Welcome to Tony O’Regan’s “Drawing the Face and Figure” Course
We are all students.
We all learn from those who have been on the road a bit longer than us. Here is a little advice from someone who has been on the road for a very long time– Drawing from live models is of great benefit. BUT, creating your own “internal model” is equally beneficial and will make your drawing from life easier and better. Ask yourself these questions: “Can I, right now, sit down and draw a credible face or figure with no reference? Do I want to always need a reference model or photo when I want to draw the figure?” OR “Do I want to be able to draw skillfully from my imagination, just me and my sheet of paper?” Thankfully, these are not unattainable skills. They are complementary skills – Constructive vs Observational Drawing – but they are DIFFERENT skills. Constructing the face and figure may seem challenging, but it is enormously interesting and engrossing. I am easily bored, but after many years, figure drawing (and perspective) are best things I ever undertook. You will learn so much more along the way! Relax, commit to doing it every time you have coffee for one year. Have a goal, have a method: Make study-sheets and carry them in your pocket. Sketch on 8 x 11 simple, non-precious, printer paper folded in your pocket. Date and save some. Take it step by step, memorize, practice, and you will succeed. “The proper study of Mankind is Man” (Alex Pope). I have achieved some skill at this and hope for more to come. Here is what I did. I suggest it as a way to organize your own study.
FACE
- Learn to draw and manipulate the generalized ‘head/neck form” (then, rotate to all angles)
- Learn to draw the 4 feature groups, eye, ear, nose, mouth (then, all angles)
- Learn to proportionately place the feature groups ON the head-form (then, all angles)
- Expressions of attitude and emotion
FIGURE
- Learn to proportionately draw and manipulate the generalized ‘figure-form” (then, all angles)
- Learn to map the anatomy on the figure-form (then, all angles)
- Learn to draw the 3 detail areas: head/neck (as above), hands, and feet (then, all angles)
- Gestural actions, twists, turns, bends
Along the way you will also want to gradually learn more about the following 10 Ways of Seeing and Drawing:
- Gesture – lines of force and direction – the “sculptors armature “ for a drawing
- Contour – sense of touch, blind contour exercises – the language of line quality/linestyle
- Silhouette – A FUNDAMENTAL ASPECT OF FORM – pos/neg shapes – like shadow puppets
- Figure-ground –lighter, darker, transitional relation of figure to background
- Mass – wireframe scribble-sculpture –closer is bolder line, farther is lighter/fainter
- Space – underwater metaphor drawing – deeper is darker (form emerging from a dark background)
- Tonality – 3-4 value steps plus detail, sparkle-subtlety-impact, importance of the lights
- Modeling – Light, shade and cast shadow
- Geometrix – such as Proportion and Perspective as applied to figure and context
- Composition – What you do with it all