Figure and natural-form drawing from observation
Life and nature drawing is assessed on sequence and on whether the observed form survived. A twenty-minute pose, a plant study or an animal skeleton rewards a disciplined order: gesture and structure first, contour next, value last. Symbolic shorthand - almond eyes, tube fingers, generic leaves - is what the marking scale punishes most.
Order of operations
- Gesture (30 seconds to 2 minutes) fixes axis, weight and movement; then structure in boxes and cylinders; then contour; then value. Never start with eyes, hands or a leaf's serrations.
- Landmarks: seventh cervical vertebra, acromion, nipple line, iliac crest, greater trochanter, patella, malleolus. In a standing contrapposto, a plumb line from the ear passes near shoulder, hip and ankle.
- Foreshortening: overlap, convergence of the limb's axis, elliptical cross-sections, and diminishing intervals. A foreshortened limb is shorter on the page but the same length in space - check it against the head unit.
Heads, hands, feet, drapery
- Head: cranium as a sphere, jaw as a box, facial thirds from hairline to brow, brow to nose base, nose base to chin; the ears sit between brow and nose line.
- Hands: box the palm, then three segments per finger, with the thumb on its own mass. Feet: wedge plus heel, arch as a bridge.
- Drapery fold types: pipe, zigzag, spiral, drop and diaper. They radiate from support points (shoulder, belt, knee) and hang under gravity.
Natural forms
- Plants: growth pattern first, then leaf insertion (alternate or opposite), stem curvature, silhouette, finally vein structure.
- Animals: comparative anatomy - scapula, ribcage, pelvis; note how the hind limb's apparent backward joint is the hock, not the knee.
Worked example
Seated figure, 20 minutes. Two-minute gesture; plumb line and head count; box pelvis and ribcage in opposition; tapered cylinders for limbs. The forearm comes toward you: draw it as overlapping cylinders with the near end larger and the far end tucked behind, then verify its length against the head unit. Folds radiate from the knee and belt. Finally one light source, one shadow family.
Traps that cost marks
- Symbol drawing: repeated eye, finger and leaf templates.
- Starting with detail and running out of time for the whole figure.
- Equalising limbs, or drawing a foreshortened limb at full length.
- Ignoring weight and balance, so the figure appears to hover.
- Hands and feet abandoned as blobs.