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[Ego_Shiner]

i want to do more life drawing of people so i can stop being shitty all the time but i don't really know how to get started. searching google for pictures of naked people is both uncomfortable and not very rewarding, and any alternatives (taking nude pictures of myself and/or those around me) seem like things that would be extremely gross and terrible. I NEED SOME HELP. also i'll probably post my terrible life drawings here and you guys can tell me how bad they are.
THANKS

[team_q]

Well, there are 2 ways to do it, live models or images.
There are several sites with model sets you could start with, the mutual get betterness thread has some links.
The other option is to check your community college and see if they have life drawing nights, then you can come in and practice on a live model, which people say helps more as you get practice transferring 3d space to a 2d plane. With pics, it's already done for you.

[Seth]

Yeah, going to a live model drawing session would probably help you get over that discomfort. Also don't just check community colleges, a lot of schools let anyone walk in to a live model session.

[Inane]

Drawing from a live model is your best option, but it's a lot more convenient working from photos.
Iamthejuggler posted some links in the Mutual Learning thread for (mostly naked) people references:

edit: Also if anyone is stuck looking for references here's a few links that look pretty dandy.

http://mjranum-stock.deviantart.com/gallery/   - loads of good ref photos organised into handy galleries.
http://characterdesigns.com/    - best site i ever saw for references. Quite a lot of very specific costumes, but a massive amount of photos on there.
and shitloads of links in this thread: http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=130467

[J. R. Hill]

There are a lot of craigslist ads for live drawing sessions under community > artists.  I've never been to one or anything, but they're literally always there, at least in the Seattle area.

[jakten]

I've been to many Life Drawing sessions and can say that is the best setting for learning. You would improve much faster most likely. Drawing anywhere there are people though would work. Go to a mall or if you are sitting around at school at lunch or something. Even if people are walking, capture their movement with gesture drawings. Don't worry so much about refining your drawings (unless that's what you want to practice). Focus on understanding what you see.

I've been life drawing for years and I'm pretty sure my drawings still turn out hideous but I've still learned from them and that is what matters.

[MegaLeon]

You could start sketching with http://www.posemaniacs.com/, it should be less embarassing than searching for naked people. Includes interesting functions like tot-second drawing and such.

[baconman]

Personally, I always start at the nose. From there, I make the ears for spacing (or a cheekbone, if one's not visible), and then build off of that. Ideally, the full length of the nose should be an equal distance of the forehead and chin, like so:
____
forehead
__
nose
__
chin
____

Hair is almost always sketchy.

Second, though a bit ficticious; I go for an upper body 2-3 "heads" wide. A more realistic one should be 1.5 or so. From there, add on shoulders - should be about 2 "noses" but can vary from person to person (or character). The belly button should be about 2 "heads" below the chin; and don't be afraid of messing with necks until you get a good feel for them. The midsection is about another head, and bounds out a bit - considerably more on girls than on guys. Finally, about 3 more heads of length should go into the legs and feet.

In fact, if you really want to get a feel for proportions, try drawing an entire bodysketch using either nothing but circles/ellipses or squares/rectangles; until your imagination can "fit it" correctly. Finally, give it time. Promise yourself you will devote a minimum of two weeks before you're allowed to quit. (10 days - 5 per week, 3 sketches a day.)

[gimymblert]

If you want to get better,you should stop being ashame, really!

Life model is always better than photo, it force you to perceive rather than seeing. Try this: take a photo of a real life object, now try two session using the photo xor reality. While going with picture give good results, reality show your true skills and most of the time you make a more schematic representation.

Photo give you quick good result, but this is an illusion, that lend you to a stiff style.

Real model give you a real understanding.

[Dugan]

You could also try clothed people if you find it tricky to find proper life drawing classes.
You just need to find someone to be kind enough to sit still

[Captain_404]

You could also try clothed people if you find it tricky to find proper life drawing classes.
You just need to find someone to be kind enough to sit still

Or for the truly dedicated, break into people's houses at night and draw them sleeping.

[Melly]

You wanna learn some anatomy, you'll have to draw some naked peoples. Shame has no place in an artist.

[Shawny]

You can always give light porn sites a shot, or general model sites. Every model ever has their own site with some decent photo galleries and it's good for poses and almost, if not entirely, naked body references. You might get stuck with a lot of uh, SUGGESTIVE, poses though.

I'd can probably help find a few good sites but if you want male models then you're on your own. 

[BlueSweatshirt]

One benefit of porn, is that you can get experience drawing people in typically unusual poses.(I'm so being labeled as a sick pervert for supporting the notion of porn  ) And in that, your knowledge is challenged because you have to consider the way the body moves and bends when you try to draw atypical poses.

Or you could just draw people in uncommon poses, there's plenty of that on the internet.

Either way.

[Iamthejuggler]

The problem with porn is that the lighting is usually setup to not show wrinkles and muscle deformations, and then the shots are usually photoshopped to remove these even further, so you're actually drawing a pretty washed out version of what the person would look like in that pose.

Artistic nudes, like the works of Pascal Renoux is usually much better. His work is awesome, and perfect for practicing life drawing. Now if only i could get the motivation to actually do so!

[Μarkham]

The problem with picture reference: cameras have one eye.  You have two.

[Dugan]

yes - draw from real life when ever possible.

I got told off on the first day of my art foundation course for having drawn from photo reference during the holidays, they made the good point that a photograph is an already flattened version of what I was trying to draw. So to draw from it would be like photocopying a photocopy in a way.

[Iamthejuggler]

You should probably have told them to fuck off and leave their high horse in the garage. Drawing from life is better. Drawing from reference is still good practice.

[gimymblert]

Yep but if you are in an art school, it's not to make half baked exercise

Generally they say that to break bad habit and encourage better one. ALL good artist use photo ref, but they also pratice life drawing as often as they could.

Back OT

You may have not nude but go to crowd place to sketch life people. You may not produce anything you'll rate tangible but it train you in a hard way to observe and get poses or life quickly. Other exercise, like drawing life ref without looking at your paper, drawing with your less dominant hand (or your feet if you are hardcore!) produce crap looking art but are very effective in the long term. There many more weird exercices (like drawing upside down, etc...) you should look up to pratice.

[Jrsquee]

See if there are any art associations nearby, too. those sometimes have classes/workshops, and almost always include regular modelling (draped and nude).