Figurative Oil Painting Demonstration By Lacey Lewis

About Lacey

Working mainly in oil, Lacey Lewis is an award winning contemporary realist figurative artist who paints in a classical style. Whether or not one is versed in the elusive language of visual design, Lacey’s paintings communicate to the viewer as she purposefully chooses recognizable aspects of reality to recreate on the canvas. It is vital to Lacey that her art at a minimum expresses the beauty that she observes in her subject. Often that expression of beauty is an end in and of itself. Other times, it is used as a lure to entice the viewer to look a little longer so that a deeper meaning or narrative may be revealed to them.

“I take it as an opportunity to learn about a person; their essence, where they’ve been, the image they project. I want to create a record of someone’s whole being, not just their physical likeness, through a beautiful and well composed work of art.”

Lacey offers Classes, Workshops & Private Lessons. Please click here to visit the instruction section of her website for more information.

Lacey’s artwork is available for purchase. You can buy her original paintings and drawings, or you can also purchase fine art Giclée prints of her work. Lacey also accepts commissions for figurative and portrait paintings.

Please click here to visit the purchase or commission section of her website for more information.

Figurative Oil Painting Demonstration By Lacey Lewis

“Amy Pinning Her Hair”

	After priming an 11 x 14 inch hardboard panel with acrylic gesso, I painted a mixture of raw sienna, ultramarine blue, titanium white and some medium across the surface and then wiped it with a rag. Next, I roughed in the figure and the shadows, indicating general plane changes especially on the back. Some pink flesh color was added and the dress was roughed in as well.
	During this session I focused on the near arm and face area, defining the forms more clearly. I added less diluted strokes of the burnt sienna/ultramarine blue/white mixture to the background to contrast with the warmth of the flesh.
	Here the face is developed to a greater likeness of the subject and some areas are restated. Slight changes complete the background. The dress is painted in with thicker paint and the purple is used in the downward facing planes of the shadowed areas both to indicate reflected color and also to add to the unity of the work.
	The forms get their final adjustments and definition. Some transitions are smoothed while others get a harder edge. The likeness is completed and the hairpins are added. As the dress color was added into the shadows on the flesh during the last session, skin tones are now added into dress to create a greater sense of form and unity. Finally, the signature is added.
Amy Pinning Her Hair Oil on Panel, 14″ x 11″ Giclée Print of this Painting Available

Top 10 Online Figure Drawing Resources For Beginner Artists

So you are interested in becoming an expert at drawing and painting the human figure? You have certainly found the right place! I thought it would be a good idea to find the best resources and information on figure drawing and put it all together for you in one easy location for easy reference. Below are what I feel to be, some of the best resources for helping you learn how to draw the human body.

Figure Drawing Resource 1

Ebook: Figure Drawing Secrets

How to quickly and easily master figure drawing and painting without a model…

Stop drawing and painting figures the hard way! Now you can learn the secrets of drawing people and figures quickly and easily – without a model… This newly released work called “Figure Drawing Secrets” by Victor Perard is the quickest and easiest way to learn figure drawing. This amazing resource contains over 1016 detailed illustrations for you to study and learn from. Covering every single aspect of human anatomy for the artist. It’s a shame for you not to draw people well – when it’s so simple with the right instruction.

Follow this link and download a copy of the ultimate tutorial on Figure Drawing!

Figure Drawing Resource 2

Software: Virtual Pose

The virtual pose system is the next best thing to working with a live model. It is the ultimate reference for artists that do not have access to a live model. The virtual pose system presents the human form in a way that allows for a deeper understanding of shape, form and gesture.

Highly Recommended!

Follow this link for more information about this amazing product!

Figure Drawing Resource 3

Website: Creativespotlite.com

http://www.creativespotlite.com/

A wonderful assortment of free step by step figure drawing and painting demonstrations.

Figure Drawing Resource 4

Website: Figuredrawings.com

http://figuredrawings.com/

This website is loaded with great information and resources on figure drawing including books, ebooks lessons and more. The site is a bit cluttered and difficult to navigate, but the amount of information there makes up for this shortcoming.

Figure Drawing Resource 5

Website: About.com

Figure Drawing – Life Drawing Tips and Lessons

Nice little series of lessons and exercise on figure drawing including line and contour, structure, proportions and more.

Figure Drawing Resource 6

Website Lesson: Figure Drawing Basics

http://www.drawspace.com/lessons/lesson.php?id=h17

Figure Drawing Resource 7

Website: Figure Drawing Lab

http://drawinglab.evansville.edu/

Figure Drawing Resource 8

Website Tutorial: Figure drawing: Basic Pose and Construction

http://www.elfwood.com/farp/figure/williamlibodyconstruction.html

Figure Drawing Resource 9

Website Lesson: Life Drawing

http://art.net/~rebecca/LifeDrawing1.html

Figure Drawing Resource 10

YouTube Videos

Below are several of the best Figure Drawing videos I could find from YouTube.

Video 1: Drawing the Human Figure From Your Mind

Video 2: How to Draw a Female Figure

Start a female figure drawing by outlining the shoulders and moving to the hips. Learn to draw a female figure with tips from a professional illustrator in this free video about learning to draw.

Video 3: How to draw the human figure – Dan Nelson

Video 4: 10-Minute Figure Drawing Techniques

Video 5: How to Draw the Human Figure

Figure Drawing Resources Update

Since publishing this post a few people have contacted me with more resources to add to this list and I have included them below.

Update 1

Website - http://www.posespace.com/

Update 2

Website - http://www.posemaniacs.com/