Taken by themselves, stick figures are often frowned upon by the art teacher establishment, sometimes being banned from use in the art room altogether. However, when done correctly, the stick figure is an essential piece to the puzzle of drawing the complex human body. Artists may use terms like gesture or "block in" to refer to the process of using simplified lines and shapes to "map out" the correct proportions, placements, and essential movements of a figure they are drawing.
My sketchbook challenge to students this week has been to draw stick figures that demonstrate expression and movement by adding two simple ingredients to the typical stick person: KNEES and ELBOWS! Adding bendable joints solves many common problems proportion and expression of movement.
We will apply our new figure drawing skills and we continue to work on our 3d art projects using chromadepth 3d glasses.