In this lesson, Patrick focuses on the importance of stepping away from your drawings to return with fresh eyes, refining your work while maintaining a balance between gesture and structure. You’ll explore how to combine the life and energy of gesture with the solidity of structure, ensuring that your figures are both dynamic and anatomically sound. Patrick introduces three key shadows—occlusion, drop, and core shadows—that bring depth and dimension to your renderings. By the end of this lesson, you’ll master techniques to tackle complex poses like the Vitruvian woman, avoid over-rendering, and use strategic breaks to boost your confidence and improve the fluidity of your artwork.

This lesson belongs to Figure Drawing for Fantasy Art. In this 12-week course, renowned fantasy artist Patrick Jones will guide you through the essentials of fantasy figure drawing and its crucial role in his painting process. You will learn to capture dynamic gestures, simplify complex anatomy, and develop compelling characters that drive narrative art. Patrick will demonstrate how foundational drawing elements—structure, rhythm, and composition—directly influence his painting decisions, from color selection to lighting. Additionally, you’ll delve into bonus content on directing models for reference shoots, where Patrick shares his techniques for capturing emotion, action, and storytelling through live poses. By the end of this course, you’ll possess the skills to create powerful fantasy figures and bring them vividly to life.

Throughout this course, you’ll have access to the NMA community for feedback and critiques to improve your work as you progress.