My OperaLearning to draw is so much more than art...
Thursday, June 9, 2011 6:22:02 PM
Another lesson I learnt during my years in art school: you can only truly make a good drawing of a body or a face, a hand or a foot, etc. if you know what is underneath! In the classroom was always standing a human skeleton and at first we laughed seeing it there hanging by the head in the corner of the room. That kind of thing always appeals to teenagers doesn't it?
One day after we had learnt the name of each bone in the human skeleton and how it was attached to the next to make the structure of the body, and also after we learnt how they each moved in relation to the next bone and then again to the next and so on, in the middle of the room was put on a plynth an antique bust to be drawn. Each of us were sitting in a semi-circle around it and we had 1 hour to draw it.
When the hour was over, the teacher asked us using a sheet of graph paper to place the bones structure beneath the skin (also remembering that a body is not just skin and bones, there are also some muscles so we had to allow space for those too). It was fascinating! I found the face rather easy to do (except for the teeth) but when the time came to draw a hand or, worse, a foot, it was truly very difficult. Not least because we also had to then add the name of each bone! But nonetheless, I am very grateful now that I was given the opportunity to learn all of this!
One day after we had learnt the name of each bone in the human skeleton and how it was attached to the next to make the structure of the body, and also after we learnt how they each moved in relation to the next bone and then again to the next and so on, in the middle of the room was put on a plynth an antique bust to be drawn. Each of us were sitting in a semi-circle around it and we had 1 hour to draw it.
When the hour was over, the teacher asked us using a sheet of graph paper to place the bones structure beneath the skin (also remembering that a body is not just skin and bones, there are also some muscles so we had to allow space for those too). It was fascinating! I found the face rather easy to do (except for the teeth) but when the time came to draw a hand or, worse, a foot, it was truly very difficult. Not least because we also had to then add the name of each bone! But nonetheless, I am very grateful now that I was given the opportunity to learn all of this!
