Life Drawing

Drawing the Human Form is always an exciting challenge for an artist. When a Model is standing in front of you, do you aim for something Realistic, go you Interpret the figure or do you Abstract the figure? Do you draw the whole subject or part of the subject? What materials do you use and where do you put your first mark?

These are some of the questions that every Artist asks themselves before they start any drawing. When you’re at an “Open Studio” or “Life Drawing Session”, you don’t have a lot of time to answer those questions when Model does a series of one minute poses then a series of three minutes then a set of five minutes before moving on to longer poses.

I was very fortunate to live near Museum Schools, Artists Guilds and Artists Studios in the Boston area where Open Studios were hosted weekly. I could drop in and draw for a few hours and practice different techniques and train my eyes and hands to work quickly together. It’s also very enlightening to spend a few hours with other Artists drawing a Live Model and watch how other Artist approach the process and see their results. I still love going to Open Studios here in the Nashville area because there is always more to learn about drawing the Human Form and because searching for my voice as an Artist is a lifelong journey.

Here are some of my Life Drawings, Contour Drawings and Gesture Drawings from Models at Open Studios. I hope you enjoy a handful of these.