LIFE DRAWING SIMPLIFIED
YOU CAN BE DRAWING BEAUTIFUL FIGURES IN 2023.
THIS IS THE BEST PACKAGE OF LESSONS WE HAVE EVER MADE.
Video: How to Make Life Drawing Simple
Click to play. (Contains nudity, viewers must be over 18)
Is This You?
“There are so many skillsets within figure drawing and they are each really hard to learn!”
Gesture, proportions, anatomy, construction – you could study any of these for years on end. Fortunately, you don’t need to master these subjects in their entirety to draw figures beautifully. In fact, you just need to learn the most important 20% of each skillset, and then combine them together.
“Some artists make it look easy, but when I do it, it doesn’t work like that!”
Those experts are not special talents. They are people that have done the exercises that give them the basics of each skillset. These basics create a powerful drawing ability which is easy to build onto. Until those basics are built, it’s counterproductive to try to learn more advanced things, so the key to success is to focus.
Learn to simplify figure drawing dramatically
6 WEEKS OF LEARNING AND FUN TOGETHER
What if all you needed to focus on was the simplest and most effective parts of gesture, anatomy, observational skills and construction? Rather than being overwhelmed by all the skills you have to learn, it all becomes straightforward and doable. The best part is, each one starts to help you learn the other ones.
Across 12 lessons, we will master the 20% of anatomy that gives you enough knowledge to do simple construction exercises which then help you to only ever need the simplest observational skills. By mastering the simplest aspects of each skill, we create a powerful combination.
We love life drawing, but more importantly we love helping people become good at life drawing. It’s been amazing to help tens of thousands of people navigate the tricky path to beautiful figure drawings through Love Life Drawing. This programme is our chance to work more closely with a smaller group of people.
Kenzo & Mayko
YOUR INSTRUCTORS
12 Lessons
The lessons are interactive – you will be drawing as you take in the information. This way your eyes and arms learn the information, not just your brain!
We will gradually build our ability to simplify the figure starting with the torso and eventually covering the whole figure. While we explain and demonstrate all this, at each stage you will be given time to do it yourself. These lessons will be around 30-40 minutes including time for you to draw.
12 Practice Sessions
Each lesson is accompanied by a carefully designed practice session. We will provide a set of poses to draw and depending on what we’re working on, annotations and guidelines on the references to help you see if you’re drawing the right things for the exercise, and examples to help you complete the practice successfully.
Live feedback sessions
Sometimes drawings are a struggle and you’re not sure why. This is where feedback can be so valuable. I will select drawings from the community that we can all learn from and we will discuss what is working well and what could be better via Zoom. I’ll answer questions and address any confusion. Previous students have told me the group feedback sessions were as useful as the lessons. The sessions will be recorded for anyone that can’t make them. (The live sessions are available to those that sign up for the ‘Feedback’ tier.)
Feedback from ME
If you’re in the feedback tier, you’ll get access to our student community spaces. Whether you’d like to share your drawings or not, seeing the community posts and feedback on people’s drawings is really useful and fun. For each of your main assignments, I’ll give you feedback via a short video. You can also ask questions and get clarification about anything that is confusing you.
WHAT PAST STUDENTS HAVE SAID
“I would encourage anyone of any age, who wants to learn more and improve their life drawing skills, to sign up. From my first drawings, to the last as the class was ending, there was definite improvement. I feel proud of how far I came in these short weeks, and didn’t want it to end. Thankfully, we can access the class over and over, and continue in the community.”
SUSAN
“I feel like this is the course where I finally started to really understand the human body. The feedback was always thoughtful, insightful, kind, and encouraging. After kind of stagnating with my figure drawing practice for a few years, this course helped me reach a new level in terms of skill and understanding.”
DANI
“Learning to draw is full of self-doubt enough as it is, Kenzo’s constantly building up his students while providing helpful suggestions. It’s what really makes this course and the feedback stand out. I hope Kenzo and Mayko offer other courses in the future!”
Douglas
See more testimonials from past students here.
THE SKILLS YOU'LL BUILD
THE KEY WORD IS SIMPLIFICATION
- The essential anatomical forms
- The simplest constructions
- The most powerful and easiest observational skills
We will apply these first to the torso, then shoulders and thighs (i.e. attaching the limbs), the head and neck and then the limbs themselves. Through this practice of the most important and simplest aspects to figure drawing, we will develop confidence. Confidence combined with simplification will lead us nicely onto developing our gestural skills further.
Mary's transformation
CASE STUDY
Mary had done various workshops and courses before, but was still unsure when faced with a figure to draw. She came in with an amazing learner’s mindset and really applied herself, and I was so impressed with the transformation in her drawings, which you can see below.
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"I've learned more in this 6 week
class than I have in many in-person,
multi-day workshops
Who the program is for
- If you love life drawing but you struggle with establishing the gesture and simple forms first time.
- If you are willing to put in practice time to mastering the most fundamental skills.
- If you have seen our tutorials on YouTube or on this website and found the content has helped you, you will love this programme.
- If you want to know how to approach each area of the figure, this is for you.
Who it’s not for
- If you are an advanced artist who can confidently and quickly establish the gesture and forms of the figure, it may be too basic for you.
- If you are looking for ‘secrets’ that just by knowing them will transform your drawings, this course is not for you. It only works if you do the practice.
- If you want a comprehensive anatomy course, this is not it. We will cover basic anatomy where it is useful for our observational skills.
- We ask that only people aged 18 and over sign up for the course.
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Alex
“Carefully combining the most important 20% of construction, anatomy, observation and gesture has had a huge positive impact on my figure drawing ability and confidence. No other figure drawing course has such intelligent delivery of content to maximize learning potential.”
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Betty
“I have evolved from a person who is lost and scared when looking at a model, not knowing where and how to begin, to a person who knows exactly what to do and how to attack the work in front of her with calmness and confidence. I no longer fear starting a new piece of drawing. I actually look forward to drawing everyday.”
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Sharley
“The amount that was covered in each video was just right. The practice after each video was right on. After each practice, I felt I understood the content of the video better.”
BONUSES!
1. PRE-COURSE FOUNDATIONAL SKILLS MINI SERIES
Foundational skills are about being able to roughly draw what you’re seeing. If you can match the major lengths, angles and shapes that you’re looking at on paper, you are in a good position to start learning to simplify what you see and be creative with it.
Before the course starts, I will provide a self-assessment video lesson from our previous course, Foundational Skills. During this session, you will find out if you have any tendencies in proportions that need fixing.
I will also provide two additional lessons from Foundational Skills designed to build your observational skills and get basic proportions in place. This means you can start the course with confidence.
2. FINAL ASSIGNMENT
Once you have completed the 12 lessons and practice sessions, I will provide you with a final assignment which will bring together everything you have learned. I’ll guide you through a final figure drawing which will help you see how far you’ve come and what areas you still want to work on.
3. PAST FEEDBACK SESSIONS
You will be able to watch the feedback sessions I have run in the past for each week of the program. You will see the common struggles that people have had with each skill and how a simple fix made all the difference. There is so much to learn from seeing the feedback given to fellow artists.
4. FULL LENGTH PASTEL DEMOS
If you’ve seen our videos and website, then you’ve undoubtedly seen the wonderful pastel figure drawings Mayko produces. They are full of life and colour.
What I love about her drawings is that even though they are longer drawings (around 30-45 minutes) she keeps them as vibrant and energetic as a quick gesture. Not many artists have that ability.
After the program you’ll receive access to 3 full length pastel demonstrations by her (2 figures and 1 portrait) and a trois crayons study which is a great way to start transitioning to colour. You’ll see her lay down her initial simple structure and then build her layers of colourful soft pastel on top, and you can draw along if you like.
FAQ's
You will have unlimited access to the lessons and practice sessions for as long as you like – across any and all devices you own.
You don’t have to do the programme in a particular timeframe. It’s structured as a 6 week program but since you’ll have long-term access to the programme’s contents, you can do the lessons in your own time and according to your own schedule.
Enrolment is currently closed. Be sure to sign up to our newsletter below to stay up to date with our courses.
We would never want you to be unhappy! If you sign up and are unsatisfied with it, contact us within 14 days of enrolling and we will give you a full refund.
Yes, if you will get feedback from me if you sign up for the Feedback tier below.
There will be two avenues for receiving feedback. Firstly there is feedback in the community page for the drawings you post. There will be a ‘main assignment’ for each of the 12 practice sessions, and if you’re on the feedback tier I’ll give you video feedback on each of them.
There are also live group feedback sessions. These involve me going over selected drawings from the community area based around important themes and topics, as well as time for Q&A.
You really just need something to draw with. That could be a pencil and paper or a digital drawing device – whatever you prefer. There are suggestions for materials in the course if you’re not sure what to use. There aren’t any 2D models to move around like in the Fresh Eyes challenge, so going through this course is quite simple in terms of technology. For some of the practice sessions, it’s useful to be able to make marks on the reference images, but it is not essential.
This course will be great for you. We have had many beginners successfully completing it. I have spent a lot of time understanding the beginner’s journey, and have been careful to ensure this course is challenging but never overwhelming.
For most artists with more experience, this course will be hugely beneficial, providing you with a clarity about the figure you haven’t had before. Many of our students have been drawing figures for years and absolutely loved this course. If you get a lot from our YouTube tutorials, for example, you will get even more from this. However, if you can already effortlessly establish the figure with simple volumes and gestural curves, there is a chance you already have the skills it provides. Email me if you are not sure.
Enrolment is currently closed. Be sure to sign up to our newsletter below to stay up to date with our courses.
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Matthew
“Besides sketching figures I also like to take walks and do quick sketches around my neighborhood. I found I started using a lot of Kenzo‘s advice in my quick sketches. Really being able to see and simplify have helped me outside of figure drawing and for that I am very grateful.”
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Trish
“This was a chance to learn more and get personal feedback and also to hear and see the feedback given to others drawing the same poses, while they are still fresh in my brain. We make similar and different mistakes, so there is a lot more learning gained by following the group feedback.”
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Sharley
“I would recommend this to beginners (like me) as a great way to get started in figure drawing.”