SKETCHING TIPS: Drawing the Male Nude

(Warning: Frontal Nudity)

In this article I’m going to take you through the steps to completing a rough sketch of a frontal male nude. Each step is accompanied by a short video clip showing how I put my recommendations into practice at each stage of the drawing.

BEGINNING THE DRAWING

It’s important to block in the whole drawing very early. don’t just start drawing in one area, like the face, and then expand outward. That way you’re trusting to blind luck, or perhaps amazing talent, to end up with something relatively accurate. Instead, sketch out the whole figure very lightly, feeling free to erase and re-state things as you go along. Don’t expect to get it right immediately. The whole purpose of this light underdrawing is to make your mistakes early, while they’re easy to correct.

Watch how I do this in the video below. (The model is Jefferson, whom I photographed in Brazil on a secluded beach on an island near Angra dos Reis.)