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"StArt Figure Drawing"

The StArt Figure Drawing System is the foremost project of the Stronger Artist website, offering a complete, structured approach to drawing the human figure from the imagination.

Based on a defined set of standardized poses and views, the StArt System offers a framework to begin drawing the figure. Add to that framework an understanding of how the figure moves (or articulates) and you have the basis for the system—and for its name:

Strategic poses and views + Articulation = StArt

The archive below includes video demos, tutorials, and articles related to the StArt Figure Drawing system. If you're new to this website, I recommend you read/watch/practice these articles/videos/tutorials in the order they appear below, particularly the first dozen or so.

If you're interested in a single learning format, you can narrow this list by visiting the separate archives on articles and discussions, figure drawing videos, or figure drawing tutorials.

If You Learn One Set of Proportions for Drawing the Figure, Make it This One

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There are many systems—or canons—of proportions that artists have advocated over the years. The StArt Figure Drawing System uses a slightly idealized but commonly-used canon, which is preferable for at least four reasons. This post describes the StArt canon of proportions and what advantages it offers.

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Tutorial 03: Adding the Limbs to the Schematic Figure from a Front, Eye-Level View

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In this lesson, we complete the schematic drawing begun in the second tutorial by adding the limbs to the body. This tutorial demonstrates how to plot the position of the arms and legs from a front, eye-level view and introduces the concept of the appendicular figure.

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What’s a Medieval Model Book Doing in the 21st Century?

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The heart of the StArt Figure Drawing System is a catalog of figure drawings demonstrating certain strategic poses seen from different views. In many ways, this is similar to a medieval model book, from which artists of the Middle Ages copied drawings of important subjects. But the StArt System involves much more than merely copying stock images, as this article describes.

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Tutorial 02: A Schematic Drawing of the Axial Figure from a Front, Eye Level View

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In this tutorial, we create a schematic drawing of the upper half of the body from the front, eye-level view. The tutorial demonstrates how to plot the position of the major features of the body for this view, and introduces the concepts of the axial figure and schematic drawing.

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The All-Important Axis of the Figure and Why Most Books Teach It Incorrectly

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Most every approach to drawing the imagined figure uses vertical axis lines to help artists correctly position parts of the body in relation to each other. Just where this axis lies in relation to the figure, however, is rarely explained. The StArt System introduces the concept of a core axis, which offers a constant reference for drawing different views and poses of the figure.

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Between the Front, Side, and Rear Views: What’s Missing from Figure Drawing Instruction

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Drawing the human figure from your imagination is difficult—the human body can take such a wide variety of poses, and any pose can be drawn from a multitude of views. But we can create a framework for identifying those pose/view combinations that are most strategically useful to artists, and by doing so, establish a system for learning to draw a broad repertoire of figures.

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Tutorial 01: First Steps in Drawing a Static Standing Pose

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This first tutorial demonstrates a process for starting many drawings of the standing figure, especially those featuring static or stationary poses. It also introduces the concepts of the core axis and head-length units, which are fundamental parts of the StArt System.

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