[idiot]

Life drawing is essential, I know, I know. Unfortunately, I live in the back hills of West Virginia, with limited access to life drawing classes... more like.. no access. The local college does not offer life drawing classes, and there are no local life drawing groups that I have found... there aren't even any nearby parks/zoos. Eventually I'll have to relocate, but what can I do for now? Glen Vilppu has a corespondance course available, where you draw photos of models from a CD, and then he critiques them. How would that compare to a "real" life drawing class, in terms of what I would get out of it? I could order some plaster casts.... draw my dog... maybe some cows... what do I do?

[Drew]

You're telling us that you live alone in the woods and everything you have, you either make, or it's delivered by wildlife?

Surely there's somewhere you can go do draw. Library? Local mall? Fast food place? Basically, anywhere that people aren't moving very quickly?

The life drawing course you mention sounds like it couldn't hurt, but it's always better to observe things with your own eyes rather than through the eyes of a camera.

[bearsclover]

I think it's better than nothing. But still, nothing compares to a real life drawing class. I can't imagine that this would be a viable replacement for a traditional class.

I guess it's up to you. If this is all you have access to, in the way of life drawing education, and you can afford it, well, go for it.

One thing that I am unclear on in the correspondence course: How many drawings do you do, for instance, during the whole course? It doesn't sound like you do a whole lot of different drawings. It doesn't sound like this guy reviews and critiques that many of your drawings, overall.

One thing about Life Drawing class is that during a three hour class, you might do 20 drawings or even a lot more: A bunch of contour or gesture drawings. (Maybe 10-15 of these.) Then some short poses. (5-10 minutes each, perhaps 2-4 of these?) And then some "long" poses (20 minutes to 40 minutes). Of course, each teacher has a different way to set things up, so this won't be the same for all classes. But that gives you a general idea.

Then you have other students' work to look at, and you can see how they did their drawings. Then you have the teacher critiquing the other students' works, and you can hear what the teacher says. Then the teacher critiques your work. And then sometimes you'll have a group critique, where everyone puts their drawing up in front and then the class and teacher take turns critiquing everyone's work.

It's a group thing, and there is a lot more drawing, repetition, a live model each week, other students to learn from, and so forth. It sounds like it's going to offer a whole lot more than this correspondence course could.

But, once again, if the correspondence course is all you have at the moment, then it's probably not a terrible idea. And the drawing samples on the site are awesome. If this teacher is a good teacher, then you might very well learn a great deal. I mean, his drawings are very good so he does know his stuff.
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[YVerloc]

Idiot,

I have an unorthodox suggestion. Bear with me.

As you probably know, the main problem with drawing from photo reference is the flattening of the shapes. It limits you to copying 2d shapes and colors, instead of interpreting the 3d form. There are lots of threads here at Sijun that discuss the problem in more depth.

On to the suggestion: Use a viewmaster and viewmaster discs.

I have a large collection of viewmaster discs on a range of real life subject matter. It should be easy for you to aquire similar discs on ebay.

The benefits are this: viewmaster photos are in stereo, so you get a 3d view of the subject. no flattening problems with the reference materialk 2: you subject matter never moves. 3: you can't easily scan the images, so they'll keep you honest. 4: The're cheap! Any thrfit store is likely to have a handful of viewers and spare discs. As mentioned above, you should be able to find many others on ebay.

There it is, whatever it's worth.

Cheers
YV

[Riven]

Interesting idea...though I would have to agree with the statement that nothing in fact can compare to "live" life drawing. Life drawing is an exercise in observation, in training your hand and eye to work together.

Draw everyone, anyone and everything. Your mom, your hamster, your girlfriend/boyfriend, your sister.

Pick up a good book that explains life drawing a little more in depth - "The Natural Way to Draw" is a good one. Just remember that one book will not have all the answers.

Go for a walk down to a local coffee shop or mall or market and just draw people there - they certainly won't stay still - so you can draw gestures, and capture the essence of their poses in 30 seconds or so.

If there is no drawing group in your area, then why not start one? We as humans learn well from each other and your friend may see something in a different way than you do. Drawing with other people also helps keep you motivated as your recieve feedback and can give input into each others works.

There is no way you should spend good money on an internet course in life drawing. Put that money in your pocket, pick up your pencil and draw

[jfrancis]

I'm working with Vilppu via correspondence right now. I happen to live in Los Angeles, local to him, and I don't consider it a substitute for classes, but a supplement to them that works with my schedule. Also, in spite of the 2D nature of photos, he is all about analysing the form and not reproducing projected contours.

I have a View-Master camera and a film cutter and blank reels and I make my own VM discs. That's an interesting idea, but I don't know if I'd like to work that way.

[YVerloc]

JFrancis: so do I! Except the film cutter - I used to cut my pictures out by hand. I inherited my father's old collection of reels, and I've added to it over the years. I've got a lot of really neat animal and sighteeing reels, from the fifies or forties. My favourite is one of my hometown (Vancouver) in 1951. It's like looking out a window into the past. Spooky

Idiot: I agree with what the others have said about drawing anything handy in your environment. If you're a good cook, you can your friends and family sit for you in exchange for a good dinner, maybe. Best of luck. I hope you'll post your results here.

Cheers
YV

[idiot]

Thanks for all the input. I am going to try Vlippu's corespondance course, if for no other reason than it's Glen Vilppu, and I'd buy a dead monkey if he was selling it. I'm going to order a head cast, and some mcfarlane toys, and draw what's available to me for now. I have a viewmaster, and a bunch of discs, so I'll give that a try too. I'll definitely post my results as well. Thanks again

[Riven]

If you've got money to blow, then go for it.

[jfrancis]

styrofoam head. $11

http://www.wilshirewigs.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=wigs&Product_Code=xs310

[spline]

Other things you should do is selfportrait from a mirror, its very good practice.

One other excellent object to practice on is sneakers. Try drawing a pair of sport shoes like Nike or addidas.
They have lots of areas that needs to be captured in order to get the whole shape right.

Ofcourse this is not in the long run as fun as drawing live people but if you can draw a complex sneaker ok you will be ok at drawing from life...

Another thing that is difficult when drawing from life is forshortening (I think its called) its how limbs look in perspective. When you sit close to a human model that maybe is lying down away from you. There will be huge perspective differences, its very common for beginners to miss those...

So also try drawing the sneakers when they are very close to you Then you get to practice perspective...

There is so much techniques you can use when drawing from life, for example its much easier if the the paper is taped up on a easel and not lying down when you draw. Because if the paper is lying down, you will easily get a slight perspective distortion on your drawing. Also if you have the paper on a easel you can first look at the model the at the same time at your drawing...

And if you don't have a easel which you most of the time probably don't have. Then try to hold the paper up as much as you can while drawing...

[Drunken Monkey]

I've taken his life courses, and I don't think it matters one bit with the way he teaches - either you draw from photos or in studio. He doesn't teach shading untill the last two classes of the term, if that tells you anything. The whole premis is to learn to see things in volume, and only that way. He literally draws coils around the forms... over and over. You wont turn into a xerox if you draw this way. There is no thinking about the light... he took the lamp and moved it around the model while we drew just to stop us from thinking about shadow and instead think about form. You'll be looking at those photos and analyzing form with his technique... not shapes.

So its completely irrelevant photos or life in my partially informed amateur opinion. Plus the classes are so damn packed... you barely get any attention.
_________________
"A fear of weapons is a sign of retarded sexual and emotional maturity" - Sigmund Freud

[jfrancis]

Interesting to know. I'm starting an anatomy class next month with him

http://vilppustudio.com/classes.htm

[buntaro]

Depending on how old you are another interesting place to do some quick life drawing is a bar or nightclub. I used to take my sketchbook to my favorite local watering hole and draw the people around me. Take care not to intrude on people's space, but most times being drawn appealed to peoples vanity and they didnt mind at all, in fact many would hold a pose after they found out what I was doing. It was also interesting the next day to note the change in the quality of the artwork as spirits were consumed and the night wore on....