Charcoal: Time-Lapse Drawing of a Male Torso and Legs
In my latest YouTube video, I’ve created a time-lapse of a charcoal drawing focusing on the male torso and legs, breaking down the process of rendering anatomy, light, and form.
The Power of Charcoal in Figure Drawing
I love charcoal for it's versatility. It can render deep shadows having a large tonal value range, soft transitions if desired, and is relatively inexpensive. When working on this study, I focused on:
Structure & Anatomy: Having a template 'average' skeletal proportional system in mind I find really helpful and I used it in this drawing - Andrew Loomis' 8 heads which correlates nicely with Robert Beverley Hale's 12 cranial unit system.
Light & Shadow: I used a basic 5 value system to imagine each muscle as a mutation of a sphere which has a highlight, a core shadow, half tone and tone with some drop shadows depending on the location of the muscle I was rendering.
Gesture & Movement: Even in a static pose, I aimed to maintain a sense of life and energy in the drawing with my initial looser lines drawn lightly.
Looking Ahead
This is part of a series of figure studies I’m working on, and I plan to share more insights, tutorials, and in-depth explorations of drawing techniques. If you enjoy this content, consider subscribing to my YouTube channel and following me on social media for more updates.
Let me know in the comments—what’s your biggest challenge when drawing the figure?
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