How to Draw People

Learn How to Draw People: 7 Tips from Professional Artists

By Cherie Haas, Online Editor ArtistsNetwork.com 

It’s no secret that learning how to draw people is an essential, timeless lesson in an artist’s development; figurative drawings continue to be among the most popular subjects in art schools and among professionals. But it takes more than just knowing how to create the contour lines that form a two-dimensional drawing of a person; one must have an understanding of anatomy, including muscle and bone structure, and of movement and balance to render the three-dimensional human body.

There are also the various body parts that have unique qualities to consider; the texture of the belly may be soft as a flower petal, while elbows and knees speak a different story. And the hands, poetically expressive and complex--they’re often thought of as the hardest part of the anatomy to depict accurately, and they can make or break a drawing.

In this exclusive collection of advice from top figurative artists, we share seven tips on how to draw realistic people.

Image courtesy of Walt Reed

7 Tips: How to Draw People

1. Drawing Hands

Keep in mind the bone and muscle structure beneath the surface. In some places the surface is influenced by the angular bones, in others by the soft muscles. Don’t round off all the forms or the subject will look rubbery.~from Walt Reed (author of The Figure)

Image courtesy of Robert Barrett

2. Drawing People and More

A classic way to draw something with correct proportion is to create a grid and place it over your reference photo, then draw a grid on your paper. Erasing these lines can be a pain, so a lightbox (or window on a sunny day) can be used instead. Place the grid on the lightbox, tape it down, then place your paper over the grid. You can see the grid through the paper and there’s no erasing later.~from Carrie Stuart Parks and Rick Parks (authors of The Big Book of Realistic Drawing Secrets)

3. Drawing People

A useful device is a shaft or midline, which is a line drawn through the middle of a human form to see how it is supported. A midline acts like the armature underneath movement and direction. It also simplifies the process of seeing and indicating the angles of specific forms.~from Robert Barrett (author of Life Drawing, now available as an ebook)

Image courtesy of Jeff Mellum

4. Opposites Attract

An essential principle of design that also relates to the human figure is the concept of opposites. The use of opposites, or contrast, exists in all the arts to create interest. In the human figure, a contrapposto position, where the weight is on one leg, is usually more interesting than one where the weight is equally balanced on both legs or throughout the figure. Each opposite helps strengthen and clarify the other.~from Robert Barrett (author of Life Drawing, now available as an ebook)

5. How to Draw a Person

The muscles are the body’s substructure. They are a big part of what gives the figure its shape and form. Understanding what goes on beneath the surface will help you see important details that might have gone otherwise unnoticed.~from Jeff Mellum (author of Sketching People)

Image courtesy of John Raynes

6. How to Draw Characters

For a visual artist, choosing how to depict an event--what parts are emphasized and what are downplayed--is done through staging. If there are enough clues through the interplay of body language, setting, costumes, props and even artistic style, the viewer will understand the story and the meaning behind it.~from Jeff Mellum (author of Sketching People)

7. Make the Most of Your Time

Don’t necessarily add more detail in a longer study--spend the extra time observing the overall pose more carefully. You may want to choose a less familiar viewpoint. This figure, for example, is foreshortened because it’s seen from a high eye level. There are some surprising correlations of different parts of the body. Note how the fingers of her right hand appear to reach her calf and are even in line with the toes of her left foot!~from John Raynes (featured in the video Drawing & Painting People: Anatomy of the Body)

Are You Too Frugal? Art Biz

By Alyson Stanfield on October 23, 2013

I’ll just come right out and say it: I am tired of watching artists and arts organizations live on leftover scraps.
In my 23 years of working with fine art, I have witnessed repeatedly how frugal the arts are. Not to the patrons with the big bank accounts, but to the artists, without whom their passionate interest would not exist.
Frugal isn’t bad by itself. In fact, frugal can be good. But frugal becomes detrimental when it feeds the idea that we are not worthy of more.
Many of my clients develop this feeling of unworthiness.

For years I have been writing about how artists can show that their work has value. But I continued to allow artists at my workshops to be treated “on the cheap” by the organizers, and I admit that I was doing the same.
Then I started attending “nice” conferences for marketing, mindset, and software. Conferences with tablecloths, fresh flowers, music, and bright spaces.
I realized that the people and companies that were producing these conferences would have never treated their guests as cheaply as artists are treated. So I modeled what they did for my recent Art Biz Makeover.
If artists are to embrace an abundant mindset, they need to be treated like they already have one – and that they deserve it.
Let me share an example of how an incessant frugal mindset can harm your business.

An Example

I know someone who makes beautiful, one-of-a-kind furniture. It’s pricey and worth it. But he has a difficult time marketing the work, and I think I’ve identified the problem.
One night we were talking in a social situation when he began harping about how he couldn’t believe his daughter would spend $25 for a toilet-paper holder when there are much cheaper versions. He just couldn’t let it go.
This was an Aha! moment.
My friend will continue to have problems marketing his work since the very people he wants as collectors would pay much more than $25 for a toilet-paper holder.
People who look for quality tend to look for it in every aspect of their lives.
You can’t advocate cheap materials, products, and design out of one side of your mouth and ask for high-dollar sales from the other side. These are conflicting messages to the Universe.

If You Are Especially Frugal

If you come from a less-than-abundant place, you, like my friend, must work on your money mindset.
Consider how your frugality might come across to potential buyers.
How are you being too frugal?
How are you showing potential buyers that you are unworthy of your prices?
How are you treating yourself?
How is your frugality detrimental to your business and personal growth?
Let’s start treating each other like we are as worthy of abundance as our patrons.
You with me?

Alyson Stanfield is an artist advocate and business mentor at ArtBizCoach.com. This article was originally published in her Art Biz Insider, which is sent weekly to thousands of artists who are elevating their businesses. Start your subscription now and read more articles like this at http://artbizcoach.com

If you Only had Four Colors by Courtney Jordan

ArtistsNetwork.com

What If You Only Had Four Colors?

Fred Schwartz, New York Architect by Mel Leipzig, acrylic on canvas, 36 x 52. Images courtesy Gallery Henoch, New York, New York. The idea gives me chills. For me, painting is all about color schemes and giving the color wheel a workout. It is the kaleidoscopic chroma that draws me in, and I usually spend more time entranced by the colors I've mixed on my palette than actually applying paint to my surface. When I found out that nationally renowned artist and professor Mel Leipzig creates his large-scale figurative paintings with just four colors I was surprised. I'd seen Leipzig's works before and never noticed that his palette was limited-likely because his skill as a colorist enables him to use each color in a multitude of ways. Leipzig has always worked with a limited palette. He started with eight colors, but in 1990 cut that number in half to just Hansa yellow medium, cobalt blue, quinacridone crimson, and white. Given the color deficit, you'd think Leipzig would choose subjects that fit his palette's capabilities, but he doesn't. The artist doesn't seek out low lighting or label his works as "moody" to coincide with the colors he has available. In fact, he paints solely from life, often leaving the controlled environment of his studio for locations where he has no say over the objects in the scene or the lighting available. In his painting Fred Schwartz, NY Architect , Liepzig's use of a limited palette offers an effective counterbalance to the busy scene. The view stretches back across several bays of windows and into the far expanses of a loft filled with papers, books, and furniture. Despite the visual cacophony, the whole scene is harmonious, largely due to use of a concentrated few colors. Urban Word by Day by Mel Leipzig, acrylic on canvas, 42 x 67. The viewer's eye travels through the space, touching on the yellows in the left foreground's wooden model and brick buildings out the window to the middle ground where the subject, in a warmer-toned shirt of the same color sits against a wall of the same color. The blue in the posters on the right wall is repeated throughout the scene as well, in the ceiling, support beams, and even the shadows along the surfaces of the objects throughout the painting. The cohesion in the vast space could have been lost if the artist hadn't put the palette's variety to good use, and in the same way the painting could have been boring if Liepzig didn't create a rhythm with color that leads you through the painting.

Sunflower - Watercolour Demonstration - Joanne Boon Thomas

Enjoy this guys and gals. Since I've been out of town I have no new art work of my own. Until next time, Create!!!

Painting the Landscape: 11 Questions and Answers with Johannes Vloothuis

By ArtistsNetwork.com Cherie Haas

With Johannes Vloothuis guiding the way, thousands of artists from around the world have learned how to paint. His teaching methods are geared toward those who are new to painting (maybe you or someone you know) and to those who are experienced. Starting as a mentor on WetCanvas.com, he now has instructional DVDs and teaches online workshops. To pay homage to his beginning endeavors with ArtistsNetwork, I'd like to share with you the following Q&As from Johannes's students, straight from WetCanvas. (Share these tips on Twitter!)
A painting demonstration from Watercolor Landscape Painting Essentials (above) and Acrylic Landscape Painting Essentials (below, right)
Q: Is there ever an appropriate time to use "cloning" or repetition in a painting?
Repetition creates rhythm, which is good, but there should be variances in these repetitions--not cloned repetitions. For example, if we have a deep forest scene and we see several long vertical tree trunks, we should vary their diameters, colors, angle, and the distances between them. The repetition of these vertical movements creates a rhythm, but the tree trunks should run parallel to one another.
Q: Should we modify a reference photo with Photoshop filters?
We should use as many tools as possible to end up with the best end result. What counts is the final artwork, not how you got there. I believe there's no such thing as cheating in this.
Q: Do you suggest pushing colors to make a painting more interesting?
If we listen to nature and its sounds--such as a crashing wave, the roar of wind, or the birds singing, we realize that all this is beautiful. However, we humans want more and we want to express ourselves and communicate with each other. We create songs that are more beautiful than nature, don't we? Think of your painting like that. It's a personal poetical message. Color, just like musical instruments, is our tool to convey this wonderful message. Nature produces many dull monochromatic colors. If we add more flavor to this, it will be like hearing a crashing wave in the background while listening to instrumental music.
Q. Does a good painting look better when you stand back from it than up very close?
For your final outcome, keep in mind that paintings are normally viewed from 5 to 10 feet away. Some artists joke that they wish they could attach their brush to a broomstick to get the right view. Some instructors place a chair between their students and their easel.
Q: Do you need to show the lights and darks in a landscape, including the trees?
Many top artists are leaning more toward an overall mid-value. I'm following this as well and I feel my paintings improved dramatically when this was revealed to me.
Q. A lot of photos contain few clouds... do you like to add clouds? Or, when should you add clouds?
The rule of thumb for me is that if the sky portion is small we leave clouds out so it won't get busy. The bigger you make the sky, the more interest you need to add. The only thing we can do to make a sky interesting is to add clouds or different colors. However this isn't because of what's in the photo; it's because I want it that way in the painting. The photo is not my boss. On an 18x24 inch painting, for example, if you have more than 4 square inches of nothingness, you've created a dead spot.

Q: Could a strong skyscape have three planes of clouds within the sky and the sliver of land as foreground?
Yes, great question. The sky is a dome and as such would have a recession into the distance. The following principles apply:
• The fluffy white part of any cloud gets warmer as it goes further back. In the painting that would be near the horizon.
• The reverse is true regarding the shadowy blue-gray areas of the clouds. They get lighter and cooler into the distance.
• The blue sky (not considering the fluffy white clouds) is darker and cooler at the zenith and this blue sky becomes warmer and lighter (more greenish, pink or orange) as it gets closer to the horizon.
• Finally, due to perspective, clouds get smaller near the horizon and bigger at the zenith.
Q: I can easily distinguish values when in black and white but have difficulties with color. Is creating underpaintings the secret to learning this?
That's a fantastic question. We all have problems determining what value a color is because the chroma throws us off. That's why most artists think in six values but plan their masses into three predominant values. An underpainting in the correct grayscale value (usually a warm brown) is an excellent way to start with a good value plan.
Q: Do you collect photos so when you're working on a piece and need to add an element, you have something to go to?
Yes! I have a hobby called shape collecting and use a landscape model agency. I have trees, rocks, bridges, and more subjects as super models.
Q. Since things that are closest show the sharpest detail, is it okay to put sharp detail at the bottom of the painting?
No; sharp detail belongs where the eye is focusing. Do the test yourself. Hold two pens, one in each hand. Stretch your arm out as far as you can holding one pen and bring the other pen closer to you. Stare at the pen that is farther from you without moving your eyes. See if you can see the detail of the pen closer to you. It's a revelation--to make the painting agree with the human eye--and this concept is rarely taught. I actually emphasize that the immediate foreground should be left alone.
Q: I would like to know what you do with things that are cut off by the picture's edge, like a bush or tree.
My policy is to crop the tree by either one- or two-thirds; never in the middle.
And there you have it--I hope that you've found inspiration or knowledge from these pieces of advice. Get even more when you check out Johannes's newest DVDs with ArtistsNetwork.tv;