Silverpoint

Standing Male Nude

Standing Male Nude, Corot, 1843
Art Institute of Chicago

Corot, Standing Male Nude, 1843. Graphite, with stumping, on greenish ivory laid paper.

Pins mark where to look before you draw.

The Art Institute of Chicago · Regenstein Endowment Fund

Master studyLineFigures and portraits · throughout

Standing Male Nude

Corot in the life room, 1843

1843, graphite with stumping on greenish ivory paper: a model standing with one arm raised, drawn from life. The academic exercise every French painter did, done by a man who mostly drew trees. Contour, a little stumped shadow, and a lot of measuring.

Difficulty
Time
about 2 h
You draw with
HB and 2B graphite
Comparative measurementPlumb and levelSighting anglesLight on form

Why this one

  • Comparative measurement at its most demanding: a human figure, where everyone sees errors.
  • Shows the sighting-and-measuring habit under pressure.

From your kit

The whole kit →
  1. 1Grafwood HB, 2B HB for layout and line; 2B for the darks. Long points from the Blackwing on everything up to B.
  2. 2Kneaded eraser and the Mono Zero press-and-lift corrections only; the Mono Zero for a single sharp light.
  3. 3Alpha sketchbook 9 x 6 draw at the book's size and keep the proportions; date the page.
In general, this study asks for
  • Drawing pad
  • HB and 2B
  • Stump
  • Kneaded eraser

Watch first

All videos →

Comparative measurement with a straight arm, demonstrated on a still life.

YouTube
Proportion: sighting anglesDrawing Fundamentals · Sighting angles with a pencil against level and plumb.How to draw figures from memoryProko · Corot drew his late figures from memory of the pose. Proko shows the drill: look, close the book, draw the gesture, compare.

The plan

3 stages · ~110 min
  1. 1

    Plumb and heads

    20 min

    Drop a plumb line from the head to the weight-bearing foot. Measure the figure in heads.

    Checklist0 / 2
  2. 2

    Angles and contour

    60 min

    Sight the raised arm, the tilt of the shoulders, the hips. Contour in HB, broken.

    Checklist0 / 2
  3. 3

    Shadow and box

    30 min

    Shadow side as one stumped tone. Box.

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What it should look like

  • A standing figure whose weight is on one foot and whose shadow side is one soft tone.

Where it goes wrong

  • The figure leaning off its foot. No plumb line. Drop it first; the foot sits under the head.

Log this session

Start the clock when you pick up the pencil. Stop it when you put it down. Log it. Every session counts toward the box.

00:00of ~120 min

Status

How did it go?

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