In judo, there’s a saying – ‘take a training session off, you’ll feel it at the next session. Take a week off, your opponent will feel it. Take a month off, everyone in the dojo will see it’. And it was true, if you took a month off, you’d end up huffing and puffing and […]
Our guide to equipment, kit, paraphernalia, gear, bits and pieces Mayko and I talked through the best equipment for a budding life drawing artist. Different materials and tools will work for different artists, and a process of trial and error will be needed for everyone. However, we did figure out some important things to consider and some top […]
As you can see from the variety of technical topics on this site, there’s a lot involved with just drawing a figure, so why add another dimension to an already complex mix? Indeed many artists continue to focus on monochrome drawing and can continue to find new depths with one colour. However, as you can […]
Characteristics: rich and pleasant colour, difficult to handle sometimes – especially soft pastels, cannot be erased easily. Who should use it? It’s not an easy medium to handle at first. Practise and a bit of determination are needed to master pastels, but they’re well worth the investment. Copying the pastel work by masters such as […]
Before going into anatomy or perspective, it’s really important to understand something that many of the best artists emphasise repeatedly. There isn’t a ‘correct’ approach to life drawing. Everyone has their own style, and that style will itself constantly evolve. You are doing things right when you are having fun and feel satisfied that you […]
Beautiful life drawing using warm pastel tones of woman lying down This is an important question for prospective students and maybe even those that haven’t been motivated to go to class for a while. I thought about it and discussed it with other artists, and everything seemed to boil down to two main reasons. Reason […]
What I wish someone had told me before my first class Before starting life drawing, I had a number of basic questions. Since then, I’ve found out some answers and thought it would be useful to share them with you. Where can I find a class? Finding a life drawing class is easy – click […]
Life drawing massively helped bring to life the drawing I do from my imagination. One reason is that it has helped to break down the preconceptions I had about the lines that define the human body. The lines that you need to portray a human figure in different poses during life drawing are often surprising. […]
The skeleton tells you about the structure you are looking at. We cover some of the essential points and shapes of it in our free beginner mini-course. The muscles give you the tension, relaxation, stretch and much of the sense of energy in the pose. Human muscles are layered and there are […]
By Mayko Oil and egg-tempera have been my main media for painting, along with occasional dabblings with watercolour. For drawing, I regularly use pastel and colour pencils. I have branched out into Photoshop and other digital media too. However, I have always stayed away from acrylic, convinced that it’s not for me. I tried acrylic […]