Henry Yan 39;s Figure Drawing

[Ara Kistner]

Thisbook focuses on the tips and techniques in drawing human figures and portraits. All the paintings included are from his class demonstrations and workshop studies developed from many years of teaching. And all drawings are done from live models.

He has a very cool painterly style and energy to his figures that I like. Some pieces are created like Chinese paintings, not drawing in too much details to invite viewers to fill in the details themselves.

This book is focused on various techniques and styles in drawing human figures and portraits. The book has 192 pages, each page includes one or more figure/head drawings done from live models. There are about 20 step-by-step demonstrations from detailed and traditional approaches to fast and painterly styles. Along with the step-by-step demonstrations and examples, the book is filled with detailed description of methods of using charcoal pencil, vine charcoal and compressed charcoal. The text also includes opinions, tips, ways of thinking and observing. It's a book that will benefit both beginners and advanced learners.

Overview: General, short, introduction of the book.

Inspiration: Does the book give a spark to light the artistic flames of creation or whatever, does the book inspire/make you want to draw and create your own things yourself.

Usefulness: There are useful step by step process of how Henry Yan does figure drawing that are well paced, they do not suddenly jump from the sketch to the finished product with no explanation, each step by step has explanations for what he is doing. He explains properly how traditional media should be handled and sharpened when doing figure drawing, with more lead exposed for broad shadow strokes. There are quite a few pages interspersed where its just finished work which is good as an example

Every morning began with half an hour of quick gesture sketches from models, than we were off and running on a long pose. Each day had a special focus, for instance on the first day we were concerned with finding an accurate edge around the figure to build on. Using different line weights as well as overlapping we mapped where muscles and forms moved forward and backward in space to show the perspective of the figure.

We worked up to his method of using a charcoal pencil rendering light lines to get the outer edges and inner shadow shapes on cotton drawing paper. Using a vine charcoal we blocked in the shadows very dark as well as the shadow side of the background.

Using a soft chamois swiping the loose charcoal inward toward the figure, following the forms. From there it was a matter of getting more information in the darks as well as lights, than finishing with eraser highlights.

It was a wonderful week of seeing new ways to use tools I had been familiar with for decades. The next day I attended open studio to put some of these concepts into practice. I still need to get a lighter touch, and more time, that clock always runs out too soon!

This was originally a two minute pencil sketch (20121204) on 200 gram watercolour paper. I painted it last Friday, 20130125. I was really happy with it when I did the first wash, then it became muddy as I put on further layers. I want to create a three dimensional quality without losing the vibrancy of a single wash. Live and learn!

A figure drawing tutorial by Bill Buchman. I had to login to my Google account in order to see this video which was a bit annoying. I had to prove I was over eighteen, it was worth the effort, I like his approach to life drawing. He has a Vimeo video channel which is worth visiting. Click here.

I discovered the figurative watercolour artist, Ted Nuttall has a Facebook page. His latest work is published there. Visit Ted Nuttall on Facebook here. Please note that for this link to work you need to be already logged into your Facebook account.

My name is David Meldrum, I love painting watercolours. Another passion of mine is life drawing, I run a drop in session every Thursday evening here in Stockholm and also online. www.meldrumkroki.se

I was born in Ireland but since 1990 I have lived in Stockholm, Sweden.

Join my Patreon supporters, it's crowdfunding for creative people. Thank you. www.patreon.com/meldrumart

As a full-time instructor, Henry Yan has been teaching more than twenty years at Academy of Art University in San Francisco, giving classes on figure and portrait, drawing and oil painting. His book, "Henry Yan's Figure Drawing - Techniques and Tips." published in 2006, has achieved a great success, it has been widely used by art students and professional artists in the US and internationally.

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Recently, I quietly conducted a personal experiment in streamlining my art life. Like a big purge, after almost three decades of living a philosophy of multi-tracking, flexibility and expansiveness, I narrowed the scope and range of my activities to see if it would intensify what was most creatively meaningful and satisfying. The process came with terror, guilt and a fear of loss and failure.

According to Silicon Valley leadership consultant and author Greg McKeown, the key to living a fulfilled life is identifying our own highest point of contribution. In his book Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less, Greg lays out a plan for finding our vital calling and cutting out the rest. Clearing obstacles, says McKeown, fosters our best work and enriches personal connections. For an artist, his system feels both obvious and a warm nudge to protect and advance creativity. If the goal is to live at our highest expression, here are a few ideas:

The large screen Mac is a good foil for the last Bridget Riley black square. Very dimensional. Where is the audience in the plot to remove items from our work? The creator and the viewer exist in the person at the easel, or with the spray paint or corps de ballet. We can eliminate the old work, after documentation, and feel new. The ground is always moving, and it is a beautiful thing. Thanks, Sara

Learn from the Master! The way to do accurate drawing with painterly approach. Join us for this 7 day retreat with 4 day workshop in magical settings of Mexican back country with one of the best instructors of drawing the human figure. From short pose gesture and anatomy studies, to long pose painterly approaches, students will learn step by step the drawing methods, human proportions, anatomy and much more. Live model with small class size will insure lots of personal attention.

I am in this way reminded that knowledge is not finite, nor delimited by a profession and that any good student will be as, if not more aware of what they do not know compared to what they do know. A conversation with a student reaffirmed this:

At London Fine Art Studios we offer a range of courses throughout the year. Last week we held a 3-day Figure Drawing & Painting Course. The over-subscribed half-term intensive offered the opportunity to hone and direct skills further. True to form, and to their credit, students gathered like artists around free food!

As they grappled with proportion, gesture, values and colour they simultaneously deepened their understanding of human anatomy. It is timely that my co-conspirator should now be writing a series of articles on working from the life figure; and that I can add to the discussion and swap notes from a yoga perspective. Knowledge converges and we are all enriched and encouraged to push the boundaries of our discipline in order to be better.

It is surprising and hugely instructive to realise that the forehead makes up almost half of the human skull and that, therefore, the eyes are much further down towards the middle of the head. It transpires that most of us do not really see what is in front of us! It is also useful to note that the nose acts as a vertical (-ish) axis against which the eyes are the horizontal (more or less). For this reason any tilt of the head implies an equal and relative slanting of the horizontal axis, also a reference point for ears, mouth etc.

Revisiting these principles of anatomy and drawing is thrilling and allows us all to progress in leaps and bounds. My eye detects more keenly how the displacement of the pelvis affects the line of the shoulders, how it also causes the leg muscles to tighten differently and the shadow shapes to shift.

At London Fine Art Studios our philosophy is no less rigorous. The teaching is classically inspired, drawn from the techniques of the European Masters, but it also integrates other subjects and interests to provide a solid foundation with the potential for individual style.

The atelier methodology is the final and essential component of our training. It is the connective tissue running through all we do: students are assured comprehensive and supported instruction through 1:1 critiques and demonstrations, they also learn through observing their peers and tutors working alongside them.

Henry Yan has been teaching at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco for more than twenty years. He teaches figure and portrait drawing and painting for the schools of Fine Arts, Foundations, and Illustrations for the university.

Other than teaching for the Academy of Art University, he has also been invited to run seminars and workshops in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Asia. A large amount of his work has been collected internationally.

Said Bouftass is originally from Casablanca, Morocco. After high school, he went to Paris to study at the majestic Ecole Nationale Suprieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris, where he was also an assistant to professors Francois Fontaine and Philippe Comar. He then worked with Jean-Francois Debord, who had accompanied him in his doctoral research at the University of Paris Saint-Dnis where he obtained his doctorate in philosophy of art in 2001.

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