How I Improved my Figure Drawing

What is figure drawing?

Figure drawing is the art of drawing the human body, either clothed or unclothed.

A successful figure drawing has accurate proportions and anatomy. It should also feature a sense of movement, or gesture. This is the life force that makes a drawing feel alive, and is often the hardest part to capture.

Traditionally, the ability to accurately and emotionally depict people has been the most revered skill an artist could have. This skill was particularly significant before photography was invented. Imagine living in the 1700s, and the only way to have an image of you would be for an artist to spend weeks if not months looking at you and painting you. You’d want somebody with skill and style.

Where did I start?

The earliest “figure drawings” I could find in my sketchbooks are from when I was 13 years old. This was about 12 years ago. My grandmother was a hobby artist, and had left me a copy of “Bridgeman’s Life Drawing” when she passed away. This book breaks the human figure down into cubes and other very geometrical shapes. I had copied a few drawings from the book.

Now, I thought of myself as “bad” at drawing people, and tended to avoid it because it was very hard for me, so I have limited figure drawings from that time.

I thought of myself as “bad” at drawing people, and tended to avoid it because it was very hard for me, so I have limited figure drawings from that time. Realism was always my goal, but I lacked the confidence and skills to achieve it.

How did I improve?

Let it be known, Reader, that I have not practiced art every day of the last 12 years since those drawings. Life has a lot of ups and downs, and I didn’t view art as a career path until several years ago. Once I began taking my art seriously, I took figure drawing seriously, too.

I drew. A lot. Like a LOT. I drew poses that lasted 30 seconds, and I drew poses that lasted 20 minutes. I drew from life, I drew from websites, I drew and drew and drew. I studied proportions and anatomy and different philosophies behind figure drawing. I studied the old masters. I have sketchbooks and sketchbooks full of drawings like the ones you see here.

But, I wanted to improve even more.

I began studying at an atelier! Their process for figure drawing was slightly different than what I had been doing on my own. Rather than doing many short poses, we spent at least 3 hours on each drawing. I focused on total accuracy and also faced the challenges of drawing from life, day after day. I also began keeping an anatomy journal. In that sketchbook, I am slowly memorizing and drawing each of the muscles in the body.

This drawing is an example of a one-day (3 hour) figure drawing completed in my second month of the atelier program.

This is my most recently completed figure drawing from life.

I see a lot of improvement, but also a lot of room for MORE improvement.

Why does it matter?

Art is a craft. Not a diamond-dots-from-Michaels kind of craft, but rather in the sense of an old-timey craftsman who worked his whole life to become a master of whatever he does. One of my personal goals in life is to master my craft, and that includes drawing and painting the figure!

I see a lot of people jumping on the idea of a “wedding painting” trend like it’s a quick cash grab. I completely disagree with that philosophy. The ability to create wedding paintings is a byproduct of years of dedication to refining my craft. I understand that probably sounds a bit pretentious, but I take what I do seriously!

In my heart, I am Ash Catchem: I wanna be the very best, that no one ever was. <3