Paper types

In life drawing i usually take 2 types of paper.  The first is newsprint. NewsPrint is the cheapest type of paper. It is not archival so it will yellow over time but it is great to draw on especially with a charcoal pencil. The slick smooth surface will create really nice clean lines and is great for quick pose drawings. Although charcoal pencil cannot be easily erased and if you are using a stick of vine charcoal the charcoal will not stick. So your not going to get texture in your drawings. i use newsprint on drawings under 45 mins.

 Here is an example of drawings done on a sheet of newsprint from photo reference. See also that good practice is to draw many figures on one page. It can be difficult because once we feel we have done a bad drawing we want to start on a clean bit of paper.

on newsprint

The 2nd type of paper would be a medium tooth charcoal paper. This is a thicker paper with a medium grain. Its actually much harder to draw on but when a charcoal pencil along with vine charcoal is used you can create beautiful textural drawings. Because the paper allows for easy manipulation of the charcoal using smudging methods it can also end of quite messy with little practice. This is often used on longer poses of around 45 minutes or longer. The paper is archival and can range from cheap to expensive.

And here is an example of a drawing on a medium tooth paper.

on strathmore medium paper

Watts Atelier

The Watts Atelier is an online drawing and painting school ran by the fantastic artist and teacher Jeffrey Watts. Jeff teaches a way of drawing using the 'reilly method' an old drawing method developed by Frank J. Reilly. I personally love jeffs quick sketch work. Quick pose figure drawing is the most difficult to master and Jeff is one of the best artists at it. The video posted contains a huge amount of information on his teaching method. So if you have a spare few hours it is definitely worth the watch. The class starts about 4 minutes in. Enjoy!

Henry Yan's Figure Drawing Book

This is a great book from a great artist. I have learnt alot of techniques from this artist and i highly recommend this book. Henry is especially masterful at drawing quick poses and working with various techniques in the charcoal medium. The book is a great introduction into drawing from life. Henry also teaches workshops at lavender Hill Studios in london every year.

His book can be found at his website.

http://www.henryyanart.com/product.php?id=1

New Masters Academy

New masters is an online school and a fantastic source of information on drawing and Painting. The schools instructors are some of the best in the world. I have spent time learning under steve huston and glenn villpu and i highly recommend their teachings. New masters also has a youtube channel with lots of free videos and figure drawing resources for practicing at home or on your travels. The video is an example of the quality of there reference material. This is great for taking a class at home and working from beautifully lit photo reference.