Stronger Artist

Imagine all the things you can draw

Main Menu

Figure Drawing Articles and Discussions

Most of the articles and discussions archived below provide explanations and background for Stronger Artist tutorials and video demos. Some of these articles also discuss other topics, including posts about studying art, notable artists, reviews of materials, and other subjects related to figure drawing.

Many of these articles include ongoing discussions and comments from readers, and I invite you to join in the conversation. Or, if there's a subject you'd like me to write more about, contact me and let me know!

The Three Characteristics that Define an Artist’s View of Any Subject

by 2 Comments

When working from the imagination, an artist can draw the human figure as it would appear from countless locations. In order to make sense of these many views, and to identify those that are most useful in drawing the figure, we must first understand how to define a view. In this post, I discuss the three characteristics of any view and how they are defined within the StArt Figure Drawing System.

Read more...

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

by Leave a Comment

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.

Read more...

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

by 10 Comments

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.

Read more...

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

by Leave a Comment

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.

Read more...

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

by 2 Comments

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.

Read more...