Reading 5 Response

Figure drawing is so fundamental to the art world. It's not only a great skill to practice, but it's also a great topic to study in terms of understanding humanity. The author makes the claim that through the study of figure drawing we are analyzing concepts of relationships, identity, culture, etc. A specific example is given concerning a Korean American student who was interested in female fashion figures. After some guidance from her art teacher, she explored the reasoning behind being drawn to those kind of figures. With this in mind, she drew the fashion figures, but spray painted greek statue stencils over the top of them. Her process reflects what teachers should hope their students gain from their classroom - discovering truths about humanity.

I personally love drawing (and painting) the human figure. I could do it everyday and still be excited about it. High school provided me with some basic anatomy help. We copied the figures, skeletons, and skulls from packets. We also spent one or two days drawing each other. It was a very basic introduction. Although I enjoyed doodling up my own characters, that high school experience was not enough for me to develop a deep relationship and love for drawing and exploring the human figure. My figure drawing for illustrators class, here at BYU, was the most amazing and helpful class I have ever taken. I feel like it taught me the technique and skill that I needed to progress not only in creating the figure, but also in drawing in general. I also believe that drawing in a sketchbook consistently is important. It exercises our creativity and our ability to draw from life.

I would spend more than just one or two days on figure drawing. I would include helpful homework assignments to help students master anatomy skills outside of the classroom. These homework assignments will be geared to help them feel more comfortable drawing from life in the classroom. I will vary the homework assignments between strict and lax. Some assignments might include something like "Draw ten faces," while others might be more like, "draw a personal rendition of any figure from your life." My class will also be structured so that we spend some time gesture drawing before we spend a large amount of time rendering the human figure.