Life Drawing
The Hidden Benefit of Drawing With Others
This past Sunday I had the amazing opportunity to attend a day-long life drawing session at Flux Studios, in Dublin, facilitated by David Hedderman and Yuka Tanaka.
If you don’t know of David and Yuka’s work, check them out on Instagram, I’ll leave links below. In today’s post I wanted to share some of the insights that this day of drawing yielded and offer suggestions if you are going to regular life drawing sessions yourself.
For me personally, having access to life drawing certainly on a regular basis, is not a given. So, whenever the opportunity comes up I am always very excited to draw in that setting.
Life drawing unlocks an entire world of expression that you simply can’t access if you only draw from photo reference - and especially if you are using photos to learn how to do life drawing, or learning how to draw the figure. Using photos as a departure point in your drawing is another matter. I wrote this article last year about the main differences I see between drawing from life and drawing from photo:
But what really struck me this weekend when I was attending Dave and Yuka’s workshop was the fact that drawing with others can be such powerful aid and support to your own learning. It’s not just the conversations around materials, or the opportunity to look at how another artist approaches drawing, what they do or how they solve the same problems and challenges that you face in a drawing… All of that is truly enlightening. But it’s also so very powerful to see that each person draws differently.
This perhaps is one thing always stands out in a life drawing session - the sheer individuality and uniqueness that each and every person is able to bring to bear through line and mark. In every single pose.
No matter what the model gives in terms of a pose, from complex to straightforward or simple to foreshortened… no two drawings of the same pose in a life drawing session are ever alike - in nearly every way. Even when following the same directive in a given exercise. This is the most remarkable thing to me about drawing the life model in a group. And a potent reminder that drawing is a form of expression.
I think we can easily underestimate just how vital this is when it feels like we are battling with our own drawing and trying to improve “the way we draw”. But I wanted to encourage you to reflect on this today, because it’s certainly something that can lead to a deeper understanding of your own process. If you accept that the way you draw now is your unique and individual mark as an artist. All you have to do - in fact, your entire job in every life drawing session you go to - is to practice the way you draw.
At the workshop, Dave talked a lot about how observation is the anchor in drawing, and that we can use techniques and exercises to turn off the thinking, critical and controlling thoughts in our brain, and tune into the moment through just looking and trusting. Adopting a process of 70% looking at the model and 30% looking at the drawing.
What I took from this is that when I do that, I feel personally, that I am engaging in the process more fully. So, I wanted to share this with you if you are feeling stuck or frustrated in life drawing - step out of your comfort zone by letting go of the need to control the drawing so that it “looks like a person” and instead focus on looking and trusting that your hand will draw what your eyes are observing. Let your singular and unique mark come through in every drawing! That is the opportunity that you have in a life drawing session.
I hope this post is helpful!
If you’d like to work with me, consider joining the Gesture Drawing Masterclass - it’s a laser-focused online program to unlock a dynamic and expressive approach to figure drawing. When you enroll you also get access to the Drawing Life community page where you can work directly with me, get feedback and attend weekly drawing and coaching sessions.
Click this link to learn more, or reply to this email if you have any questions:
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Thank you so much for reading!
Follow Dave and Yuka on instagram: Life Drawing Kreuzberg
Thanks for this reminder, Siobhan. I've been attending life drawing sessions here in Montreal, Canada for the last 2 months or so. Already I see a lot of development. One thing I've been contemplating is my love to draw big. I rarely fit the whole figure into the page. It doesn't feel natural for me to draw small. I've found that sometimes I come up with quite interesting compositions which delight me. I always start with what I find most beautiful — a curve, a line, some light or shadow. I love your approach. It's honouring. Thank you x