More tips on drawing people from life

On simplifying the hands, feet, ears and more

Drawing people from life can feel like a pretty daunting process. I wrote last week about some tips I have as I’m approaching drawing people with my upcoming Drawing the Figure course starting in January. Here is a follow up post, as the more I thought about it, the more ideas came about points I consider when drawing from life.

Change of scale

We take for granted how convincing quickly how a subject can decrease in size the farther away it is from you. I recently posted how you can draw multiple figures with the help of perspective to change their scale. Pieter Bruegel was an absolute master at this with his complex scenes showing numerous figures all moving back in to the picture plane. His subjects gradually recede with background figures being only as large as the head of someone in the foreground. When sketching on location, whether it is in a cafe or a park I think of Bruegel in as I move from figure to figure, adjusting their sizes.

The Wedding Dance, Pieter Bruegel