What kind of drawing classes should I take?
I’m 15. I like drawing, and I really want to be able to draw people better. My school offers aft. However, I probably won’t be able to do that until my senior year. So, I’m trying to take classes outside of school. There’s different kinds of art classes, and I don’t know what kind will teach me about human anatomy. Is it life drawing?
(Visited 7 times, 1 visits today)
I don’t mean to repeat myself, but someone asked why they were really good at drawing animals, and wondered if it was the way they learned, or the animal itself..etc.
My advice is to get the book called "DRAWING ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE BRAIN", and "THE NATURAL WAY TO DRAW"….I don’t have the authors names handy, but I got both books at a good price on Amazon…(like $5.00 or so). There are lessons in the book "DRAWING ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE BRAIN"…which goes into drawing people or portraits. THis book teaches you how to "SEE" differently, and draw what you see, and not what you think it’s supposed to look like. It showed examples of students drawing before and after the lesson. It was amazing! My own drawing improved almost 100% after several lessons. Also if you want human anatomy instruction, get "THE NATURAL WAY TO DRAW"….also. Both of these books are great. They showed common mistakes in drawing portraits…and showed how to correct or do them properly. You can probably just do your own studying if you have these books. I am a self-taught artist, and I have sold some of my work. I still have trouble with "painting", but am working on it. As I said in one of my other posts …DRAWING IS A LEARNED SKILL…and these books will really help you , rather than you spending all kinds of money on art classes. I’m not saying art classes aren’t good…but you can learn a lot in several days just from the first few lessons. I speak from experience. It made a real difference in how I look at objects now, and cuts down on the frustration of trying to make something "look right". P.S. The left side of the brain often interferes with the right side of the brain, and tells it what things are supposed to look like, rather than what is really there, which often causes that frustration I mentioned. Hope this isn’t too confusing for you.
Life drawing or figure drawing classes will focus on the human form. But often these classes use nude models, you might not be old enough to participate even with a parent’s permission. You will have to call and ask. In the meantime you can practice and study on your own. I highly suggest downloading the book Figure Drawing for all it’s Worth by Andrew Loomis, it’s free online. If you follow all the exercises, it is the basic equivalent of an intro class.
You can try portrait drawing classes. I’ve taken those when I was younger and you won’t believe how fun and beneficial it was for me… I think the figure drawings classes/ life drawing is the human anatomy drawing class…
first of all, forget night school or any class taught in a college or junior college environment.
go to an art school if possible. get taught by someone who actually knows something. if there are working artists in your area, offer to work for them doing chores, and maybe learn by osmosis. <this is best. it would be an apprenticeship and that’s the good old-fashioned way.
don’t get swayed by bs. in your gut you will know if your teacher is full of cr@p, in which case, dump the teacher.
Figure drawing will teach you anatomy but while a lot of fourteen and fifteen year olds get it most of them, just like the rest of us, take still life first. Find a course in still life, where you sit there and drawplates boxesetc then drawthe figure. The human figure is HARD.