journey of life drawing

Bleating on About Art

The Art of Self-Expression: Life Drawing as a Powerful Medium

Anyone who has talked to me for long will know that i love life drawing.

I’ve always enjoyed it (apart perhaps from those early teenage art school experiences, when it just felt weird) but became properly hooked during lockdown, when I discovered life and portrait drawing online. But life drawing isn’t always about the naked person in front of you – it provides a great opportunity for self-expression.

In the world of visual arts, few practices offer the intimate and profound experience of self-expression quite like it. Life drawing is an age-old artistic tradition, rooted in capturing the human form. But it transcends representation alone and can become a deeply personal means of communication and self-discovery.

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The Beauty of Human Form

Life drawing, centres on the observation and portrayal of the human body. This fundamental practice allows artists to engage in a direct and immediate dialogue with their subjects. Whether it’s a professional model or a friend volunteering to pose (this won’t be the case with me, mind you, I don’t like to draw people I know – unless I met them through drawing them in the first place!), the human figure serves as a canvas for self-expression.

A Visual Language

Life drawing goes beyond the creation of a realistic image. It’s a visual language that artists use to convey their emotions, perceptions, and interpretations. Through lines, shapes, and shading, artists express their unique perspectives on the human form. Every stroke of the pencil or brush carries a message, making life drawing an intensely personal form of communication.

The Exploration of Identity

It offers an opportunity for artists to explore their own identity as well. As they draw or paint the human form, they inevitably project their own emotions, experiences, and worldview onto the paper or canvas. I do this all the time – and my resulting drawings often look nothing like the image presented to me in the studio or on screen. In particular, my use of colour will convey emotions which perhaps I am feeling at the time, but which are not presented by the model.

The act of drawing becomes an introspective journey, revealing not only the subject but also the artist’s inner self.

A Release of Emotion

Life drawing can serve as an emotional release (and is particularly good after a stressful day!). It allows artists to channel their feelings – whether joy, sorrow, or even frustration – into their work. In this way, the act of drawing becomes a cathartic experience, providing a healthy outlet for emotions that might otherwise remain unexpressed. I have, in fact, turned to recordings of Zoom life drawing sessions when I’m feeling particularly low, or suffering from insomnia. Having this online resource is wonderful.

Beyond Words

For some, words are insufficient to convey their thoughts and emotions – or the have a block when it comes to writing these things down. Life drawing steps in as a non-verbal means of self-expression. It allows artists to articulate their inner worlds in a way that transcends language barriers, making it a universal mode of communication.

The Power of Vulnerability

In life drawing, vulnerability plays a significant role. Both the model and the artist open themselves to vulnerability, creating a space for honesty and authenticity. This openness contributes to the raw and unfiltered nature of the artwork, further enhancing its power as a means of self-expression.

Life drawing forces artists to navigate the intricacies of identity, emotion and personal perspective. It serves as a testament to the idea that art is not just about what we see but also how we feel, and how we choose to communicate our innermost thoughts and feelings. If you’re a complete beginner and nervous about giving life drawing a try, I really would recommend trying some of the online classes that are now available – there’s no need to share your work if you don’t want to!

Most of the online classes I’ve taken part in since 2020 were run by London Drawing. You can join their live sessions on Tuesday evenings and Saturday mornings, or buy a recording (and there are now more than three years’ worth of them to choose from). Take a look at their website here .

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Complete Beginner

Enjoy Our Guide Below Or Check Out Our Full List Of Topics

What is life drawing and why should I do it?

There are a variety of reasons you might like to pursue this wonderful art form, including:

Getting your materials ready

A lot of figure drawing artists love a combination of a soft charcoal or pastel pencil on smooth newsprint. These pencils provide a wide range of tones and strengths of marks, especially on the smooth surface of newsprint. Using A3 or larger sheets is a good idea. As you progress, you can learn to sharpen your pencil with a razor blade and sandpaper to use it to even better effect.

Understanding The skills you will need

We also have a PDF guide that helps you figure out where your skills are now and what skill to work on next which you can get here.

OBSERVATIONS

This is the ability to draw what you are seeing with natural looking proportions and shapes that aren’t distorted by your brain’s pre-conceived ideas of what things should look like. This is the skill to start working on first.

This the ability to see and capture the 3D forms of the figure on paper. One part of this is about seeing the figure in terms of simplified forms and planes. The other part is about understanding some of the anatomy that makes up the figure.

This is the ability to draw the figure with life and energy.

This is the ability to simplify down the light and dark we see into well designed shapes of.

We also have a PDF guide that helps you figure out where your skills are now and what skill to work on next which you can get here .

Basic observational Skills

MEASURING DISTANCES

For example, you can compare how long the arm is relative to the head, and then replicate that relationship in your drawing.

MEASURING ANGLES

For example, you can check what the angle across the shoulder is by holding up your pencil to it and then ensure your drawing also has that same shoulder angle.

VERTICAL & HORIZONTAL ALIGNMENTS

For example, you can check what is lining up vertically with the ear and ensure your drawing replicate that.

ABSTRACT SHAPES

There are a few challenges that come with learning to draw:

OUR EYES PROGRESS FASTER THAN THE DRAWINGS

In other words, often you can envision what you want to draw long before you can actually put it down on paper. This can often be disheartening.

PROGRESS ISN’T ALWAYS VISIBLE

Quite often, drawings look better when multiple different skills come together. Sometimes, you might improve in a skill area, but it’s not yet clear in the drawings because you haven’t yet improved the other skills. So sometimes you are progressing but you can’t see it.

DRAWINGS CAN APPEAR WORSE BEFORE APPEARING BETTER

To learn more about what the learning process often looks like, check out this article.

Making a plan

SET YOURSELF UP FOR SUCCESS

Give yourself doable exercises with realistic goals, so that at each stage you feel like you are succeeding. The goal should not be big and vague like ‘I’ll do these exercises and then I’ll do amazing drawings’. If you are doing basic observational exercises about measuring proportions, then your goal could be to do drawings with improved proportions. The drawings might not look great because you still need to work on other skills like gesture, form and values, but that wasn’t the point. The point was, did your proportions improve?

DON’T AVOID THE HARD THINGS

Don’t shy away from important skills because you have struggled with them before or you find them off-putting. I avoided working on simplifying forms and also anatomy for a long time because I found them difficult. Once I actually got stuck into learning them with proper exercises though, it turned out they weren’t as scary as I had thought. And because I really needed those skills, my drawings improved so much.

Fresh eyes challenge

– Understand the basic anatomy that is most important for figure drawing

– Understand the broad proportions of the figure

– Understand the building blocks of the gesture of any pose

– Understand the simple forms that comprises the human figure.

Understand the basic anatomy that is most important for figure drawing
Understand the broad proportions of the figure
Understand the building blocks of the gesture of any pose
Understand the simple forms that comprises the human figure.

YOU CAN DO IT!

Learning to draw is a process that looks different to everyone. Below is a case study of Rogelio’s transformation and some words from Rogelio about his experience with Love Life Drawing

ROGELIO’S STORY

Rogelio was very new to drawing and did not have a background in the arts. Since going through the Life Drawing Simplified Course, Rogelio has remained a hard working and dedicated student whose work continues to go from strength to strength. Well done Rogelio!

HOW DID LOVE LIFE DRAWING HELP YOU ON YOUR ARTISTIC JOURNEY?

I had no artistic experience going into the program and it gave me the tools to even begin learning. Every day during and after finishing the course I spent about 5-15 minutes drawing poses with the method you showed us, that alone took me pretty far

WHAT WAS YOUR BIGGEST BREAKTHROUGH?

Being able to reduce figures to simple objects and manipulate them in my mind in order to draw 3D objects on a 2D surface, instead of just drawing contours

HOW HAS YOUR MINDSET CHANGED?

I used to draw really quickly and try to put a bunch of lines down until I found the right one but this made my drawing look kind of noisy. Now I’m trying to take more time thinking about the mark before I make it.