the figure was mind-boggling, check out just how intricate the muscle groups are in Chapter 10. My objective there is to group the smaller shapes of muscles into larger shapes.

 Depicting the body in motion: Regardless of how accurately you draw the figure in a still pose, applying body rhythm and motion is what distinguishes your figure from a stiff mannequin. In Chapter 11, I explain how to draw realistic figures with movement.

Advancing Your Drawing Skills

In Part IV you go through exercises that address the clothed figure, other fun drawing tech- niques, composition, and perspective. These exercises are designed to jazz up your figure drawing based on the basic fundamentals you discover earlier in this book. Read on for more detail:

Clothing your figures: Becoming familiar with the clothed figure is important, because some fabric shapes not only simplify the complex anatomy, but also help you see how to draw the figure by using different shapes. In addition, the wrinkles and folds that run along the joints, limbs, and torso of the body help you understand the rhythmic flow and energy in a pose. In Chapter 12, I go over various types of clothing from the loose comfortable sweatshirts to the tighter jeans. In addition, I cover how to draw footwear (ranging from waterproof boots to open air sandals).

 Experimenting with fun drawing techniques: Chapter 13 incorporates various draw- ing exercises that provide not only a change of pace but also the opportunity to hone your hand-eye coordination. These exercises include contour and cross-contour draw- ings in which you observe and draw the model without looking down at the paper. In addition, I provide tips on varying the edges and shading of your drawings, and I get you started with building a photo reference library.

 Applying composition and perspective: Regardless of how well you execute the figure drawing, it needs a frame of reference (where the model is situated in relation to the page). In Chapter 14, I present several basic templates that help plan the positioning of the model (otherwise known as composition). In addition, I go over basic perspective principles (one-point, two-point, and three-point perspectives). Perspective in figure drawing is the art of creating the illusion of three-dimensional figures in a believable environment by using the horizon line, vanishing point, and perspective guidelines to determine which body parts need to be drawn a certain size or position in relation to the others.