FIGURE DRAWING
3-MINUTEPOSE
A three-minutedrawingmustbeswiftandefficient– in
thattimeyouwillonlybeabletosayonebigthingabout
theposeandtherewillbelittletimetolingeroverdetail.
Startbydashinga lineofactiondownonthepage
thatrunsthroughthewholeposefromtoptobottom.
Findthetiltofshouldersandhips(iftheposeis
upright),thebigbonemasses(ribcage,pelvis,joints)
andthelargevolumesofthebodywithcontourlines
thatexaggeratethecharacterofthepose.RECORDING TIME
Unlike a photograph, which is
snapped almost instantaneously, a
drawing preserves time in its marks
like a mosquito trapped in amber.
The fl eeting nature of a life model’s
pose is recorded in the urgency and
repetition of the drawn marks so that
an observer with a practiced eye
might be able to tell how long the
pose was held for.
It is not a bad thing to make a
drawing from a photograph, but the
drawing will be disingenuous: a pose
that could only be held for two
minutes, for example, might be drawn
over the course of an hour.
To make the most of the time you
have, one must develop different
drawing strategies for different
lengths of pose. Here are three
suggestions of approaches that
borrow from a constructed structure.- Limits of the body and line
of action (10 seconds)
2. Skeletal landmarks
(1 minute)
3. Gestural contour (less than 2 minutes)
IN CONTEXT: KÄTHE KOLLWITZ
German artist Käthe Kollwitz represents the epitome
of good fi gure drawing. Her etchings speak about
what it is to be human –
suffi ciently tethered to the
observed fi gure to be honest,
with enough latitude to feel
personal. In Standing Female
Nude, the hatched backdrop
pushes the body forward,
modelled with cross-contours
that describe the surface of
a very human body.© KÄTHE KOLLWITZ MUSEUM 2020 IMPRINT