What do you think?
Rate this book
Life Drawing for Artists: Understanding Figure Drawing Through Poses, Postures, and Lighting
Life Drawing for Artists teaches a contemporary approach to figure drawing that includes both the familiar poses—standing, sitting, lying down—but also how to capture figures in movement and in more dynamic and engaging positions.
Author Chris Legaspi is a dedicated, life-long artist and admired instructor who is known for his dynamic figurative drawings and paintings, and as a successful illustrator in the entertainment industry. Whether you are an aspiring illustrator, art student, or a professional artist looking to develop your abilities, Life Drawing for Artists shows how to build your skills by combining fundamental building blocks, such as gesture lines, shape and design, structure, value control, and edge or line control.
You'll focus on different skills while working on both quick timed drawings and longer detailed drawings. The book covers important topics, such as drawing different views, understanding perspective, foreshortening strategies, and how to deal with various lighting conditions. The examples and tutorials explore virtually every pose scenario, as well as many active and dynamic movements.
Breathe drama into your figures as you master the fundamentals with this fresh approach to life drawing.
The For Artists series expertly guides and instructs artists at all skill levels who want to develop their classical drawing and painting skills and create realistic and representational art.
Author Chris Legaspi is a dedicated, life-long artist and admired instructor who is known for his dynamic figurative drawings and paintings, and as a successful illustrator in the entertainment industry. Whether you are an aspiring illustrator, art student, or a professional artist looking to develop your abilities, Life Drawing for Artists shows how to build your skills by combining fundamental building blocks, such as gesture lines, shape and design, structure, value control, and edge or line control.
You'll focus on different skills while working on both quick timed drawings and longer detailed drawings. The book covers important topics, such as drawing different views, understanding perspective, foreshortening strategies, and how to deal with various lighting conditions. The examples and tutorials explore virtually every pose scenario, as well as many active and dynamic movements.
Breathe drama into your figures as you master the fundamentals with this fresh approach to life drawing.
The For Artists series expertly guides and instructs artists at all skill levels who want to develop their classical drawing and painting skills and create realistic and representational art.
176 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 10, 2019
48 people are currently reading
81 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
February 9, 2020
★★★★★ | Learn to draw the human body
Anyway, I have to start with this: before this book I had a misconception of what life drawing is. I thought ‘life? as opposed to dead? like dead nature?’ Needless to say: I was dumb.
To everyone as inexperienced with artists’ lingo as me — life drawing is drawing people in real life.
Now, coming back to the book itself — it was a HUGE help for a self-taught artist like me.
- I get to learn the basics of shape and form
- I significantly improved my drawing technique
- I improved my knowledge of the human physique
- I learned to shade things better
- I learned to build dynamic poses no matter if it was a quick pose or a detailed one
- I’m probably not even listing all the ways in which my art improved. I went through the whole book one thing at a time and it felt like an actual course, which I appreciate.
The only complaint I have — I noticed that while the female models were fully in nude, male models kept their underwear on? I’m curious as to why.
🎨 from quick to detailed drawings
🎨 various poses
🎨 anatomy
🎨 strategies for building your skills
Anyway, I have to start with this: before this book I had a misconception of what life drawing is. I thought ‘life? as opposed to dead? like dead nature?’ Needless to say: I was dumb.
To everyone as inexperienced with artists’ lingo as me — life drawing is drawing people in real life.
Now, coming back to the book itself — it was a HUGE help for a self-taught artist like me.
- I get to learn the basics of shape and form
- I significantly improved my drawing technique
- I improved my knowledge of the human physique
- I learned to shade things better
- I learned to build dynamic poses no matter if it was a quick pose or a detailed one
- I’m probably not even listing all the ways in which my art improved. I went through the whole book one thing at a time and it felt like an actual course, which I appreciate.
The only complaint I have — I noticed that while the female models were fully in nude, male models kept their underwear on? I’m curious as to why.
December 29, 2019
I was really blown away by this book, it has by far the clearest description of how to draw figures that I have read. Most previous books I've read on human anatomy have been either very simplified 3-D shapes or far beyond my limited art experiences ability to grasp. This book really nailed it in my opinion -- still far past my ability to do at this point but gives me hope that it is possible with hard work to get to where I would like to be (and even exercises to get there). This one definitely belongs on my shelf to be used repeatedly.
I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
March 2, 2020
AUTHOR
Christopher Legaspi has taught at some of the top art schools in America, including the Gnomon School of Visual Effects in Hollywood and the New Masters Academy.
His design and drawing classes are some of the most popular and exciting classes offered. Along with his classroom experience, he’s held workshops and lectured at the world-renowned Art Center College of Design, the Concept Design Academy, and LucasArts in Singapore.
Christopher Legaspi has taught at some of the top art schools in America, including the Gnomon School of Visual Effects in Hollywood and the New Masters Academy.
His design and drawing classes are some of the most popular and exciting classes offered. Along with his classroom experience, he’s held workshops and lectured at the world-renowned Art Center College of Design, the Concept Design Academy, and LucasArts in Singapore.
WHO IS THE TARGET AUDIENCE
Artists who are committed to improving their life study skills, and students who are still finding their favorite subjects to draw will find this book essential. In addition, any amateur artist who wants to see improvements in their work through study may benefit from the years of knowledge and experience contained within the 176 pages of this magnificent book.
SYONOPIS
In Life Drawing for Artists, Legaspi informs us of his technical approach to life drawing. As any professional artist will know, life drawing is best done with an actual artist’s model in good lighting. The costs of employing a live model can be prohibitive and this is where books like Legaspi’s come in to their own.
The author starts where all art creation begins, with the materials and tools. Chris goes on to discuss how important quick sketches are to capturing the moment. Quick sketching is a conventional method used in every place where art is taught. The brevity of producing drawings in limited time forces the artist to make hard decisions quickly. This method forces the artist to identify the lines, shapes and forms of the body often without allowing the pencil to leave the page for the greatest speed.
In later passages Legaspi refers to the various elements that make up the body arms, legs, head and torso. Most important for those learning life drawing is how to assess the proportions of the body correctly. Learning the anatomical proportions is central to the improvement in any artist’s work. He further explains poses and positions that are more esthetically pleasing to the eye. The perspective of the body and how to achieve the correct depiction I believe will remain a favorite of many readers.
The reader is left in no doubt that Chris Legaspi is a practiced and professional lecturer in art and design. His experience is palpable as you traverse the pages and are confronted with page after page of pure artists gold.
CONCLUSION
Life Drawing for Artists is in every way a university level course. The author takes the student on a journey similar to a class in academia. You get to choose how quickly you move forward. You have time to consider, assess, and control your own learning rate. The pages are replete with helpful and useful information from an expert with many years of experience in the industry.
In this text you will find many techniques to aid in improving your skills and take them to the next level. Among these techniques are: Increased knowledge of the human body and its structures, methods to develop exciting poses, a focus on drawing methods and how to enhance them, and how to use basic forms and shapes to aid in sketching methods.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
My sincere thanks go to Chris Legaspi, NetGalley, and Rockport Publishers, for affording me the opportunity to review Life Drawing for Artists: Understanding Figure Drawing Through Poses, Postures, and Lighting.
Christopher Legaspi has taught at some of the top art schools in America, including the Gnomon School of Visual Effects in Hollywood and the New Masters Academy.
His design and drawing classes are some of the most popular and exciting classes offered. Along with his classroom experience, he’s held workshops and lectured at the world-renowned Art Center College of Design, the Concept Design Academy, and LucasArts in Singapore.
Christopher Legaspi has taught at some of the top art schools in America, including the Gnomon School of Visual Effects in Hollywood and the New Masters Academy.
His design and drawing classes are some of the most popular and exciting classes offered. Along with his classroom experience, he’s held workshops and lectured at the world-renowned Art Center College of Design, the Concept Design Academy, and LucasArts in Singapore.
WHO IS THE TARGET AUDIENCE
Artists who are committed to improving their life study skills, and students who are still finding their favorite subjects to draw will find this book essential. In addition, any amateur artist who wants to see improvements in their work through study may benefit from the years of knowledge and experience contained within the 176 pages of this magnificent book.
SYONOPIS
In Life Drawing for Artists, Legaspi informs us of his technical approach to life drawing. As any professional artist will know, life drawing is best done with an actual artist’s model in good lighting. The costs of employing a live model can be prohibitive and this is where books like Legaspi’s come in to their own.
The author starts where all art creation begins, with the materials and tools. Chris goes on to discuss how important quick sketches are to capturing the moment. Quick sketching is a conventional method used in every place where art is taught. The brevity of producing drawings in limited time forces the artist to make hard decisions quickly. This method forces the artist to identify the lines, shapes and forms of the body often without allowing the pencil to leave the page for the greatest speed.
In later passages Legaspi refers to the various elements that make up the body arms, legs, head and torso. Most important for those learning life drawing is how to assess the proportions of the body correctly. Learning the anatomical proportions is central to the improvement in any artist’s work. He further explains poses and positions that are more esthetically pleasing to the eye. The perspective of the body and how to achieve the correct depiction I believe will remain a favorite of many readers.
The reader is left in no doubt that Chris Legaspi is a practiced and professional lecturer in art and design. His experience is palpable as you traverse the pages and are confronted with page after page of pure artists gold.
CONCLUSION
Life Drawing for Artists is in every way a university level course. The author takes the student on a journey similar to a class in academia. You get to choose how quickly you move forward. You have time to consider, assess, and control your own learning rate. The pages are replete with helpful and useful information from an expert with many years of experience in the industry.
In this text you will find many techniques to aid in improving your skills and take them to the next level. Among these techniques are: Increased knowledge of the human body and its structures, methods to develop exciting poses, a focus on drawing methods and how to enhance them, and how to use basic forms and shapes to aid in sketching methods.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
My sincere thanks go to Chris Legaspi, NetGalley, and Rockport Publishers, for affording me the opportunity to review Life Drawing for Artists: Understanding Figure Drawing Through Poses, Postures, and Lighting.
January 5, 2020
"Life Drawing for Artists" explains the author's approach to life drawing in pencil. While I recognize that life drawing is done from live people in the nude, I was surprised to see photographs of models in the nude (full frontal, side, and rear). And I was curious as to why the women were nude (with one exception) but the male model got to wear tight underpants.
Anyway, he started by describing the tools and materials that he uses. The first fourth of the book provided definitions of various terms and techniques. His definitions for these terms were sometimes not quite what I'm used to, so it was useful to know what he meant by them. Then he gave tips about how he would go about drawing a 1 to 2 minute pose, a slightly longer pose, an even longer pose, and so on. He then talked about how he would go about drawing the head, torso, and so on. He covered anatomy and points on the anatomy to identify to draw the person in correct proportion and perspective. He covered many different types of positions and poses.
I never quite understood how he chose his initial line or why he starts with an exaggerated "gesture" line that is not a guiding line (down the spine or an outline). He would say something in the text and sometimes I couldn't see it in the illustration. For example, he said to find shapes on the person and then seemed to haphazardly choose shapes, sometimes with no reason that I could identify. Some people might understand what he's talking about because they also think that way, but I had trouble following what he was trying to explain.
I received an ebook review copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.
Anyway, he started by describing the tools and materials that he uses. The first fourth of the book provided definitions of various terms and techniques. His definitions for these terms were sometimes not quite what I'm used to, so it was useful to know what he meant by them. Then he gave tips about how he would go about drawing a 1 to 2 minute pose, a slightly longer pose, an even longer pose, and so on. He then talked about how he would go about drawing the head, torso, and so on. He covered anatomy and points on the anatomy to identify to draw the person in correct proportion and perspective. He covered many different types of positions and poses.
I never quite understood how he chose his initial line or why he starts with an exaggerated "gesture" line that is not a guiding line (down the spine or an outline). He would say something in the text and sometimes I couldn't see it in the illustration. For example, he said to find shapes on the person and then seemed to haphazardly choose shapes, sometimes with no reason that I could identify. Some people might understand what he's talking about because they also think that way, but I had trouble following what he was trying to explain.
I received an ebook review copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.
December 25, 2019
Life Drawing for Artists by Chris Legaspi
Understanding Figure Drawing Through Poses, Postures, and Lighting
Interesting book that discusses why life drawing is important to artists and gives detailed information and instruction on how to go about such drawing. Shapes, lines and exercises are suggested with ideas on gestures, shading and tools to use are provided. My main takeaway was that this would be much easier to learn in a class with a teacher and a real model to learn from but that perhaps some of the exercises might be worth giving a try at home at some point in the future.
What I liked:
* The detailed look at timed drawing sketches with the model used
* The way to sharpen LONG pencil lead for better sketching
* The way to best capture the person being drawn depending on the amount of time one is allotted to draw
* The way to transfer these techniques when without a live model to use
* The “quick” sketch and how to go about it
* Feeling this would be a good reference to have in my library if I ever were to attempt life drawing or had taken a class and wanted a reference book to look back at after the class ended
What I didn’t like:
* The feeling that it would take a long time to become skilled at this type of drawing
* The knowledge that taking a class with a live model with a teacher would be required to truly know what this type of drawing would be like
Thank you to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group – Rockport for the ARC – This is my honest review.
4 Stars
Understanding Figure Drawing Through Poses, Postures, and Lighting
Interesting book that discusses why life drawing is important to artists and gives detailed information and instruction on how to go about such drawing. Shapes, lines and exercises are suggested with ideas on gestures, shading and tools to use are provided. My main takeaway was that this would be much easier to learn in a class with a teacher and a real model to learn from but that perhaps some of the exercises might be worth giving a try at home at some point in the future.
What I liked:
* The detailed look at timed drawing sketches with the model used
* The way to sharpen LONG pencil lead for better sketching
* The way to best capture the person being drawn depending on the amount of time one is allotted to draw
* The way to transfer these techniques when without a live model to use
* The “quick” sketch and how to go about it
* Feeling this would be a good reference to have in my library if I ever were to attempt life drawing or had taken a class and wanted a reference book to look back at after the class ended
What I didn’t like:
* The feeling that it would take a long time to become skilled at this type of drawing
* The knowledge that taking a class with a live model with a teacher would be required to truly know what this type of drawing would be like
Thank you to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group – Rockport for the ARC – This is my honest review.
4 Stars
December 30, 2021
So good. Exercises easy method
December 7, 2019
Originally published on my blog: Nonstop Reader.
Life Drawing for Artists is a new tutorial and technique guide by Chris Legaspi. Due out 24th Dec 2019 from Quarto on their Rockport imprint, it's 176 pages and will be available in paperback format.
This is a beautifully presented book, well designed and with a logical format. It is aimed at artists who are engaged in, or preparing for, life drawing. The introduction (~13% of the content) provides an overview of tools and supplies, the purpose and usual structure of a session, and the use and maintenance of some simple supplies. The following chapters cover some general fundamentals, processes, perspective, and some exercises for skill building and instructions for further exploration. There is a short author bio, acknowledgements, and a basic index.
Although it's a simple book which allows the learner to utilize widely available materials for skill building, it contains a lot of valuable information, and I could well see this book being used to advantage in a classroom setting. It is aimed at intermediate to advanced artists working mostly in graphite. There are some tutorials showing how to break down references in perspective and transfer them realistically to the page.
A very useful book. It would make a good addition to the artist's home reference library, a classroom or other formal setting, or gift (with supplies) for an artist.
Five stars.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
Life Drawing for Artists is a new tutorial and technique guide by Chris Legaspi. Due out 24th Dec 2019 from Quarto on their Rockport imprint, it's 176 pages and will be available in paperback format.
This is a beautifully presented book, well designed and with a logical format. It is aimed at artists who are engaged in, or preparing for, life drawing. The introduction (~13% of the content) provides an overview of tools and supplies, the purpose and usual structure of a session, and the use and maintenance of some simple supplies. The following chapters cover some general fundamentals, processes, perspective, and some exercises for skill building and instructions for further exploration. There is a short author bio, acknowledgements, and a basic index.
Although it's a simple book which allows the learner to utilize widely available materials for skill building, it contains a lot of valuable information, and I could well see this book being used to advantage in a classroom setting. It is aimed at intermediate to advanced artists working mostly in graphite. There are some tutorials showing how to break down references in perspective and transfer them realistically to the page.
A very useful book. It would make a good addition to the artist's home reference library, a classroom or other formal setting, or gift (with supplies) for an artist.
Five stars.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
December 27, 2019
Fun fact: I attended my first life drawing class not long before I found this eARC. The class was eye-opening and although my drawing skills are basic at best, I had a lot of fun and it got me thinking about how to look at a model and transfer what I see onto paper.
Chris Legaspi's Life Drawing for Artists was exactly what I needed to answer those questions, plus other questions I haven't thought of yet. Starting off with the basics such as material and the theoretical aspect of why we draw from life, the book then talks about shapes and gestures, how to find lines and how to put shapes together. Legaspi talked about how to work with light and shadow, before moving on to how to get the best out of your very brief one/two-minute poses and how to work on 20-minute poses.
Useful to enlighten the process for newbies and hone the art for old hats, this is an essential step-by-step guide into the world of life drawing.
This eARC was courtesy of NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group – Rockport Publishing.
Chris Legaspi's Life Drawing for Artists was exactly what I needed to answer those questions, plus other questions I haven't thought of yet. Starting off with the basics such as material and the theoretical aspect of why we draw from life, the book then talks about shapes and gestures, how to find lines and how to put shapes together. Legaspi talked about how to work with light and shadow, before moving on to how to get the best out of your very brief one/two-minute poses and how to work on 20-minute poses.
Useful to enlighten the process for newbies and hone the art for old hats, this is an essential step-by-step guide into the world of life drawing.
This eARC was courtesy of NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group – Rockport Publishing.
December 26, 2019
Life Drawing for Artists by Chris Legaspi was a very interesting book. It's very well written and illustrated, It focuses on different skills you may have throughout your sketches of your life drawings and how to bring your drawing to life. This book teaches you how to approach different poses of Standing, sitting, lying down etc and how to sketch them correctly etc. it has great tutorials and these explore every pose scenario you may come across within your lesson.
I highly recommend this book for new artists and artists that are more advance in this area. Plus, great for anyone who just want to explore the human body in drawing.
Thank you to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group – Rockport for the ARC
I highly recommend this book for new artists and artists that are more advance in this area. Plus, great for anyone who just want to explore the human body in drawing.
Thank you to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group – Rockport for the ARC
December 29, 2019
Wow! I really enjoy this book, so complete of knowledge of life drawing, it really contains all you need to know about it and more. Very well structured, well explained and illustrated, also simple and good layout that supports the rich content..
I know Chris Legaspi from New Masters Academy, he has been pupil of Steve Huston and Nathan Fowkes among others. In fact, I recognize the systematic approach that is based on sound life drawing tradition, updated and completed in order to teach it to a modern public. Highly recommended.
Curiosity: I might be wrong, but it seems to me that the author himself is between the models.
I know Chris Legaspi from New Masters Academy, he has been pupil of Steve Huston and Nathan Fowkes among others. In fact, I recognize the systematic approach that is based on sound life drawing tradition, updated and completed in order to teach it to a modern public. Highly recommended.
Curiosity: I might be wrong, but it seems to me that the author himself is between the models.
January 27, 2021
This book is incredible. The depth of the explanations and the breadth of its scope is impressive. As a former art student, I participated in many life drawing sessions and I feel like this book really captures all the details we learned in those classes. It covers the expected—tools, techniques, basics—and then goes far beyond the expected with multiple examples of shapes, process, perspective, clear explanations, exercises. I truly cannot think of anything I would add short of an actual live model, and the author has ideas on how to made that happen too. Excellent book!
Thank you to NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Thank you to NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
November 25, 2019
This book is truly amazing, well written, explained and illustrated, it is a very encompassing book/lessons on drawing the human body. The broad areas listed are foundations, fundamentals, process, perspectives and in the final chapter there are some exercises to use the new skills learnt.
It may look like a basic book but it is full of explanations, examples and tips on how to understand the breakdown of the components in drawing from life. I really love this book, great for both beginners and experienced artists
It may look like a basic book but it is full of explanations, examples and tips on how to understand the breakdown of the components in drawing from life. I really love this book, great for both beginners and experienced artists
September 29, 2022
Author helped emphasized the the importance of 2-3 minute life drawing, since it helps the artist gain the need for “urgency” of capturing the model’s body and see that this model is alive and will eventually need to move, making the artist be more hyperaware. Furthermore, author explained in great detail on how to hold a pencil properly and how using proper pencil holding would help move the whole arm and not just the hand, which gives the artist the ability to create longer and more defined line of action needed to portray the life-like movements of the model.
August 26, 2022
Excellent book about figures and gestures drawings. Great explainations, the exercices and self study part were a nice addition.
I really needed a more structural approach, similar to that one tutorial about the industrial method that I saw in the magazine imaginefx.
Can't recommend enough !
I really needed a more structural approach, similar to that one tutorial about the industrial method that I saw in the magazine imaginefx.
Can't recommend enough !
June 13, 2025
I borrowed this book to pick up different methods for teaching figure drawing as I will teach my first session soon. I appreciated a peek into his process, but thought the explanations were often a bit roundabout and unclear, especially if a beginner picked this up. 3.5
January 26, 2020
Well written and ideal for anyone starting out with sketching or even the more advanced who just need to brush up on the subject
April 12, 2023
Easy 5 star. Going to copy a lot of drawings from this book. The step by step descriptions are instructive, there are many great tips, and the drawings well done.
August 21, 2025
This book helped break down the process of drawing in a clear way.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews