Untitled by A. Joleigh © 2013

I take great pride in this sketch. Having only been sketching for a few days, I took on the challenge of drawing from a YouTube channel that provides live nude models. On this channel they encourage you to take 2 minutes, 5 minutes, etc., to look at the object, and draw the movement lines first.

The lines of movement in this case would be the curve of her back, the bend of her shoulders, and the outward leg. That is how I see it. I’m going to say now that I am NOT a professional artist. I’m very new to this and am only sharing with you pointers that I found helpful when I began doing this. 

Draw the lines of the live model, taking only 2 minutes to view the movement.

After drawing your main lines, lines of movement, then begin to fill in the drawing with the outside lines.

There was a lot of erasing to get to this point. You don’t see all of the marks because the camera is way too forgiving, but trust me, there was a lot of erasing going on. I wasn’t good at drawing hands or feet, so this pose was perfect for me. Haha. I’ve had critics say that they looked like flippers. LOL. So I just keep them hidden unless I have no other choice. To this  day I still need to learn how to draw them.

In this sketch I used a 5H pencil to begin. I love how precise the marks are. It makes it easier for me to get the tiniest details in there. Then to finish, I used 5B for the shadowing and the hair. I wasn’t too concerned with the shadowing. I didn’t want to ruin what I had accomplished thus far. 

If you have any pointers, or would like to give any insight in your experience with sketching, PLEASE write in the comments below.