Many of us owe a debt of gratitude to Fred Fixler, one of the best and most influential art instructors of his generation. His teaching had a direct and lasting influence on not only me, but such prominent artists as Morgan Weistling, Greg Pro, Mark Westermoe, Glen Orbik, Laurel Blechman, Kelly McGraw, Shawn Zents, Don Greer, and Jeff Watts, to name only these. The following are lecture notes compiled by many students in Fred's figure drawing classes over the years.

General Concepts

Learning the craft of draftsmanship is The Goal we are trying to achieve.

Structural form must be understood.

Drawing is describing form. The importance is not in the finish, but in its veracity (its truth, and accuracy of construction).

You must learn to see, not so much learn to draw.

School studies are not ends; they are means.

Until you can learn to ignore details, you won't learn to draw.

Every device must be employed to carry out accuracy of initial mapping-out of a drawing.

Whatever the form or volume, start with the ideal. Then, compare and modify your ideal to fit the model.

Where the figure rests on something, draw the imprint of the form first.

Anatomy makes it easier to interperet what you see.

Squinting is important in order to reduce the outline to its greatist simplicity. Avoid all those bumps.