Art/Design Featured Gallery How to Draw Girls: The Molly Crabapple Way

May 24, 2010 - 9:32 am

As the founder of Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art School, I’m besieged by newbies who want to attend, but have the terror they’re not good enough.

Here’s an basic guide to the complex art of figure drawing, so you can show up to your local alt.drawing salon and wield you pencil with pride.

1.) Don’t be precious with materials.  I’m rocking a sharpie and dip pen on a Fresh Direct box. You want a fat implement to keep you loose, and a surface you aren’t afraid of messing up.  In terms of your surface-bigger is better.

Molly Crabapple2.) Get the gesture.  Find the motion of the body and make that line first.  Get the entire body on the page. No cutting off the feet.  Once you’ve figured out how the spine, hips, head and shoulders sit, you can move on to the arms and legs.

Molly Crabapple and Katelan Foisy

3.) Know your anatomy- and no, this is not a code word for boobs.  The head is an egg.  The shoulders and hips always counterbalance each other.  Otherwise, you’d fall over.

_MG_73704.) Don’t be afraid to push a gesture.  If the spine in your drawing looks sway-backed, that’s still better than crabbed stiffness.  Let your hand free. Push decorative details like lace, and swirling hair.

Katelan Foisy

5.) Do as Aubrey Beardsley did and remember solid blacks make a drawing pop

Molly Crabapple

6.) Be imaginative.  Wouldn’t your inky lady have more fun hanging out with piglets?

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7.) If you’ve gotten the whole body in and have extra time, don’t be afraid to hone in on a favorite part.  Rendering Katelan Foisy’s face took up my extra minutes.

Katelan Foisy

EXTRA CREDIT: Get a copy of  Drawing the Head and Figure, a simple-to-follow guide to making stuff look right

Most importantly, draw! Draw your boyfriend. Draw your hand. Draw at your favorite art club.  It’s been said that everyone has a thousand bad drawings in them.  Start cracking away at your thousand.

Words and Art by Molly Crabapple with modeling by Katelan Foisyand photos by Lauren Goldberg.  Molly’s dress by Stop Staring.

Katelan Foisy and art by Molly Crabapple

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Molly Crabapple and Katelan Foisy
Molly Crabapple and Katelan Foisy
Molly Crabapple
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Katelan Foisy and art by Molly Crabapple
Katelan Foisy
Molly Crabapple
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Molly Crabapple
Katelan Foisy
Molly Crabapple
Molly Crabapple
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One Sultry Session
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A Sultry Smile
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"I can't believe how good it is!"
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8 thoughts on “How to Draw Girls: The Molly Crabapple Way

  1. [...] I’m stoked to be blogging for Chinashop , RedBull’s online culture mag. You might be familiar with Chinashop because they count Zoetica Ebb and Gala Darling . [...]

  2. I totally LOVE Katelan Foisy!!! She is amazingly awesome and always beautiful in every way!!! Lickity kisses to you girl…

    Khristy
    xoxo

  3. Awesome, ‘cept the drawing looks nothing like the model. This isn’t really figure drawing, it’s turning what’s in front of you into a cartoon you already know how to draw..

  4. My all-time favorite drawing instruction book opened with these lines:

    “I can’t teach you how to draw. But I can teach you how to learn to draw.”

    It then continued with your own advice, more or less: If you want to learn to draw, then draw! Draw, draw, and draw. It doesn’t matter WHAT you draw, just draw.

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