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One way to deal with the issue of embarrassment regarding nudity is to take the students out of the school context to allow them to deal with the life model in a mature way.
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See your figure on the page. One mark inscribes a central horizontal; it could be an actual mark or a fold in the page. This is usually describing the navel.
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A slip of paper, with a few divisions on it, held up to the model is a reliable gauge of proportions.
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Treat slanting angles as "o'clocks" by holding your finger up against them and gauging the 'hour'.
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Central line of balance or line of gravity: watch the relations about the body, especially as it moves; there is usually a direct line between the ball of the foot and the head.
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The best way that I can recommend equipping a student for short periods of drawing is to practise plenty of rapid gesture drawings.
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The book to read, for students or teachers, is The Natural Way to Draw: A Working Plan for Art Study by Kimon Nicolaides. It is a bit of a bible for Life Drawing tutors, but anyone can follow it alone. He integrates the sensory, the intellect and an experimental attitude - learning through trial and error.
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A good start is a good ending - using Nicolaides' dictum of getting everything in the first five seconds quickly tells you if a particular drawing is worth continuing.
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A few rapid poses at the start of an examination session will only lose you, maximum, a few seconds or a minute.
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Get yourself well set up: align the page parallel with the vertical edge of the drawing board. Without a true vertical it is much harder to work in balance and structure to your drawing.
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Viewfinders are great for composing your drawing
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Squint your eyes to get a overall impression of shape and tonal distribution.
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Put yourself into the same pose as the model for a few seconds to get the 'feel' of it.
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Leonardo da Vinci saw Life Drawing as a group activity with a competitive aspect " ...To draw in company is much better than to draw on one's own for many reasons. The first is that you will be ashamed to be counted among draughtsmen if your work is inadequate, and this disgrace must motivate you to profitable study. Secondly a healthy envy will stimulate you to become one of those who are more praised than yourself, for the praises of others will spur you on. Another reason is that you will learn something from the drawings of those who do better than you.."
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He also recommends using a mirror held up to the drawing to check faults that we become blind to.
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Strong directional lighting is the key to exaggerating light and shade - get an anglepoise lamp.
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If the models are going to be clothed then use the 'trois crayons' method for drapery. This means keeping a palette of three shades only of a particular colour, to describe mid-tones, highlights and shadows of drapery. Objects benefit from this treatment as well.
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Try different media:
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Sticks: It will take about five attempts to get the swing these - the page will moves, etc. - but you will get wonderfully considered, kinetic, frenzied, agitated marks reminiscent of a Giacometti. J-cloths attached to the end make a giant marker; this is very good fun.
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Use paint , particularly finger-painting; it is very effective at getting students comfortable.
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Put long pages up on the wall so that looking is tricky and therefore more is made of each look.
- Basic Anatomy is not difficult, students can use their own bodies as points of reference Ð e.g.that foreheads are not flat, discovering the volume and relation of ribcage to pelvis.
