"Life Drawing - Techniques in Action" by Bridget Woods is a two DVD set produced by Crowood Films which covers the basics of life drawing from exercises to a finished study. The film is done as a tutorial by British artist and tutor Bridget Woods. Her teaching is simple yet concise and she backs up what she says by drawing directly from a life model, giving us, the students, a first row seat in her demonstrations. She communicates the vital techniques needed to learn how to do life drawing in a straight-forward fashion which educates as well as inspires.
The DVDs are a collection of exercises which focus on translating what we see in three dimensions into a drawing of two dimensions. Rhythm and Curve, starts by explaining how easily we make mistakes when drawing the figure because our eyes hop from one edge to another. We tend to see the small pieces and then try to tack them together, often resulting in distortion. Bridget explains that we do this not out of ignorance, but rather because our brains are too sophisticated. To overcome this problem it is important to understand how we see, and how we can change our tendency to visually 'abseil hopefully down the body'. We need to see the rhythms and curves in the larger form to give us a better understanding of the gesture of the pose. Bridget demonstrates this exercise and teaches us how to see and draw these curves to create a gestural drawing.
The following section, Angle Finding shows how to measure the proportions and angles of the body. We are taught a system to first scan the body, guesstimate,and then measures the figure, using the length of the pencil. This is followed by the Rhythm and Curve exercise to add gesture to the pose.
Foreshortened areas become easy to interpret with the exercise in Negative Shapes. The model is placed on a piece of dark cloth on the floor and Bridget concentrates on drawing the negative shapes around the body before filling in the figure. It is important when drawing accurately to be are aware that our brain will try and override our judgment of what we see. For example, we know that two legs should be of equal length, but from our viewpoint of the model, this many not always be the case.
The next exercise Zig-zagging, is a light-hearted exercise which aims to train the eye to travel and scan the body for the significant points - ends of limbs and hinges etc. This trains our eye how to see so that we can develop good scanning skills.
Eye Trust is an exercise which involves looking only at the model whilst the hand draws without looking at the paper. I had tried this before with abysmal results. The trick is to place the thumb from the non-drawing hand half way down the side of the drawing board. This acts as an anchor and helps the brain to orientate itself during the strange experience of drawing without looking at the paper. Bridget explains why exercises like these are very useful to practice to unify eye-hand co-ordination.
In last section, The Passionate Line, different marks, textures, and ways of using charcoal are explored. Each mark that is made is used to energetically describe the form. I had never seen this done before and was amazed at how few lines and shapes were needed to describe the entirety of the form through gesture and expression. The finished piece is immediate and unique. I thought it pure genius as it reminded me of the direct sweeps made by Picasso when he drew his bulls.
The second disc investigates the different tones seen in the body when faced with different lighting arrangements. Bridget takes us on A Trip Around the Model to discover light, shade and reflected light. This part of the film addresses life drawing from the painter’s eye as opposed to a graphic rendition of anatomy. I found it absolutely essential knowledge to have before endeavoring to attempt a life painting in any medium. This theme is continued in Mid-tones, where Bridget teaches us how to simplify the tones, dividing the areas of the body into 'generally lit' or 'generally unlit' areas.
Finding the Form starts by covering the paper with charcoal, and then using the hand to swipe away the black to expose the light skin tones of the model. This involves the artist in a tactile experience similar to shaping or sculpting a form from clay.
The DVD finishes with a 30 minute demo of a finished drawing (seen on the cover) in black and white chalk on toned paper. It shows Bridget working from start to finish. She shows us how to make a tonal range with five tones from the lightest light to the darkest dark. She starts with blocking in the lights and mid tones to produce a broad modeling of the figure. She then measures the figure to tighten up the proportions by checking the half-way points both vertically and horizontally. The drawing is refined by adding the in-between tones and finishes with the darkest darks and the lightest lights.
The clear and concise instructions given in this film make it an invaluable aid to anyone who wants to learn to draw the figure. Watching Bridget demonstrate her theories makes it very easy to apply to one's own work. She closes with a short statement that demystifies life drawing. She believes that it does not rely on artistic talent, but is something that can be easily learned through good tuition and practice. I couldn't fault this film in any way. Its valuable information is communicated directly and thoroughly and I find that I can watch it repeatedly as Bridget's passion for drawing is imparted in the most engaging way.
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