New Artist - 2016__

Try some simple exercises to help your sketching

describe the width, length and direction of shapes.

Life drawing exercises

Circling shapes

S

tart by swinging
your arm in a circling
movement, like a
pendulum, in order
to draw circles, ovals or ellipses.
This movement should be
continuous, so that the pencil
stays on the paper all the time.
Now move the pencil, gently,
onto the paper to ‘circle’ the
largest component shape. If
the trunk, leg or arm is not bent
or twisting, describe it as one
shape. While circling lightly, look
at the model and ask:
OHow big is this shape? (Keep

circling.)
OWhere on the paper should

it be placed so that all of the

model will fit in? (Keep moving

the pencil around the paper

before settling the shape.)

How does your drawing look?

Does the slim model you see

before you look like a tyre advert

in the drawing? If so, slim down

the ellipses in the next drawing.

Did you fit all of the body into

the paper?

Complex shapes

It may be that the whole

pose suggests an ellipse, so

start gently with that shape,

positioning it comfortably on the

paper, and little by little work

into the next-largest shapes as

before, until your are circling the

smaller shapes of the fingers,

toes, eyes, ears, muscles,

kneecaps and even waves of hair.

Introduce external circling for

important concave curves. Now

take your pencil across the trunk

as though you were wrapping

thread around it, pressing harder

on the 'seen' side in the front,

and barely at all on the 'unseen'

side behind. Do the same with

the other body parts.

OHow high is this shape in

relation to its width: narrow and

elliptical, or wide and round?

(Keep going, and press a little

harder.)

OIn what direction is this shape

inclining? (Now press hard, but

don’t stop circling.)

OWithout taking your pencil off

the paper, move to another

big shape, asking: ‘Where is

it, relative to the last shape?’;

‘Does it overlap?’; ‘How large,

high, wide, what direction?’.

OKeep circling round the major

body parts, moving from the

larger to the smaller shapes

until you’ve drawn the figure.

(Keep moving the pencil until

the five minutes is over, circling

the shapes, perfecting their

proportions and angles.)

EXERCISE 1

OPOSE: Standing, with the

weight mostly on one leg

OTIME: 5min

EXERCISE 2

OPOSE: Curled-up complex

shape

OTIME: 7min

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