Down the Rabbit Hole…

If you enjoy figure drawing and are looking for some structure to your practice (and a great deal of inspiration), here’s a line of study you might enjoy:

I’ve been sketching from Bridgman for years now. Some of my copies are probably older than I am (they were left to me by my grandmother).

The character and style of his work is motivating and exciting and I have filled more than one sketchbook with studies of his work. But after some time one may find some of Bridgeman’s line work ambiguous, perhaps unprecise. Which is quite understandable as some of the illustrations were made in a classroom setting on the fly, from memory!

But if you enjoy Bridgeman and are looking for class 102, you may enjoy this book:

In this book Watts has included many model photographs of a model specifically doing Bridgeman poses, then breaks down human form visually, in a very Bridgeman inspire manner.

TIP: One of my sketchbook exercises (seen above) is to copy Bridgeman’s drawings using only a brush pen - no pencil. This forces a degree of focus on accuracy that is hard to achieve when you have an eraser as back up. It force you to mentally measure twice and mark once so often it becomes second nature.

Drawing Helps You See the World

Many of you found this newsletter by way of my eBook “How to Draw Like a Painter”. Well in that same line of study, you might also enjoy Ian Roberts video linked below. I especially appreciate his ability to not only simplify shapes, but to make those simple shapes so interesting.

Parting Tip:

Now this tip I stole from @paulheaston

Sometimes (for pen and ink drawing), you want a two tone value contrast but black and white is just too stark, and some other times you’d like to just soften the hard edges inherent in pen and ink line work, and other times you’d like to do a 3 value sketch.

Well if any of those wants resonate with you then you will love Noodler’s Lexington Gray Ink. Out of the bottle it is still pretty dark so I mix it about 1/5 parts with water and put it in a Kuretake brush pen. It’s now a staple in my art kit.