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DRAWING with
the MASTERS
FIRST, MASTER THE FIGURE,
WITH TED SETH JACOBS
BY A'DORA PHILLIPS

For many years, on the first Monday in

March, Ted Seth Jacobs eight-month pro-
gram, Restructred Realism, would com-
mence at a crossroads in the Loire Valley.
Jacobs retired from teaching several years
ago, but his legacy lives on. Here, we
revisit the experience of this unique and
influential course.

Ten students, the majority American,

assemble in a one-room studio with
a cement floor, drop ceiling, and a
bank of north-facing windows. Newly
repaired easels stand around the room,
and still-life arrangements line the
walls. Jacobs takes a few minutes to
describe to his new students what is
ahead, and to caution them not to con-
cern themselves too much with making
beautiful paintings and drawings. The
desire to do so, he feels, is putting the
Two Reclining Women on Sofas (sanguine on prepared paper with erased lights, 15 x 18)
cart before the horse. He tells them to
put aside notions of achieving smoothly
finished work for the next several sive course. Whether they understand are encapsulated in the human body.
months, and to focus instead on under- what they are getting into, however, is Lessons from the morning session are
standing what he is trying to teachthe another matter entirely. Many students, applied to still life or landscape sessions
time-honored principles of drawing Jacobs suspects, arrive thinking they in the late afternoon.
and painting that will give them the are going to learn technical points, such The first four months are devoted
tools they will need to make beautiful as how to handle a brush, mix paint, entirely to drawing, the necessary
paintings. Having encountered stu- and apply charcoal. But I basically feel framework for painting in the realist
dents who resist training, Jacobs also like that is kids stuff, he says. My job style. As Jacobs explains, When you
advises his new group to first try to is to teach my students how to think. paint, you have to make a shape for
understand everything he is teaching For the next eight months, with each tone and put it somewhere, which
before questioning whether his instruc- the exception of a nine-day break in is drawing. If you cant put the right
tion is validated by comparison with late June, students will spend Monday shape in the right place, then every-
the model. Ranging in age from their through Friday in the studio. From thing goes to pot.
20s to 40s, many of Jacobs students 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., students work from In the initial weeks of the program,
arrive at Jacobs cole Albert Defois a live model. To master figure study, students begin their day with 25- to
for Restructured Realism from other Jacobs believes, is to master all of the 50-minute poses related to the theme
disciplines, and nearly all will have basic principles, because all the things of action. As the course progresses,
registered years earlier for this exclu- you must incorporate into your art the poses increase in length, so that

artistsnetwork.com 2
the final pose of the first four months
may be four to six weeks long. Jacobs
encourages his students to draw struc-
turally, and teaches them to look for
certain visual phenomena. The com-
plexity of Jacobs teachings about light
and form, the acuity of perception he
inculcates, his ability to clearly articu-
late finely tuned thoughts about visual
experience, and his determination to
help students overcome their precon-
ceptions have been the hallmarks of
Jacobs instruction for 60 years. And by
the end of eight months, few of the stu-
dents who begin his program will see
Quick Sketches (sanguine on prepared paper with erased lights, 14 x 18)
the world in quite the same way as they
did before they started.
Jacobs does not emphasize how to
use pencils, brushes, and paint, but
rather how to understand fundamen-
tal principles. The how to draw, he
explains, is based upon learning to see
by stripping ones mind of preconceived
ideas about the way the world looks.
Learning how to draw, he says, is also
learning to look for the relationships
between things (be they tones, tilts, or
distances); discovering the interdepen-
dence between parts and the whole;
synchronizing the mind, eye, and
hand; perceiving flat shapes accurately;
and learning to convey the fullness of
observed three-dimensional reality on
a two-dimensional plane. to learn and
understand involves applying general
principles to very specific, observed
Bird Woman (sanguine, 12 x 18)
instances of light and form.

HOW TO DRAW
In the early weeks of Jacobs course,
most of the exercises he presents are
designed to help students see the body
less symbolically and in a more abstract
wayas shapes, tilts, curves, and rela-
tionships. Symbolic preconceptions
are the most difficult to overcome.
They interfere with our ability to per-
ceive and draw what is there and are
at the root of many of the difficulties
students experience when they set out
to become draftsmen and painters in
the realist style. It is very apparent
when you teach art that people are not
registering what the eye is transmit-
ting to the mind, Jacobs says. The first
order of business is therefore to clear
the path for some true transmission
to take place.
Accordingly, early exercises in Jacobs
course are also aimed at training stu-
dents to use the physical movement
of their eyes as a tool in the drawing
process. Over years of working in his
studio, Jacobs came to realize that spe-
cific eye movements facilitate the per-
ception of specific principles, and he set
to work codifying 20 of them. There are,
for instance, movements that allow one
to see globally and locally, to see point-
to-point relationships, to perceive
movement, and to detect variations of
light. Every artist has a box of paints
and brushes, Jacobs says, but the most
important tool is the mind, next is the
eye, and least is the hand. We have to
put these eye movements into our tool
box and take them out as needed.
Because it is very important to cor-
rectly estimate tilts in order to build
accurate shapes and create a living ges-
ture, Jacobs has his students draw stick

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 drawings focuses on action. In draw-
ing the figure, Jacobs says, the most
important element to convey is the
most expressive: action, the corporeal
expression of an intention, a desire to
do something. It is not the line quality
that expresses action, says Jacobs, but
the understanding of the body as a
whole, as well as each individual part,
participating in some action, such as
twisting, stretching, flexing, supporting
weight, and so forth. All the muscular
structures on the body are paired, and
when anything on one side of the body
bends, the other side relaxes. The bent,
or active, side has a completely differ-
ent appearance from the relaxed, or
passive, side. The active side is bumpy,
creased, and squashed, while the pas-
sive side stretches around protruding
bones. Orchestrating this juxtaposi-
tion through carefully studied shape
relationships helps convey the essence
of what someone is doing. Following
this lesson, students are asked to sketch
their first almost human-looking fig-
ures.

The Block-In: In the next exercise,

Seated Woman Reading (sanguine, 19 x 15)
figures that show the tilts of each part
of the body. In this exercise, students
practice quick, straight-line movements
of the eyes and are told to use the verti-
cal features of the studio as reference
points.
The Hidden Curve : Because of its
importance in conveying the sense of a
unified, living figure, the first principle
Jacobs addresses is fluidity and move-
ment, as expressed by what he calls the
hidden curve. Asking the model to
take a series of 10- to 15-minute seated
and standing poses, he shows students
flat-vision aspect of drawing and is
the long, graceful swoops their eyes
must make in order to follow the inter-
nal curve of the body. When students
are asked to draw the hidden curve, he
instructs them not to draw anything
that may resemble a human body but
to focus instead upon the curve of
movement embedded deep within the
body that gives it fluidity. After 15 to 20
minutes, the students drawings appear
to be nothing more than curved lines
on a page.
The Active and Passive Sides of Form:
Another series of 25- to 50-minute
Jacobs students are introduced to the
block-in, which the artist describes
as a crate constructed of flat, straight
boards, into which the body will fit.
The pure, precise shape of the block-
in is the heart of what Jacobs calls the
developed through estimations of tilts
and distances. For distance we need to
utilize a straight-line movement of the
eyes, Jacobs says, from one imaginary
point to another. These straight-line
planks should be thought of as sitting
on the page like pick-up sticks that can
be moved around, or like magical sticks
that can be shortened or lengthened. In
other words, you have to have a very
open, fluid attitude toward the block-in.
The block-in forces an artist to see
the body abstractly and serves the
practical purpose of creating an accu-
rate shape to contain the inner curve
and the movement, proportions, and
foreshortened shapes of the figure. It

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also trains the eye to see relationships
quickly. Jacobs feels his students should
ultimately be able to block in a pose
within 15 minutes. I tell the students
that if they can get the block-in down in
one pose, then they should try to stick
to that and not chase the pose around.
Jacobs acknowledges that these early
exercises can seem insignificant or frus-
trating to students who want to develop
more finished drawings, but, as he sees
it, they are building blocks upon which
the success of all future work is built. I
tell students not to do anything but the
assigned exercise, or they will miss the
point of it. Drawing the figure is like
a motor composed of different parts.
You have to study each part separately.
Eventually you put them all together
and the motor will run.

WHAT TO UNDERSTAND
As Jacobs students learn to block in the
figure, they begin to study the contour
of light. They discover how to delineate
the cut of light across the body and
how to establish the terminator, or the
exact point at which the form turns into
shadow. In order for the process of
vision to take place, Jacobs pronounces,
both form and light are necessary. Light
is invisible until it strikes some form.
Form is invisible unless there is light.
In his Monday morning lectures,
Jacobs often discusses the structure of
the human body. Structure, in Jacobs
opinion, should not be confused with
anatomy. Structure is the study of how
the body is put together and moves,
while anatomy is the study of the skel-
eton and muscles, which he feels has
little to do with what one actually sees.
He believes that it is of utmost impor-
tance for an artist to have a thorough
knowledge of structure. If you only
know anatomy, you cant represent the
body well, he says. If you dont know
anatomy, but you know structure, you
can. In his first lectures on structure,
Jacobs discusses the special character-
istics of human organic form. In order
to provide the interaction and intercon-
nection necessary for life, all parts must
Andrew Levinson (sepia Cont and red pastel on prepared paper with erased lights, 16 x 9)
act as a unified whole. Architectonic
features are embedded within this uni-
fied whole, providing a means of sup-
port for standing, walking, and sitting,
as well as for containing and protect-
ing the organs, and for facilitating the
transmission of various vital forces.
As an artist develops a good sense
of form, Jacobs notes, he or she will
observe that perfectly geometrical
shapes are self-contained and do not
appear in the body. Instead, one will
find that everything is asymmetrical;
that forms are never parallel and are
always tapered to allow for interlock-
ing and intertwining; and that virtually
all of the bodys forms move in spirals
around a central axis, so as to allow for
torsion in movement. Furthermore,
throughout the body, matrices of
shapes appear in different proportions
and orientations. Some of them act as
bridges, others as weight supports, and
still others as minute connective struc-
tures, or sutures, between forms. To
provide leverage, an appendage is typi-
cally more massive where the motive
force originates, as from the shoulder to
the wrist. For efficiency of movement,
everything in the body, beginning with
the bones, is curved.
Every form on the body has a special
shape commensurate with its function.
Nature is not redundant. Shapes do,
however, appear in families and grow
in layers. In this conception of the body,
Continued on page 7

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A GLOSSARY OF ESSENTIAL PRINCIPLES
Ted Seth Jacobs believes that any well-trained artist of the representational style
should have a firm grasp of principles regarding form, structure, and light.
PRINCIPLES OF FORM AND STRUCTURE
Universality of Structure The same
structures are found in every human being
in differing proportions.
Planes, Blocks and Perspective Planes
and blocks do not exist on the body, but
are useful concepts for determining the
tilts and foreshortening of forms.
Asymmetry of Organic Forms The high
points on either side of a form are never
opposite one another and are never set
perpendicular to a central axis. Symmetri-
cal forms are only found in manufactured
objects.
Growth of Forms Forms on the body
grow according to a layered schematic,
or as if from a central seed, burgeoning
outward like fruit, ripening and allowing for
a sense of amplitude.
Rounding and Ending Sequences All
the structures on the body are curved or
rounded to some degree and sit on top
of larger underlying forms that are also
rounded. Each layered form has a distinct
end, which must be articulated to convey
a sense of the distinct shape of each
structure.
Families of Structural Shapes There are
groups of forms on the body (for example,
cheek, nose, chin, and forehead) that have
similar but not identical shapes, and are
therefore able to fit together neatly.
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Active Versus Passive Structures All
of the muscular structures on the body
are paired; when one structure is active
and stretched, its opposite is passive and
relaxed.
Pathways Structures are physically
placed in a designed fashion along
continuous curved alignments called path-
ways, which wrap around the body in many
different directions.
Modular Building Blocks Each human
being is generated out of a matrix of
proportional modular shapes. If a person is
wide at the top of his head and narrow at
the bottom of it, this proportion will repeat
itself across the persons body.
The Hidden Curve The body always
moves in curving patterns, never in a
straight line or right-angle movements.
PRINCIPLES OF LIGHT
The effects of light are always consistent,
coherent, and logical. Light emanates from
an energetic source.
For our purposes, rays of light travel
from their source in straight lines. Light is
brightest at its source and gradually loses
strength as it travels through space.
Since light travels in straight beams, if a
form is curved, there is a point where a
ray of light will be tangential to the forms
surface. Here the form will separate into a
light side and a shadow side, and the point
at which this occurs is called the termina-
tor or the third contour.
On a perfect sphere, a shadow will cut
across the surface at a perfect right angle
to the direction of the light. The angle of
the cut of the shadow around nongeo-
metric solids, such as those of the human
figure, however, is constantly changing.
The proportion of light to shadow and the
shape of the curve of the shadow on a
model depend upon ones relative position
to the model and the light source.
As forms curve, they turn gradually more or
less toward or away from the light source.
A constant gradation of value must be
used to make the form appear to curve on
a two-dimensional surface.
The mass that is tilted most perpendicularly
toward the light will have the lightest value.
Due to reflective effects, however, the
lightest part on the form may sometimes
shift toward the viewer.
The distribution or gradation of light and
the shape of each form are interdependent.
If the light is not graduated correctly, the
shape of the form will be distorted; if the
shape of the form is incorrect, the light
gradation cannot be correct. To create the
correct shape in a given light direction, it
is necessary to shape the gradation in a
process called fanning.
6
Saint Lawrence (sanguine chalk on prepared paper with erased lights, 15 x 18)
its surface can be seen as being made
up of an infinite pattern of increasingly
smaller, distinctly shaped forms, spiral-
ing and twisting along pathways of
movement.
To help his students synthesize the
component parts of structures, Jacobs
takes his students step by step through
the various parts of the body. He draws
each part from a different orienta-
tion in space, so as to emphasize the
importance of understanding the three-
dimensionality of form. He begins
with the simplest and broadest concept
first, breaking it down into smaller and
smaller pieces. In the case of the head,
for instance, he will talk about it as hav-
ing a front, back, two sides, and a top.
He will then divide the head into its
largest mass shapes, such as the dome,
cheek, eye, and chin, analyzing the
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special shape of each part and how one
structural mass fits into another.
Jacobs also points out the corbels, or
weight-bearing structures, as well as the
bridging or suturing structures within
the parts of the body. He demonstrates
how to model structurally and three-
dimensionally, and how to suggest
form through the effects of light. When
modeling, he asks students to focus on
describing the shape of the light as it
falls across the form. As he points out,
light does not merely wash across all
forms equally in a generic gradation,
but will bunch up, fan out, lose strength,
and become foreshortened.
THE IMPORTANCE OF
TRAINING
In Jacobs view, training allows students
to overcome their preconceptions,
establish a coherent understanding of
light, form, and structure, and develop
a similitude between perceived reality
and ones works on paper. As a teacher,
Jacobs seeks to transmit both informa-
tion and a certain sensitivity to his
students, which together can build the
foundation for the creation of beautiful
works of art.
In addition to his weekly lecture/
demos, Jacobs critiques each of his stu-
dents four times a week. His critiques
focus on applying what he calls very
broad, very important principles to
analyses of specific instances on the
model. Through his efforts he hopes
to introduce his students to the radi-
ant beauty of light and the fluid grace
of form.
7
DRAWING WORKSHOP:
RENAISSANCE MATERIALS &
TECHNIQUES
In many of his workshops, Virginia artist Rob Liberace teaches students tools of the
Old Masters, such as red-chalk drawing and corch. His lessons stress the importance
of identifying shadow areas, varying strokes, and expressing a personal vision.

BY AUSTIN R. WILLIAMS

In his drawings and paintings, Rob

Liberace combines an acute eye for the
human form with extensive knowledge
of anatomy, art materials, and art histo-
ry, as well as a healthy dose of imagina-
tion. The resulting figures are vibrant,
alive, and sometimes a bit intensified
from real life. Liberaces skills as a
draftsman are formidablehe is able to
blend subject matter and styles reminis-
cent of Italian masters with a decidedly
more modern sensibility, all resulting in
a fresh take on the human figure.
At the 2010 Weekend With the
Masters Workshop & Conference, in
Laguna Beach, California, Liberace
shared his approach in three drawing
workshops that focused on corch,
Renaissance drawing methods, and
red-chalk drawing, respectively. Each
included valuable lessons for aspir-
ing draftsmen and also showed how
students today can still learn from the
methods and drawings of past masters.

CORCH: A WAY TO
UNDERSTAND THE BODY
corch is a traditional practice of
drawing or sculpting the figure without
skin, instead depicting the underlying
muscles, bones, or other body parts.
The rendering of the flayed figure
in two dimensions or in threehas

Echo (red chalk and colored pencil, 20 x 15)

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ADVICE FROM LIBERACE FOR IMPROVING YOUR DRAWINGS

Use a brush to occasionally blend your
strokes. This will give your drawing a
mix of hard, soft, blended, and clear
areas, which provides greater realism.
Vary the direction of your strokes and
the weight of your line to give a sense
of space and atmosphere to your draw-
ing. If your lines move only one way all
around the figure, the image will look
flat.
Highlights have a direction, and they
move across the form. An eraser can
help create highlights and bring out
this quality.
When shading an area, ease the pres-
sure youre putting on your drawing
instrument when moving toward the
light. Then, draw with increasing pres-
sure when your line is moving into an
area that faces away from the light.
The deepest core shadows cannot be
drawn too dark.
If you use long lines, you must draw
them decisively. If you do use a
continuous line, put it down with
extreme ferocity, Liberace said in one
workshop. It should be a detonation
of line.
Leave your mistakes in rather than
erase them. Its a great way to add a
sense of movement and life to your
drawing.

been a valuable exercise in ateliers and

schools for centuries, Liberace says.
Even before the Renaissance, artists
realized that understanding how the
body looks and how it functions allows
artists to draw it with greater fidelity.
In his corch workshop, Liberace drew
a flayed depiction of the models torso
and spent time labeling and explain-
ing the functions of various muscles.
I tell students that if theyre able to
grasp the character of these muscles, it
will infuse their drawings with greater
life, the instructor says. He cites no
lesser artists than Michelangelo and Da
Vinci as examples of Old Masters who
immersed themselves in anatomy and
whose drawings benefitted from ana-
tomical knowledge.
As an artist, you only need to know
the significant form-creating muscles,
Liberace told workshop participants.
He was referring to the approximately
200 muscles that contribute to the defi-
nition of the human figure, out of more
than 600 total muscles in the body. This
basic knowledge is beneficial because
it provides a standard or ideal version
of the figure and its component parts.
Artists can then use this knowledge to
determine how a given model differs
from the norm and better capture a
likeness. When youre drawing a leg, it

Ecorche (colored pencil, 12 x 7)

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Swing (black chalk and colored pencil, 20 x 30)
helps to know what it looks like in nor-
mal circumstances, the instructor said.
Furthermore, being able to make this
sort of comparison allows an artist to
draw faster and more efficiently when
working under time constraints with a
live model.
And because the artist will always
deviate from the ideal to capture real-
ity, a step of invention is thus always
included in the process, which can help
an artist achieve his or her vision. For
Liberace, figure drawing is a mixture of
capturing reality and imbuing it with
his artistic sensibility. Representing
what I actually see is important to
me, he says. I dont want to invent
completely. I want to invent five to 10
percent.
artistsnetwork.com
RENAISSANCE
DRAFTSMANSHIP
We find a number of different char-
acteristics of Renaissance drawing
beautiful, interesting, and worthy of
emulating, Liberace says. First of all,
the whole ethos of the Renaissance was
to represent nature with greater truth
or fidelity. Theres a kind of realism in
Renaissance art that wasnt there in
previous generations or centuries. The
way they tried to portray the world in a
faithful way is beautiful. In his second
workshop, he explored techniques these
draftsmen employed and showed how
beginning artists could apply them to
their study of drawing.
The Renaissance Masters depicted
their subjects expressivelyin par-
ticular through bold use of lineand
Liberace encourages his students to do
the same. It wasnt satisfying enough
for these artists to represent their
subject properly, he explains. They
wanted a style or approach that had a
certain rhythm to itmusical and fluid
or rough and staccato-like. They would
use different approaches to portray dif-
ferent feelings and ideas.
They used line in extraordinary
ways, usually through hatching,
Liberace continues. Hatching and
crosshatching around the form is a
beautifully abstract way to explain gra-
dations. In essence, these master artists
were doing more than only faithfully
Continued on page 12
10
 PICK THE RIGHT PAPER
Liberace pays careful attention to the materials
he uses, and he believes its important to work
with excellent drawing papers. Bad papers
can really limit the performance of drawing ma-
terials, he says, but you can get inexpensive
papers that are pretty good.
My ideal paper is handmade paper, he
continues. Its surface is beautiful, like really
fine linen. The artist recommends Twinrocker
handmade papers (www.twinrocker.com). When
it comes to machine-made papers, he recom-
mends several papers made by Canson. Their
Ingres paper is probably the best machine-
made paper, he says. It seems to mimic
handmade paper.
For artists looking to improve the paper
they are working with when using Prismacolor
Verithin pencils, Liberace offers several sug-
gestions. If your finished drawings look waxy,
you can try applying a diluted solution shellac
to your paper before drawing. This will harden
the paper, allowing it to accept pencils better
and resulting in a less waxy appearance. The
insturctor also suggests applying an amber
shellac diluted with alcohol.

Three Graces (black and red chalk and colored pencil, 22 x 18)

Reclining Figure (silverpoint, 8 x 12)

artistsnetwork.com 11
Sleeping Figure (red chalk and pastel, 24 x 40)

representing their subjects; they worked

with a degree of style and expressivity
not always found in other academic
traditions. Liberace refers to this as a
beautiful fusion of respect for the thing
they were drawing and also for style.
Learning to draw in the manner of
the Renaissance masters is a tall order
for a one-day workshop, so Liberace
focuses these classes on just a few
foundational concepts through which
drawing students can begin a lifelong
process of study. The first of these key
ideas is the importance of understand-
ing which areas are in light and which
are in shadow. I encourage students to
examine where the light is falling and
where the shadow ends, he explains. If
a student can do that reasonably well, I
try to push them a little more to portray
the shadow in a more expressive way,
maybe using just a single direction of
hatching. It requires a lot of practice,
but the results can be beautifulDa
Vinci did a lot of his drawings with a
single direction of hatching.
With more advanced groups, or
during longer classes, Liberace strives
to teach students how to express a pose
and make creative decisions rather than
merely copy what they see as accurately
as they can. A lot of students come
from very sophisticated programs and
understand drawing what is in front of
them, but theyre not comfortable tak-
Crouching Figure (red chalk and colored pencil, 22 x 16)

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Throw (red chalk and colored pencil, 22 x 16) Pull (red chalk and colored pencil, 20 x 30)

Pulling Figure (red chalk and colored pencil, 8 x 17)

artistsnetwork.com 13
ing liberties with the pose to express the
model or express themselves, he says.
Something extraordinary is translated
through this expression, as it also is
through the faithful portrayal of the
figure. I try to get my students to merge
those two ideas.
RED-CHALK DRAWING
Red chalk is one of the great approach-
es to drawing, due to its natural beauty
and a warm glow that suggests the
heat of the human body, Liberace told
students in his last Weekend With the
Masters workshop. Today the mate-
rial is often called sanguine, a fact that
highlights the link between the color of
the medium and the redness of blood.
Natural red chalk is hard to find
in art stores, and it can produce very
inconsistent lines. However, modern-
day equivalents such as Cont or terra
cotta pencils still have the warmth
of natural red chalk with few of the
drawbacks. For his workshop demon-
stration, Liberace used a Faber-Castell
PITT pastel pencil, a PITT pastel stick,
and white Cont chalk. He drew on the
smooth side of a piece of Canson paper.
Liberace employed a range of draw-
ing motions as he drew the figure
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hatching, crosshatching, bold lines, and
countless small squiggles. He began
by immediately drawing the shoulder
line and nipple line as landmarks. He
then sketched in the head, neck, and
abdomen, using mostly straight lines,
which already suggested the turning of
the form. After a little more sketching,
he began massing in the torso, or core
figure. He used a white pastel pencil
for accents, noting that white pastel
produces an especially nice effect on
toned paper. He made sure to vary his
strokes to give his line work an appeal-
ing variety.
Liberace again stressed the impor-
tance of distinguishing lights and darks.
I have to make sure that the person
looking at my picture understands
where the light and shadow are, he
said. Its for the viewers benefit as
much as mine. He shaded his forms
right to the shadow edge, and he rec-
ommended that students do the same.
He worked in the shadows some,
darkening where necessary and add-
ing accents. You can deliver the form
equally in the shadow and the light, he
explained. Im not going to get bogged
down with the stuff inside that shadow,
though. Its not critical.
In order to keep a feeling of spon-
taneity and life about the drawing,
Liberace chooses not to erase mistakes
or stray marks, called pentimenti. The
sense that the figure is alive and kinetic
comes in large part from lines that are
mistakes, he says. The Old Masters
would reinforce the correct lines but
rarely erase the incorrect ones. These
pentimenti are not quite right but usu-
ally are a stepping stone that leads to the
correct interpretation.
I dont erase a mistake unless its a
really awful line that cuts into the light
area, and I encourage other artists to
leave them in he continues. Beginners
think that theyve done something
really wrong when they make a mis-
take, but I tell them to never use an
eraser unless you need to create a light.
All lines enrich a drawing, and those
ghost forms and impressions of an arm
or leg are a great way to show the figure
is moving.
I love perfect drawings, too,
Liberace concludes, but the ones that
move me the most are the drawings
where I can see the artist thinking
where they decided something could
be made better. I like to see the process
right there in front of you. It absorbs the
viewer and gives them a sense that they
are participating in the work.
For more information, visit
www.robertliberace.com.
Twist (red chalk and colored pencil, 16 x 20)
14
THE RYDER STUDIO SCHOOL:
DRAWING ON LIGHT & FORM
Artists who want to learn Anthony Ryders four-step approach to figure drawing can now
spend months or even years learning from this gifted draftsman and instructor at The Ryder
Studio, in Santa Fe.

BY ALLISON MALAFRONTE

There was a period of time in the not-

so-distant past when artists seeking to
study traditional drawing and paint-
ing methods had few options for their
training. That is not the case today.
Within the last several decades, vision-
aries from all over the country and
world have founded ateliers and acade-
mies modeled after the great draftsmen
and painters of the 15th through 19th
centuries, and students are clamoring
to be a part of this return to classical
study and practices. Anthony Ryders
atelier, The Ryder Studio, in Santa Fe,
is one such institution, offering serious
training for the traditionally minded
artist in an organized environment
that supports the many hours of theory
and practice needed to understand and
master this time-honored style.
Within the traditional curriculum
of drawing and painting, schools and
their instructors vary in regard to
which classical or academic practices
and tenets they espouse. Some insist
on natural north light in the style of
the French ateliers of the 19th century,
while others block out all light with
dark shaded windows and work from
spotlights. Youll see students drawing
from Bargue plates and plaster casts
in their first year of study at one acad-
emy, while artists at another begin by
working directly from live models or
still life setups, using either the sight-
Idaline (graphite and pastel on tinted paper, 14 x 10)
size method or plumb lines for exact

artistsnetwork.com 15
measurements Ryder prefers not to
compare his personal style or school to
any classical or academic ideal. Rather,
he is focused on the more naturalistic
pursuit of understanding the dynamics
of light through direct observation and
accurately transferring those observa-
tions to a two-dimensional surface. I
would define my style as rigorously
realistic and at the same time dynamic
and unconventional, the artist says.
This approach doesnt come from me
personally but is in reaction to and a
reflection of the order and nature of life
as we observe it. I care very much about
bringing the vitality and structure of life
and light into my work and helping my
students do the same.
artistsnetwork.com
Ryder taught workshops for 15 years
before opening his own school. His
above left
first experience as an instructor came Lai Lin (charcoal on linen, 24 x 18)
after years of study at the Art Students
League of New York, in Manhattan, top right
Portrait Demonstration (graphite, 14 x 11)
and at cole Albert Defois, in France,
with his principal teacher and mentor, above right
Ted Seth Jacobs. In April 1985 Jacobs Maribou La Tour (graphite, 14 x 14)
asked Ryder to substitute teach his
figure-drawing class at the League for
the remainder of the school year, and
Ryder found the new position a natu-
ral fit. He spent the next several years
continuing his own studies with Jacobs
while responding to requests to teach
at various schools and ateliers around
the country. In 1999 he decided to put
his learning and progress into print
16
and wrote and illustrated The Artists
Complete Guide to Figure Drawing
(Watson-Guptill Publications, New
York, New York). Ryders popularity
as an instructor and artist continued
to grow, and in 2006 a group of his
regular students asked him to start
his own school. Together they opened
The Ryder Studio in 2007 and began
disseminating the approach to draw-
ing and painting that Ryder has come
to utilize as a result of his studies with
Jacobs and his own artistic experiences
and thoughts.
Throughout his training with Jacobs,
Ryder found that his teachers intel-
lectual and visual philosophies on art
resonated with him greatly, and he was
determined to put in the time, thought,
and practice required of this strenuous
approach. Jacobs technique of recon-
structed realism is heavily grounded
in careful and constant observation,
analysis, and comparison. Above all, it
stresses the role light plays in defining
the appearance of the form. After six
years of study with Jacobs and decades
of his own practice, Ryder has honed
this careful approach and now passes
on to his students what he learned from
his mentor. Although The Ryder Studio
offers instruction in both drawing and
painting, for the purposes of this article,
Randy Orwig, Sketch (graphite, 7 x 5)
we will look at the Ryder approach to
drawing the figure, which involves four
main phases. The approach begins with ence with the Envelope to bear fruit, stickand by comparing the tilt and
the Envelope, moves to the Block-In, but I now regard the Envelope as the distance and point-to-point relation-
and finishes with the Contour and basis of everything I do. The concept ships on the model to the ones in the
Drawing-on-the-Inside phases. All of the Envelope is to start a drawing by drawing. It is important that none of
these steps are based upon understand- creating a large, irregular geometric the shapes sides are parallel. Also, the
ing how light affects the visual percep- shape consisting of a few segments that shape as a whole should not be sym-
tion of form. connect the farthest points of the pose. metrical nor should it be based on ver-
Accurately placing a subject on This irregular polygon sets up a foun- tical or horizontal axes.
paper and achieving correct perspective dation upon which the forthcoming The next step involves breaking the
is one of the first obstacles figure draw- lines and tones will be placed. You put Envelope down into smaller shapes
ers face, and Ryders first step, which he in anywhere from three to six points as that correspond to the big, abstracted
calls the Envelope, alleviates many of estimations of the most extended points shapes in the figure, in the stage called
the challenges inherent in measuring on the figure, and you draw a shape the Block-In. The Block-In begins in
and placing. Jacobs demonstrated the the envelope, the artist explains. You a very abstract way and gradually starts
Envelope for us and said if we were to check this by scanning back and forth to resemble the figure, Ryder says. It
practice it for a year, we would save 10 between the various points and line involves both the single complex shape of
years learning to draw, Ryder recalls. segments, checking the length and tilt the figure and the expression of the sys-
It took a long, long time for my experi- by eyeor by holding up a pencil or tem of curves running through the pose.

artistsnetwork.com 17
 Charlotte (detail) (2005, graphite, 14 x 10)
It follows the shape of the movement, and
its nonparallel, progressive, and tapering
structure captures the continuity of the
gesture. The Block-In is never boxy or
static, and it is not based on horizontal
or vertical lines or measurements. Of the
360 degrees in a circle, only four (0, 90,
180, and 270 degrees) represent vertical
and horizontal lines, which leaves 356
other degrees representing tilts of differ-
ent directions. The diagonal lines that we
use to construct the living shape of the
figure outnumber vertical and horizontal
lines by a ratio of 90 to 1. By working with
angles we tap into the actual, unexpected
shapes of the bodyin other words, we
do an end run around our conventional
expectations and discover what it really
looks like. This is very helpful when it
comes to foreshortening.
As an artist continues correcting
and breaking down the big shapes, the
Block-In becomes so refined that it
disappears, and all that remains are the
Contour and Drawing-on-the-Inside
artistsnetwork.com
Anthony Ryder worked on a figure demonstration of a live model at the Ryder
Studio, in Santa Fe.
steps. In the Contour, a specific, linear
description of the subjects silhouette is
revealed through cleaning up, refining,
and expressing specific curve shapes
in the figure. Then, Drawing on the
Inside achieves a tonal description of
the form through shading within the
confines of the Contour. The Contour
describes the actual horizon of the con-
vex forms one sees along the silhouette
of the figure, Ryder explains, and
Drawing on the Inside is both the map-
ping out of forms and the actual tonal
work of shading the forms. Whereas
the Contour expresses convex forms as
curving lines, Drawing on the Inside
describes those shapes with gradations
of tone, which progress from dark to
light according to the shape of the form
and the direction of light.
Light, its direction, and its effect
on our visual interpretations of form
are so foundational to Ryders teach-
ing approach and artistic style that he
stresses it as the most important concept
for his students to understand. Light is
the substance of the visual experience.
Its something we need to interpret with
not only our eyes but also our minds,
the artist says. At The Ryder Studio we
approach the study of light scientifi-
cally.Our subject is the phenomenon
of vision, andthe art studio is our labo-
ratory.Each drawing and painting is
an experiment and a mirror reflecting
our perceptions of reality.How do they
compare to what were actually observ-
ing from life? Unfortunately, we rarely
paint what we see.Most often we paint
an unconscious projection of incorrect
ideas about what we think we see.The
more we study visual appearances, the
more our awareness and understanding
of light and form will grow, and the bet-
ter equipped well be to draw and paint
the world around us according to its
inherent wisdom, nobility, and beauty.
For more information about
The Ryder Studio, visit www.theryder
studio.com.
18
DEMONSTRATION OF RYDER'S FOUR DRAWING STAGES: RAVEN CHAVEZ
STEP 1
The Envelope is a large, irregular geometric shape consisting
of a few segments that connect the farthest points of the pose.
To begin this demonstration, I chose a few extended points (the
top of the head, an elbow, and toes) and lightly sketched a few
lines, measuring tilt and distance by eye, checking for parallelism,
looking from side to side, top to bottom, and diagonally point to
point.
artistsnetwork.com
STEP 2
In the early stages of the Block-In, keeping my pencil strokes
light, I worked all over, from head to foot, knee to elbow; I moved
around the whole drawing and roughed in big shapes. I continued
to compare distances and tilts and worked with the feeling of the
inner curve.
19
DEMONSTRATION (CONTINUED)

STEP 3
I adjusted and refined the shapes in
this stage, subdividing long, axial lines.
Sometimes parts need to be completely
redrawn: Note Ravens right leg in this step
and in the next.

STEP 5
Refining and subdividing the shape of the head, including the hair and features, I used
the Block-In to locate and describe forms on the inside.

STEP 4
Tick marks indicate origin points, high
points, and insertion points that define the
length, tilt, and amplitude of convexities in
the contour. In this step I concentrated on
marking off those areas to help me in the
measuring process.

artistsnetwork.com 20
DEMONSTRATION (CONTINUED)

STEP 6
I map out the shading following the same
principles that govern the Block-In: scan-
ning across the surface in all directions and
looking point to point to find the curvilin-
ear pathways along which the forms are
organized.

Raven Chavez (graphite, 24 x 18.)

STEP 8
The forms of the body are woven together and constitute a single, integrated fabric. Each
individual convex form occupies a place in the overall organization of light and shade.

STEP 7
Developing the drawing gradually, I
continued to work across the form like a
weather system sweeping across the coun-
try. This approach allows me to knit the
individual forms into one cohesive whole.

artistsnetwork.com 21
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