Although I paint and sculpt just about every subject, my real joy is in, and my best work is of, the human figure. So it was very natural, when I started to teach, that I should teach a course in life drawing.

Many of the drawings in this book I did in the life class, working along with the students. They are drawings of either two-minute or twenty-minute poses. I selected them from about ten years' work.

When you draw the human figure you draw something alive, not a still life. I recommend drawing from the live model. First use quick poses of one to three minutes, and then longer poses up to twenty minutes. If you try to draw the entire figure (including hands and feet) in the sketches, you will eventually find that twenty-minute poses will give you ample time. Very few of the drawings in this book took more than twenty minutes. Over-rendering can freeze the figure and make it look like a statue - dead.

It is extremely important to place a single source of light on the model. The Old Masters discovered that one light source, preferably high and slightly to the front and side, gives the best light for creating depth and form.

An understanding of anatomy and proportion is a must. You will soon discover that you draw and see only what you already know. In my teaching I find that when a student first starts drawing from the model, he sees only outline. After the shadows are pointed out to him, he tries to render form. Once a muscle, tendon or bone is explained, he will always recognize it and include it in his drawing. The more you learn about the figure, the more you see.

The drawings in this book are arranged first by position - standing, sitting, kneeling, and then by viewpoints - front, back and side. I discuss each drawing in much the same way that I would if I were teaching my class. Each drawing dictates what should be said about it. In one section, for example, I might talk about the wrist because it's prominent in a particular drawing, and then not mention the wrist again until another chapter, where it again becomes important.

In the course of discussing the many positions and viewpoints shown in this book, most of the important aspects of drawing the figure are covered: anatomical points, proportion, attitudes and weight distribution, rendering, variations and types, foreshortening, the figure in motion, and whatever else might arise.

I've deliberately used different mediums to let you see as much variety as possible. There are unlimited techniques and mediums with which you can draw. Feel free to use whatever tools and techniques you desire. It's not what you draw with, but how you draw, that is most important.