Drawing from life vs images

>>3066444
It's the difference between an self portrait from the renaissance and a selfie from a phone.

>>3066455
Which is which in this analogy? Phone selfies are clearly far closer to real life than renaissance portraits.

I personally don't think it matters too much. As long as you're practicing the right things. If you're drawing from real life you don't have any way to trace/cheat and you have to translate the world around you to 2D, so it forces you to think a little more about things. You can still learn just as much from a photograph though. People get way too caught up in the details of exactly how, when, where, what they should draw. I say whatever you enjoy doing more is what you should do.

>>3066708
It does matter. It's not game breaking, but it's much better to work from a live model for a couple of reasons: you can choose the angle, by moving around, you have control over the lighting (most photo reference is edited for photography styles, and is way too contrasty), and you can see details much easier. You can also walk away from your drawing and compare the model and the drawing side by side. You can also see muscles and masses and how they change with pose, when the model is doing short gesture poses.
It's not impossible if you only use photos, but you really should try life drawing. That goes for anything - flowers, animals, landscapes, you should try to draw and paint them from life, it's a different experience, and you have more control.

>>3066721
>>3066721
You do make some good points. Whenever I draw from a photograph I use my own so I can get really detailed photos that aren't washed out by filters and I like to do gesture studies of friends and people in public places. I've yet to take any classes where you draw live nude models. I've drawn plenty of clothed people though. Maybe when I have some money saved up I'll sign up for a class like that.

>>3066444
If you want to draw a toy, is it better to draw from a photo of the toy, or have the toy in your hands to study and manipulate?

Forget the more esoteric arguments against drawing from photos, and just think about being able to walk around your model if there's any ambiguity to what you see. That helps a lot when learning.

>>3066737
I have been to a couple of life drawing classes myself and I have never once seen someone stand up in the middle of a pose and creep around the model. Let alone move up really close to see detail.

To be honest, a lot of people are overrating the importance of figure life drawing. It's a nice exercise, but not nearly as much of a sacred, necessary ritual as all these pretentious fine art hipsters make it out to be. I'd say going out and sketching buildings, envornments or people in regular clothes is an infinitely more practical exercise.

>>3066444
You could also use your own body for reference. If you have a large enough mirror, stand nude in front of it and check out your own body. Try different poses and observe the changes in anatomy.

>>3066444
If you're not a retard, drawing from images is no worse than drawing from life.

>>3066444
>I don't know any figure drawing classes close to where I live

have you tried YouTube? Believe it or not, they have live practice videos from a couple uploaders I follow you can use as reference. And the format is similar to what you have in a real college art life drawing class.

https://www.youtube.com/user/onairvideo

Photo reference is fine and sometimes necessary. But everyone should do life drawing. It is the equivalent of athletes hitting the gym.

- Being in the presence of a real person is much different than a jpeg. People breathe, subtle movements show how they're holding their weight, and there's always some emotion in their body language. Seeing and revealing subtlety is what real artists do, and its fucking difficult so you need practice.

- You have to pick the angle and create the composition yourself. If you have a photo then the observation and presentation is done for you. You're copying someone else's picture when you could be making your own.

- It's hard mode compared to photos because models have to scratch their goddamn nose right at the wrong time. It forces you to work more efficiently. Gesture poses are all about this.

- New students tend to have a penchant for super dramatic/cliche/or pop culture stuff. Life drawing is reality and a positive, grounding influence.

- Going regularly develops discipline and routine. You don't have to stare at a blank page wondering what to do & this helps clear creative blocks. It's easy to focus in a room of focused students.

- Sticking with it and getting good will give you something tangible you can look at, real progress, when you are feeling low.

- AND other artists respect it. If you want to be a professional, at some point you will be interacting with artists who intimidate you. Rookie you will want to be seen as real and being really good at life drawing is very real and will give you confidence. It's a timeless practice.

Seriously. just. fucking. do it.

>>3066759
In all of the classes I took (I took extra life drawing when I could, because I enjoy it), the teacher would weed out the creepers on the first pose day. They're used to it. I have seen people move around, to get a different angle, or move closer if they're working on just part of the model, like the face. I've done it. You get tired of the angle, and try a new one, or the lighting is better across the room. But for the most part, people stay where they are. Figure sculpture is different, you have to use calipers to measure the model, and that requires walking up to them, and applying the calipers. The first time we did it, our teacher had to literally take a couple guys by the hand and drag them up to the model, because they were too shy to walk up to a nude woman in her mid 30's. :)
It's importance depends on each student's focus and goals. The reason it's nude, is to study the forms and volumes of the body, get comfortable with it, so it's easier to construct a pose later with clothes over it. Can an artist skip it? Sure, if their goals don't include painting the human form. But it's not the end-all be-all to art, but it is an important step.
It's deified here, because most of the guys here will only draw naked women, and it keeps them interested/motivated. (And use porn poses instead of artistic posed).

the lengths some of the people here go to avoid going outside for any reason or draw anything real whatsoever

>>3069939
croiquis cafe atleast meets a few of those points