BONUS: In The Life Drawing Room (Patreon)

We are all here together because of our shared love of gesture drawing. Many of us are lucky enough to have life drawing in our cities that we can attend but not all of us.

Or perhaps there are some who are new to drawing and haven't yet built up the courage to step foot in a real life drawing room with a real model and other artists who might look at their work!

The horror!

I wanted to share some things that you may find useful before entering the life drawing room. These are opinions I've made from being both a student and a teacher in the life drawing room.

If you are very familiar with the life drawing room, see if you agree or disagree with me and let me know if your experience has been different in the comments below.

How to set up

There are several ways to set up your drawing station in a life drawing room, and that may vary depending on the facilities are your local session.

Art Easels

Most drawing spaces will have these. They can be a bit confusing to operate, but ask someone to help you and you'll br grand.

Most art rooms also have drawing boards. Some might have clips like the one below, or they might not have any at all. It's good to have a couple of big clips in your pencil case for these situations.

You can then clip your newsprint pad upright to the board OR upside down, allowing the used page to simply fall out of the way (I only recently learned this from a student! Thanks Matt!)

Donkeys

Which can be orientated 2 ways...

Standing. I like to stand when I have the energy. I believe that trying to capture movement and life from a model while you're sitting hunched or slumped can work against me. So having some movement in my own body by standing helps me feel more energised.

However, at the end of a long day, it can be tiring.

I'm a bit tall for these donkeys, so I like to have a wide stance to lower my shoulders closer to the sketchbook. There are prizes for the best stance...

Sitting. This is an option if you find standing tiring or if the space is limited and you don't want to block the view of another artist. Bring something soft to sit on!

Be aware of your posture and try not to slump into your seat.

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Etiquette

Many of these are personal gripes from being a teacher... but they still apply!

• arrive and be set up in good time.

You know what time the class begins... prepare, give yourself enough time to arrive, set up your station and be ready to draw before the model starts posing. It is very distracting and disrespectful to the model and other artists if you come stumbling in, banging boards and donkeys about.

• keep talking to a minimum

If you must talk, keep it to a minimum and a very quiet level. It's not only distracting to the model but also your fellow artists in the room. Respect everyone's time and space.

(I recently saw a fellow artist take several phone calls during the class....so rude!)

• don't blast your music in your headphones

In addition to talking, keep your music to a respectable level. You might like your music loud, but's there's nothing worse than second hand, buzzy music coming from your neighbour's headphones.

• share the space

Be aware of other artists in the room. Make space so everyone has as good a view of the model as possible. Be considerate and communicate with your neighbours.

• don't leave in the middle of a pose

This is a personal peeve of mine!

The model is up on the stage, working for you, trying to give you inspiring poses for your practice. For me, there is nothing more rude than packing up and leaving when the model is up there nude.

Try to leave on a break or if you need to leave during the session, let the model or instructor know, thank them for their work and then leave. I don't know if this bothers the models or not...but it drives me up the wall!

• don't take photographs!

You are paying for the model's time in that session and that session only. You do not have consent to take their image, whether you plan to keep it for personal use or not. Do NOT take their photo.

• watch your language if talking about the model

Sometimes you may need to ask a question to an instructor about the anatomy. Please use appropriate language when talking about the model's body. They are a human being and they can hear you. I won't list all the no-no words here but a better choices of words might be...

glutes / crotch / pubic bone / breasts / chest / flesh / tissue / stomach / underarm.

• clean up after yourself

Drawing can be a messy business. Pencil sharpenings, china marker paper coils, broken pieces of charcoal or conté. Not to mention all those coffee cups! When you leave, put your donkey/easel/chair/drawing board back where it belongs and clean up any mess you made. Leave it nice for the next artist. Respect the space.

• pay

I've never encountered this, but please make sure you pay for the class you attend. Most of the money usually goes to the model, so if you don't pay it's like stealing from the model.

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Tips

• move around the room

It's inevitable that you will get some poses that are just not interesting / too difficult from your angle. The model can't guarantee a good pose for everybody at every angle. Work with just a board, your sketchbook and a pencil or two so that it's easy to pick everything up and move around the room whenever you need too.

You can also use this technique to search out more challenging angles. I recommend sitting on the floor quite close to the model (but not too close - don't be weird) to get dynamic perspective angles.

• experiment with standing / sitting positions

Depending on the classroom, there may be multiple station options available to you. I like to use a large donkey on its end so I can stand, especially for shorter poses. Then I flip it around to sit on it for the longer poses (me wee legs get tired!)

But it can be good to mix up your drawing position once in a while, just to create a different experience that might unlock drawing potential you didn't know was in there! I think standing for gesture when possible create movement in your own body which trickles through into you gestures. It's hard to draw life and motion when you're slumped over your sketchbook.

• explore different media.

As well as switching up your drawing position, it's good to bring a few different drawing materials to class too and switch between them regularly. Some days you just draw particular models and poses better with certain materials.

Personally I switch between woodless charcoal pencils, conté sticks and china markers - all quite similar, but each gives me a slightly different result, depending what mood I'm in.

Recently, I've been experimenting with materials I don't usually mess with, like ink and willow charcoal.

• ask the model for specific poses

If you are working on a project or specific skill that require certain types of poses, you can kindly ask the model before class or on a break to mix in a couple of pose suggestions. They may or may not do it - depending on their ability and mood - but it's doesn't hurt to ask. I find that models that do gestures are particularly up for a bit of fun and love taking requests.

• set a goal / bring reference

Just like each gesture drawing, you will have a better life drawing room experience if you set a goal for what you are trying to achieve in that particular class. And be specific.

Are you working on exaggeration? Or anatomy? Or forced perspective? Choosing your goal for the class will focus you drawing decisions and give you better results sooner. Try to avoid going to 'just draw' - unless you're just doing it to unwind! But I don't think that's many of us here.... :/

• ask the model if they want to be tagged on social media.

Some models like to be tagged on social media if you are sharing your drawings online. This works as publicity for the models and some of them just really like seeing your drawings! Not all models do this however, but ask nicely. I've had plenty of models who just model on the side of their day job and they do not want drawings of them nude tagged!

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• What do you think of these tips and rules for the life drawing room?
• Do you disagree with any?
• Do you have any that you would add?

Let me know in the comments below!

- GG