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| Male model posing at the École des Beaux-Arts in the 19th century |
Croquis drawing is an exercise in drawing the human body in its various shapes and positions. Croquis drawing is arguably the most difficult subject an artist commonly encounters, and entire classes are dedicated to the subject.
The human figure is one of the most enduring themes in the visual arts, and figure drawing can be applied to portraiture, cartooning and comic book illustration, sculpture, medical illustration, and other fields that use depictions of the human form. Figure drawing can be done very simply, as in gesture drawing, or in greater detail, using charcoal, pencil or other drawing tools. If pigment is used, the process may be called figure painting.
The croquis model
Nude Model, Art Model, or life drawing model is a person who poses nude to depict, for example drawing, painting, sculpture or photography.
In Western art has been the study of the naked body had been central and nude model has served as an important subject and a tool to develop craft skills as an artist. In the classical arts education the major focus has been on learning how to draw the human body, called a croquis/life drawing, in all its forms, ages and ethnicities, and there has been no direct restrictions on who the model might have been. In this context, the model has sometimes been posing with various props, along with other models, animals, etc, and against different types of backgrounds or scenery, in daylight or room light.
A nude model is usually paid and some have it as a profession. Throughout history, there are documented how the professional model has had an impact on various artist’s expressions, or been the basis for specific work.
In modern times the term is used sometimes for erotic models, as Pin-Ups, but also for the models used in more mature image creation. What is considered as an erotic or pornographic depiction of the naked human form has varied throughout history, depending on context, etc.
Today models used for artistic studies of the human body are usually called art models, just to distinguish this phenomenon from erotic nude models.
Resources on the net
Croquis is by far the best training for an artist, it requires a skill for proportions and composition. As humans we all have a sense for the human body; even if you are not artistically trained, you will recognize a sketch that depicts a model correctly.
http://reference.sketchdaily.net/
https://www.youtube.com/user/onairvideo/videos
