DEMONSTRATION: take a moment to observe the person and pose; SKETCH LIGHTLY because DRAWING IS A SEARCH FOR FORM. First find the SPINE OR CENTER OF THE TORSO, THE LARGEST UNIT OF THE BODY; explain that if this is wrong, the drawing cannot work. Get it right and everything else is attached. Add the skull, rib cage, pelvis shapes of THIS model in THIS pose; attach the axes for the arms, legs, feet and hands. Keep correcting the proportion (relative sizes) and positions. Build mass by lightly sketching the shapes of the form units on EACH AXIS. (Separate units for upper and lower leg, etc.)
STUDENTS: Start by drawing a line just inside the edges of the paper to increase awareness of the compositional relationship of the drawing to the total page. It also provides a horizontal and vertical reference which helps in perceiving diagonals. Use this device often in class and out.
Look at the shapes of this model’s body. First, lightly draw the general inner skeletal structure and then sketch mass covering the bony structure. Sketch something like sausage shapes as form units on upper and lower limb bones; it’s important that each section is initially drawn as a separate unit that can move independently. This way, positioning them accurately becomes easier. Therefore, draw in separate sections (skull--neck column--rib cage--pelvis--upper arms--lower arms--hands--upper leg--lower leg--feet). Constructing with separate units also makes it easier to achieve a sense of three-dimensional form in space, and easier to represent the model’s position because the drawing can move at the joints as they can in life. It also keeps attention away from contour description too soon which can look flat; the contour lines are the RESULT of the inner form. (The use of lines to describe details of outer form comes later after becoming sure of the basic structure that supports it.) Notice how the column of the neck fits into the chest, usually as wide as the jaw bone. Poses about 10 minutes. These early drawings can look mechanical and generic; but the process clarifies a sense of a convincing form in a specific position.
HOMEWORK: (#3) MEMORY DRAWING. Take a memorable position (twist, bend, balance?) in front of a mirror. LOOK carefully at the image. Also SENSE the shape you are making with your body. Fix the structure seen AND felt in your mind. Close your eyes, picture it. Then draw (from memory) the basic structure of your body doing what you did. Forgot? Do it again, look and feel again. Look for POSITION and INNER STRUCTURE, not detail.
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