I have to admit that as a life drawing instructor I have a definite bias towards teaching students to draw from a live model as opposed to copying photos. Drawings done from life are full of interesting marks and line quality, they have a record of the struggle of the artist to find the pose, they show a connection with the subject and a soul that is devoid from art drawn simply by trying to faithfully reproduce a photograph.

I know many artists who try and teach themselves to draw, start by drawing from photos because they are a cheap model, they dont move and they are easy to find on the internet. But I try to discourage my students from relying on photos too much because in many cases they are lit in such a way as to negate the shadows on the figure or to have too dramatic of shadows. This makes it difficult to understand the anatomy and how to turn a form. What students learn from drawing from photos is how to render light and shadow, not how to draw the structural anatomy of the figure. Light and shadow change from model to model or from image to image. When you draw from the structural anatomy, this never changes... a clavical is a clavical... its a landmark that is easy to find on the model and helpful to line up with other structural points on the figure in order to get the correct gesture of the pose.

Drawing light and shadow also does not help students to understand the planes of the figure. A figure is like a cone or a cylinder. It has a top plane, a side plane and a bottom plane, and these help turn the form and make it look three dimensional. Learning to draw by establishing planes allows the student to start drawing in proportion and avoids the miscalculations that occur from tryng to draw from the head down.

Classical Drawing, an method of training the eye to see accurately!

The traditional academic way of teaching students to draw was to start them on Barque Studies. Charles Bargue's a Course in Drawing was a series of illustrated plates that students were taught to draw from using a method called sight size. The benefit of learning this way is that it was a 1 to 1 system of measuring, typically using a string to mark points along the form similar to the way sculptors would measure a figure prior to carving. This method allows students to develop their eye to 1/4 or even 1/8th accuracy and to provide a technique for determining where a drawing was off. (For anyone interested in the Bargue book it can be ordered through the Dahesh Museum)

Some Examples from DA artists of Bargue studies...







Next the student would progress to drawing from an actual cast where they would take the lessons learned from copying the Bargue drawings and apply them to a three dimensional object.

Finally after completing cast studies to the satisfaction of their instructor they would be allowed to draw from the model.

Drawing from the model was a priviledge for those who had trained their eye to a high degree of accuracy. Drawing from a live model, as any who have tried it can attest, is one of the most difficult and challenging aspects of being an artist. Taking a three dimensional, moving, shifting, living being and drawing them onto a two dimensional surface to create the illusion they are still three dimensional involves a complex ability to see and draw. Copying from Photos is easy, all the work has been done for you... the camera has already taken that three dimensional object and compressed into a two dimensional space. There is nothing for the artist to analyze, assess or evaluate. Other then perfecting the art of rendering value.. little can be learned from photo reference. It is drawing from life that provides the opportunity to grow and develop a skill in drawing and making assessments on proportion, length, value and structure. It is where students develop a sensitivity to line, value, halftones, reflect light, etc. It is where true art begins...

Some artists who draw from life and have reached a high degree of skill.











It is to this end that these artists work at their life drawings skills. Drawings done from life have a gesture, a beauty and a quality that reflects both the skill of the artist and the sacredness and soul of the model.

I hope you enjoy these examples of formal, academic drawing.

DD