The Drawing Club

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66 The Drawing Club

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French Maid, charcoal pencil on paper,

Chris Turner

ExErcisE:

Draw from inside out

For years, I have guided students through exercises to help

them see form, proportion, gesture, and perspective. One of

the most basic exercises is large shape to small shape. This is

when you first draw a large, loose shape for the entire character,

then divide that shape into smaller and smaller shapes. In other

words, details such as eyeballs and eyelashes are last. This is

designed to help people see the big picture first and not to get

fixated on details too soon.

But is an exercise meant to be the basis of a set-in-stone

method? Not necessarily. In my opinion, an exercise is always

meant to be a starting point. If you try your hardest when learn-

ing from exercises, that information stays with you even when

you are doing something else. After you have been drawing for a

while, you will always find your own way of doing things. This is

the way it should be.

Sometimes it is fun to draw from the inside out. This is when

you look up at the model’s pose and find your favorite part. Let’s

say it’s the eyes. Start there, and then draw out to the nose, then

the mouth, then the neck, the arms, etc. Sometimes the propor-

tions get kind of distorted, but keep going anyway. After a while,

you might find yourself being able to envision the whole drawing

on the blank piece of paper no matter where you start.

Drawing from inside out takes practice like anything else.

These drawings by Chris Turner were all drawn this way.

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Chapter 4: Improvisation

Chris Turner created this entire scene back at his desk on the computer

after doing a five-minute sketch of the French maid character,

Photoshop, Chris Turner

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