Interactive Figure Drawing Class- How to Draw a Female Model

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Hey Everybody its Merrill. Today we are going to do something different. I made this video for my viewers who feel that they have graduated from my step by step videos and need another challenge. As usual we will be using paper and pencil and a blending tool of some sort. In other words a blending stump....and or a paintbrush. If you dont have either of those use a q tip. Now for the first time, I am going to give you some required viewing. A while back I made a very good human proportion tutorial and knowing human proportion will help you while doing this drawing. If you wish, hit the link in the video description to download this image to print so that you have a paper reference image while you draw. The image will also be posted on the screen.

Your first job is to see two shapes. The figure and the background. I want you to lightly scribble in the general shape of the figure. Start to notice the relationship between the head and the hips. The head is almost directly over her left leg and her hip is sticking out to the right. Notice the width of the arms compared to the torso. Notice where the finger tips end. It might be helpful to know that when our arms are fully extended to the side like when we give somebody a hug, the measurement from fingertip to fingertip is very close to our height. Be sure to notice the shape made by the negative space under her left arm.

Once you get the general shape of the figure sketched in, you can start breaking the figure down in to smaller shapes. Notice that I am not just outlining the mass that I am creating, I am editing it. I am carving out the placement of the shapes just like I would for one of my step by step videos. The shirt was an easy place to start because it is central to this drawing. I followed it with the belt and the pants.

Im developing the shading a little earlier than I would with my step by step videos. The shading actually helps me with future placements. A shadow forms a shape and I use these shadow shapes to help me place highlights and other shadows. When you are developing the left arm be sure to notice the shape that is formed in between.

At this point. It is all about edges. Great artists make their original lines invisible. I have not managed that level of skill yet but I am getting better at it because im aware of the importance of edges.