What are the benefits of life drawing, as in, sitting in a class room drawing naked people? What do I gain from this exercise I don't gain from just photographs? Also, with all the Loomis memeing you guys do, I was wondering how human body drawing techniques such as the Loomis method could be applied to life drawing. I've attempted to use the Loomis method while doing life drawing before, and the result was always worse than simply drawing the body in front of me. I've always felt like stuff like the Loomis method was good for memory, but if you don't need to rely on memory (having a photograph or real person) its better to simply draw what you see.
>>2510670
Drawing from life you convert a 3d object (binocular vision, and you can walk around it too) to a 2d representation. Drawing from a photo you take a 2d representation and turn it into another 2d representation. There's a whole different level of understanding you will get from life. Not to mention that photos distort reality in many ways differently than your eye sees, from lens distortion to exposure ranges to colour intensity and variety.
Any method of construction is meant as a tool to help break down and understand what you are looking at. It's not meant to be a formula that you try to force to fit your model. When drawing from life, observation comes first.
Photos are a great tool, but they are not a replacement for drawing from life. Use them as a supplement or for things that are difficult to draw from life like things in motion or a specific design or place you don't have ordinary access to.
>>2510687
This
Plus life drawing is a good way to meet plebs whom are interested and motivated about the artist process.
On top of what other have already said, life drawing is a great way for me to to work really hard for a few hours. At home I have a lot of distractions, but during my life drawing sessions I am completely focused on my drawing and get a shit load done in a mere 3 hours. It's great.
Yeah what that first guy said basically, Also, on the Loomis method, it's really meant for imaginative drawing more than drawing from life as far as I know, It's a tool that you don't have to use all the time. I see people often having an over reliance on strict methods of construction and it makes all their figures look the same. Observational work and doing more than just human figures will help you break from that.
>>2510695
Imo the "focus" that you get going to a life drawing class carries over when you are not there, especially if you go on a regular bases, you will see the same folks there and have motivation in your self directed to to get off your ass and draw. Why in the fuck did I stop going?
>>2510670
Related question:
I'm planning on walking to the woods to do a drawing every day. What benefits can I expect if I manage to do this every day for a month?
>>2510752
You'll get better at drawing.
>>2510755
thanks, sounds good
>>2510670
There are two main approaches of drawing from life. 1. Focus on drawing accurate shapes and values, what is taught in most ateliers and basically the Bargue method. Drawing what you see, essentially. 2. Focus on analyzing the forms and structure of the model. Here accuracy of shape is subordinated to understanding of the model as 3d forms. The russian ateliers put a lot of emphasis on this method, aswell as the first one.
You need to learn both. If you only do construction stuff you'll be poor at capturing a likeness and subtleties of expression, and if you only do the shape focused method you'll have a poor understanding of what you are drawing and little to no carry over to drawing from imagimation.
Vilppu and Proko are great teachers for learning how to apply Loomis like methods of construction to drawing the model. The more I draw, the more overlap I see between the methods.
Source: two years at a atelier, hundreds of life drawing experience, few years working as a illustrator with figures from imagination and anatomy as a personal strength.
Well, basically what others said. There's also light to consider and the fact that with life model you can draw unusual or hard poses with often difficult foreshortening.
And sifting through dozens of photos to found proper one with pretty clear sources of light and not photoshoped with proper resolution can be a hassle.
Oh and also you often don't know the lens through which photo was made. Distortion is different for 100, 50 and 30 mm and it adds to other issues.
u get to see real naked boobs which is cool
i find it almost impossible to apply things like Loomis etc. to life drawing and even drawing from photos, my imaginative drawing is ok and my observational drawing is ok. But I really have no idea how you're meant to bring them together.
I suppose, reconciling shape and form language, being able to work with them as a single entity. Does anyone have any tips on this?
>>2510869
Try something like: draw a really quick gesture based on what you see. then finish it without looking at the ref. Or even drawing entirely based on the memory of a single glance. The latter being a nice exercise in a public place with a lot of people where you can draw passersby.
Do it enough and you should start to get an idea how they go together.
>>2510869
Just watch the Vilppu and Proko videos, they explain this at length.
