Figure Drawings

By Kristin Bishop

For two weeks in class, we practiced our figure drawing skills with artist Thommy Van Aucken. We went over gesture drawings, contour drawings, and value. This was a very valuable learning experience and I feel like I have gained more comfort in confidence in my ability to draw the human figure. We spent most of our time practicing gesture drawing and, with each example I've added above, there was gesture drawing involved in the process. I had very little experience with gesture drawing before these but I found that I very much enjoy doing it. I aim to involve more figure drawings in my future art and will utilise my new gesture drawings skills in that process. At the end of the two weeks, we did a twenty minute drawing using gesture, contour, and value to connect all of the pieces of what we learned. I am happy with how it turned out for my first time doing it. I hope to improve my use of value and my proportions in the future. Overall, this was a wonderful experience and it has opened me up to a new way of making art.