Free Learning Content
Please note this guide is extensive but unfinished, and as a result it is currently free.
A summary of the life drawing component of The Form, Gesture, Anatomy Course
Samples from The Form, Gesture, Anatomy Course
An online book offering guided simplified anatomy study integrated with gestural figure drawing
Includes 70+ embedded sequential 3D models, 100+ 2D illustrations and drawings
It includes over 70 embedded 3D models, as well as dozens of 2D diagrams, drawings and computer renderings, sequenced to provide a logical, step by step process to understanding the forms of the body and applying this to drawing the figure.
Click the 3D model below to load:
This course has resulted from the experience of over six years of teaching figure drawing, with a gradual refinement of how each of the elements of figure drawing might be taught more effectively, as well as how the student might be assisted in the challenge of integrating these factors.
Originally designed as an offline course (ie in the physical classroom), it can also be utilised independently in a variety of ways. The detailed, sequential models provide a way you can approach studying the human form, or a resource for building your own ecorche on your own armature at home. The drawing concepts and sequential exercises can be applied in your own time either from a model from life or using online images of life models such as www.posespace.com or https://www.artmodeltips.com/poses/
Summary of contents
Simplified sculpting of the axial skeleton
A basic ecorche kept simple to emphasise the main masses rather than every last muscle (for example the adductor muscles of the inner thigh are grouped together as one volume rather than learning the Adductor Magnus, Gracilis and so on.
Drawing exercises designed to help the student conceive of and depict the gestural figure as mass in space (rather than flat shapes)
Tuition in Life drawing, drawing poses from 1 minute to 2 hours in length to help students see and depict the important relationships efficiently and with a sense of movement
Analysis of surface form of the figure to relate Anatomical investigations to the figure that is actually observed by the artist
Work on fundamental form drawing tools such as cross contouring and becoming comfortable with the geometric forms
The first delivery of this course was in May 2015 in Florence, Italy for ICACEA art workshops, and has turned out to be a very effective course.
This updated version of the course has the extensive notes (over 200 pages) provided on this website rather than as printed notes. This means you can access with your phone, tablet or laptop in class or at home, with full colour diagrams. As with the model shown above, the ecorche component the course and some other models are visualised not as 2D images but as 3d models that you can rotate, zoom and pan, and even change the lighting. Click the model above to load and try this out. For more info on navigating the model, once you have loaded the model, click the little eye at bottom right of the embedded model and then click "help".
Please note that this course was designed to be taught in a class where students would be provided with a 44cm 3D printed model of a skeleton in the pose depicted, so that you can build up the layers of muscle in coloured plasticine. You can do the same thing on a wire armature if you are very careful with the proportions of the skeleton. Skeleton model available here.
