Every now and again, I am asked what my technique is for making figure drawings. My answer is, I construct a drawing using the block-in method. This is a method I teach at Cooley Studios to my students. I also use triangulation and comparative measure, but for this post, I will show you a few block-in drawings.
Here are a few of my block-in drawings at various stages. I have included simple straight line block-in drawings and drawings in various stages of shading. I demonstrate and clearly explain the process to students and workshop attendees. Hopefully, you will join us for figure drawing here in Columbus Ohio at Cooley Studios.
After I complete my straight line block-in, I begin to carefully lay in tone. We do not use stumps and tortillions to achieve smooth tone. There is a specific way we shade a drawing at Cooley Studios. Our students learn the shading technique, mass in tone and continue to model the form to a highly refined finished like the image below. If you would like to learn to draw in line and mass (tone), join us at Cooley Studios and we will guide you to artistic success.
Michael A. Cooley, Female Figure Seated 3/4 view, 2016, Graphite
Until next time,
Michael