Cat Gonzales
Photography & Social Media Editor
Nude modeling is a regular part of Life Drawing class. The professors in the art department believe that it is an important aspect when helping their students to become better artists.
“If you can learn how to draw the human figure, then you can draw anything else,” Professor of Arts Valerie Haring said.
Life Drawing class has been taught at Butler Community College for many years. The history of drawing the human figure goes back even past the time of Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and during the birth of Christianity.
“Starting in the Renaissance period, in relationship to drawing the nude figure we’re talking Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci,” Haring said. “Those two artists would draw from life and direct observation and even before that the Greeks made sculptures of men not wearing clothes. They thought the ideal state of man was to portray him in his youth like around 18-20 years old and muscular and athletic. A lot of the nude figures from antiquity like ancient Greece they were meant to show the beauty of the human figure.”
Life Drawing class is used for many careers. According to Haring, drawing human figures can be helpful to many graphic design artists who draw cartoons use the basic shapes.
“Learning how to draw the human figure is the most difficult thing you can do,” Haring said. “I think if you want to go into, I can’t hardly imagine a field of art where this class wouldn’t apply. Even if you are going to be an architect you are still thinking about designing human environments. This class is so transferable to so many different things that artist will do.”
The classroom environment is safe, friendly and professional. First-time students can be a little skeptical about being instructed to draw a nude person for the first time, but Haring shares about how much she was able to challenge herself by participating in such classes while in college.
“If you never drew a nude picture before, it could be very unsettling at first.” Haring said. “I know it was for me. I took Life Drawing three or four times in college just because I felt like I could improve and get better. I felt like it was something that did not come so naturally to me drawing the human figure. So, I wanted to keep challenging myself to get better and better.”
Professors encourage artists to take the Life Drawing class to learn how to draw the human figure and apply it to their career.
“We encourage our art students to take it because really drawing the human figure is one of the hardest things to do,” Haring said. “We are humans, and it’s so relatable to us that sometimes it is hard for us to make drawing of things when we are so focus of what that thing is…it is all academic and very professional.”