Complete Guide to Life Drawing

A complete course, packed with instruction and profusely illustrated. This fantastic book is all you need if you want to start drawing the figure, or if you want to develop your life-drawing skills. It is the ultimate reference book, a most inspirational guide and above all it offers everything you ever needed to know, including tips on simple ways to ‘get it right’, essential advice on anatomy, help with easy drawing methods and many different examples of the drawn figure. It is important to understand how the body works and detailed sections show hands, feet, faces, limbs and much more.

Book Contents

Preface 8

Basic approaches 10

Study of Proportion
The principal proportions of the body 12, The contours of the male body 14, Building the structure for a male figure 16, The male figure broken down into geometrical shapes 18, The male figure: structural issues and exercises 20, Further exercises on the male figure 26, The male figure in profile 30, The female figure 32, Exercises on drawing the female figure 34, Studies of the female figure with further exercises 40, The young female figure 46, Studies of the young female figure with exercises 50, Sketchbook work 54, The young male figure 58, The child’s figure 60, Infants (25 years) and pre-pubescent children (710½ years) 62, Young figures in sketchbook work 64

Rest and Movement
Studies with a brush 68, The contrapposto stance 72, Exercises and sketchbook work 74, Exercises recommended for locomotive movement 84, Examples of different movements and solutions 86

Legs and Feet
Overall structure and recommended exercises 94, Structure and mechanism of the knee joint 100, Exercises in drawing the thigh and knee 104, Structural shape of the foot skeleton 108, Exercises in drawing feet 112, The leg as a whole with its muscle groups and mass 116, Exercises for studies of the leg 120

Torso and Shoulder Girdle
From the basic skeletal shape to the developed form 128, Exercises on drawing the skeleton of the torso 132, Shoulder girdle and rib cage 136, The torso muscles 140