Expressive Figure Drawing by Bill Buchman

A new book about life drawing can be pre-ordered at Amazon.com and goes on sale on December 14th. Expressive Figure Drawing by Bill Buchman shows how drawing the figure is something that is both fun to do and a great way to express yourself. The book is illustrated with his own drawings, notable for their fluid line and expressive qualities.

Acrylic and water soluble crayon

Bill Buchman sent me a review copy of his book, published by Watson-Guptill Publications, which builds on the ideas he developed in his DVD - The Art of Drawing The Figure: Essential Exercises [Interactive DVD].

The book is inspirational for anyone interested in life drawing. He demonstrates through examples the various techniques of figure drawing starting with large geometric shapes, shapes as mass, shadows and highlights and contour lines. He also discusses negative space, and seeing the figure as a series of directional planes and explains and demonstrates all of the techniques in a way that encourages you to get out your drawing materials and get started.

The pose, the significant contours, a quick freehand sketch of the contour lines.

Black pastel chalk

There is an entire chapter on materials from charcoal, chalk, oil pastels and graphite to ink watercolors, gouache and hybrid media which are pencils or pastels that are water soluble.

Drawing structural shapes

With lots of colorful pictures he demonstrates the varieties of figure drawing, gesture drawing, drawing the mass, drawing a contour line, drawing  lind, drawing a continuous contour line, drawing a structural system, drawing shapes, drawing volumes, cylindrical forms, shadows and mass, highlights and shadows, and drawing with color.

The book is a contemporary lesson similar to Kimon Nicolaides' The Natural Way to Draw.


Mr. Buchman is an artist and educator who studied life drawing with Fletcher Martin and Victor D'Amico. In the 1980s he worked in Paris and has exhibited his work since then in Denmark, Sweden, England and the United States. He is represented internationally by Gallerihuset of Copenhagen.

The inspiration of the book is summed up in this quote "Your drawing shows what you are interested in and the egree of your interest. Be moved by forms and lines of the figure. Let them resonate in your feelings. Take in their moods. Lern to sense and capture the emotional implications and meanings contained in them. When you take pleasure in the figure's lines and forms and emotions, this pleasure will come out of your fingertips as you draw."

You can pre-order it at Amazon.com. Expressive Figure Drawing: New Materials, Concepts, and Techniques.

On remembering Victor D'Amico.(ART TEACHERS I HAVE KNOWN)(In memoriam): An article from: Arts and Activities

Creative Teaching in Art


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