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hey everyone a little figure drawing
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lesson Here If I Only Had 1 minute to
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draw this here's what I would prioritize
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I begin with the head as a kind of
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proportional measuring stick then I find
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a line of action that flows from the
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head all the way through the hips on top
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of that I rough in the biggest possible
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volumes I look for any available
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ellipses like here in the clothing that
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can quickly indicate some
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three-dimensionality then I shift my
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focus to where things touch the floor
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notice here I am mapping out these
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positions with a kind of polygon on the
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floor that helps guide me with
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perspective and proportion which now
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allows me to continue gesturing in the
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flow of the figure in this case it's the
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left leg and the foot that's close to
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camera even in a gesture drawing I'll
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throw in a cast Shadow because that
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shape is easy to draw and it reveals a
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lot about the perspective from here my
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time is almost up I can squeeze in one
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last piece of information in this case
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I'll indicate the angle of the head a
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little more and that's what I typically
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go for in a one minute drawing that was
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real time by the way all right so let's
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say I had more time to do this drawing
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which is typical of a life drawing or
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figure drawing session where you have X
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amount of time per pose my first minute
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would remain exactly the same I do not
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slow down my gesture drawing and this is
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a big part of learning how to draw
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training yourself to notice the most
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important parts of a pose quickly and
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getting only that down while eliminating
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everything else now the everything else
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part of that equation is is coming in
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now because I have more time I can shift
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my focus to slightly more technical
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things and for me that is always shape
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and volume my gesture drawing did not
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have any finished shapes it did hint at
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shapes just like it hinted at volume but
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now is the time to begin refining those
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things I feel like I'm increasing the
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resolution of the information I captured
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in the gesture like right here for
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example I'm drawing exactly where the
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center line of the form is it wasn't my
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line of action
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my line of action was never meant to
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contain form but with the line of action
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there as a foundation it's much easier
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to find where that form goes as I work
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through the drawing like I'm working
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through this arm here I'm always very
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careful to plot out ellipses
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specifically ellipses at the top and
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bottom of the form the curvatures of
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those ellipses are dictated by the
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perspective and that perspective was
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plotted out in the gesture phase so once
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again following that pattern where the
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gesture phase establishes information
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that helps you progress through the
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drawing notice I'm not fixated on any
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one area I kind of bounce around this is
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also made possible by an accurate
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gesture if you find yourself in a
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pattern of having to fix proportions at
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this stage I would consider that a sign
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that you have to go back and improve
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your gesture drawing and I would not put
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my focus so much on fixing it here if
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you're drawing from imagination that's
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different because then there's a much
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larger searching element to the process
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process but in traditional figure
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drawing I have the reference in front of
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me so my focus can be on plotting out
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accurate information it's important to
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note that the phrase plotting out
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accurate information indicates a
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different thing than copying the
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reference for example just a second ago
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I put this box into my drawing that's
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obviously not something I see on the
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surface of the physical model but it is
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three-dimensional information that very
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much is there underpinning reality if my
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interest was simp L copying the photo
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reference I most likely would have
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missed that piece of information as well
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as many other bits of information like
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it and as a result the drawing would be
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far less useful to me in the long run
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the reason to practice figure drawing is
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not to show people your beautiful figure
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drawings it's to hone your ability to
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see the right information at the right
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time and get your skills to a level such
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that you can draw it when a student
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comes to me saying they'd like to
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improve their drawing the place I we
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start with that as a teacher is kind of
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vetting what they're looking for when
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and sorting that out first from there
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building the skills necessary to solve
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the different problems you have in a
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drawing for example drawing a gesture
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uses a different skill set than drawing
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volumes it's possible to be very good at
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drawing volumes but not good at all at
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drawing gestures or vice versa and this
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sounds self-evident but I've always
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found it super useful to design your
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figure drawing study sessions so that
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they progress through through different
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lengths of time I remember we would do
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like 30 1 minute drawings and then 10
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2-minute drawings and then 10 five
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minute drawings and then maybe end off
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the session with a few 10-minute
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drawings in my life drawing practice
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though we would always go heavy on the
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short poses you know 1 minute 2 minutes
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30 seconds we would always do much more
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of those than the longer studies and of
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course that has pros and cons but one of
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the great benefits I got from that is
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the confidence that I could capture the
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elements of a pose you know its weight
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movement balance attitude really all of
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the things that make the figure look
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alive I find that those elements can be
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captured relatively quickly because they
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don't depend on detail they don't even
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depend on form remember that this is
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what my drawing looked like in that
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first minute it's those big sweeping
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decisions that really hold a lot of
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emotional content and there's very
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little I can do at this stage of the
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drawing to add to the feel of the pose
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for me the life is either there or not
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early what I can do at this stage of the
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drawing is add the more literal content
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the form the shapes some Anatomy if I
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need it like that scapula right there as
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far as line quality goes my lines tend
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to get darker the more confident I am
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that this is the final shape for this
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time limit anyway I spent another half a
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minute on this one and this is the level
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of information I like to capture in five
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or 6 minutes if I had even more time I
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would get into more shape refinement and
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some shading maybe in another video for
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now if you follow the link on the screen
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watching and I'll see you in the next
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video