This article covers nine most common mistakes that can be seen in the work of not only students but also professional artists. If you think your drawings are fine the way they are now, try taking a closer look at them because there is almost always room for improvement in everyone’s work – it’s a never-ending process. The ideas presented here will produce a noticeable improvement, which in turn will generate a more positive response from viewers. This article is packed with information and will probably be most effective if used as a reference when drawing the figure. Also, keep in mind that the first three mistakes have to do with the artist’s choice of materials, which play a bigger role in the drawing process than many people realize. So, take a look at the nine most common figure drawing mistakes and see if any of them apply to you.
Mistake #1 is using cheap drawing materials. High-quality materials are essential to the drawing experience and should be used from the start for a number of reasons. Its textures and colors are superior and help to give nuance and beauty to whatever you do and in this way they will help you develop your drawing skills. When a cheap paper resists your medium, you can spend the whole drawing fighting against the paper and little else. Good quality papers, like Cancon brand drawing papers, hold your medium much better, allow for a greater variety of strokes, and also come in a beautiful array of colors. In terms of longevity, high-quality paper will not fade or yellow, so twenty years from now your artwork will retain its original appearance, while cheap papers lose their color and become brittle over time. So in the long run, the most expensive materials are actually the best deal because they have so much to offer. Finally, from a psychological point of view, the use of finer materials is a way of demonstrating your faith in yourself to create art that is as high quality as the paper you draw on.
Mistake #2 is using a limited number of materials and always trying something new. By exploring a wider variety of media, you’ll learn more about drawing in general. Each material has its unique expression that is imparted in the artistic process. For example, the Conte crayon gives smooth, broad, velvety strokes, making it excellent when working on a larger scale or creating wide areas of tone. The graphite pencil with its fine point is excellent for small, detailed drawings and the charcoal pencil is best when you want bold calligraphic lines. Each material and its inherent character will reflect different aspects of your own personality as an artist. New materials stimulate new ways of thinking.
Mistake #3 is only using materials in their traditional combinations. An example is the common use of charcoal pencil on white paper: while this combination is fine, you can also create some visual interest by mixing what have been considered separate categories of media. For example, it is assumed that ink does not mix with pencil, or that pencil, pastel, and paint exist in different worlds. The truth is that they all blend beautifully in a drawing, if the artist learns to work with them. For example, you can mix oil paints with pencil successfully, but this combination of materials is rarely seen in life drawing workshops. Even if you are doing simple line drawings, you can include multiple pencil colors, such as red for figure and black for accents, and it will give the piece more visual interest. But be careful because too much randomly chosen material can lead to visual chatter. Be careful in your choices so that they enhance each other and contribute to the overall feeling of what you want to say; then it will work wonderfully.
Mistake #4 is thinking that the more anatomy you know, the better your figure drawing will be. There are a number of great artists whose knowledge of anatomy was limited, and yet they were still considered masters. An example is the French artist Paul Cezanne, known as the founder of Modernism and whose work commands very high prices at auction. Looking at his work, it’s obvious that his knowledge of anatomy was limited, but it didn’t matter because he was rich in artistic ideas. As he himself said: “I am the primitive of the method that I have invented”, so the ideas that you bring to your work are the most important thing, even above the correct placement of the muscles. If you bring an idea to a drawing, you will search and find what you need in the model’s anatomy and thus become an expert in anatomy without formally studying it. He is like a person who thinks that he needs to memorize all the words in the dictionary before starting to write a poem. Interestingly, when drawing the figure, it will be more believable if the artist does NOT follow the anatomy perfectly. Drawings that strive for anatomical perfection above all else often appear more rigid and “muscular.”
Mistake #5 is unconsciously imposing your gender on the model. If you’re a man, the tendency is to make women look too masculine, and if you’re a woman, the tendency is to make your male model look feminine. Basically, many artists inadvertently conceptualize the model through the filter of their gender, which becomes more apparent when drawing a member of the opposite sex. To compensate for this, the artist needs to take a close look at the male or female features of the model and bring them out a bit. If you’re a woman drawing a male model, she emphasizes the boxier man’s shapes, straighter lines, narrower hips, square jaw, stronger forehead line, and larger Adam’s apple. A woman will have softer, more flowing lines, smooth curves, wider hips, a smaller waist, more delicate hands and feet, and a lighter complexion. You don’t need to do this in an obvious and clumsy way, you can do it subtly, but make sure that you somehow consider the masculine and feminine qualities of your model.
Mistake #6 is allowing the curves you see in the figure to become concentric, meaning they end up opposite each other. When two directly opposite curves are drawn in a natural drawing, a bullseye is created that interrupts the natural visual flow throughout the figure. The observer’s attention will be focused on the circular shape now created, as a target. An example is when drawing the calf on the leg: the curve on one side will be higher and longer than the curve on the other side, but many artists will draw them directly across from each other. The solution is to keep an eye on both sides of each shape as you draw. Stagger the curves on each side of a shape and move them slightly (don’t let them face each other) so the eye will travel smoothly along the shape. Establishing flow in a drawing is the mark of a professional and gives the drawing a cohesive quality.
Mistake #7 is trusting the camera for data because the camera has the potential to limit one’s artistic expression. The result is a drawing that is too rigid and/or that seems to be made as in the photo. The solution is to spend more time honing your drawing skills to the point where a camera isn’t really necessary or, if used, its role is minimal. The French artist Degas is a good example of an artist who discreetly incorporated the camera into his work process without ever depending on it. When the artist puts more of himself into the drawing and less of the camera, the drawing will have more “life”. If he has to choose between precision and being creative, he chooses to be creative.
Mistake #8 is drawing the outline of the figure (its outer shape) without suggesting any of the converging shapes on the inside, most of which overlap each other. Neglected areas of the body that are often “overlooked” in a broad contour line include the joints of the arms, neck, hip, and legs. The result is a lack of definition and the drawing looks mushy. To resolve this, when you come to an area where two shapes meet, be prepared to make some cuts on the contour line to help suggest that one shape is facing the other. This concept is especially important when working in foreshortenings and is the key to achieving some of the more difficult poses.
Mistake #9 is spelling out each part of a drawing without leaving neutral or inactive areas. When an artist represents every detail, the drawing loses part of its life because it is too controlled. Art is a dialogue, a form of communication between you and your audience. The neutral area allows your audience to bring their own imagination to the piece, such as a conversation where you have to be quiet part of the time so the other person can participate. If you don’t have some visual silence in your work, the viewer (even if unconsciously) will feel a bit suffocated in your presence.
It’s important to define the errors because while they’re there, your drawing will be diminished in some way and the errors will inhibit clear communication with your viewers. But mistakes are not bad because inside each one there is an important lesson. Also, without mistakes, your drawing could never progress to the next level of understanding, so they are purposeful. In my experience, they are best viewed as opportunities for growth, although I think James Joyce put it best when he said, “Man’s mistakes are his portals of discovery.”