Anyone who reads this comment: this video is a text book example of a learning approach called 'guided mastery' (Albert Bandura/Self-Efficacy theory). Guided mastery involves an instructor describing what they are doing but keeping it within smaller parameters so it doesn't overload your brain but still sinks in. Kenzo does this all the time, and very, very well. It was only today that I realised this because this video is very applicable to where I am currently at with my figure drawing. If you're new to drawing, start with this channel. If you're confident in your ability, can't hurt to have a look.

As a beginner, this is one of the most useful videos I have seen just because it finally puts all "the rules" together in one toolbox and will allow me to get a little better a little faster because now I actually know what to use when! Thank you!

The most important thing that I took from this (and I don't think I grasped it watching hundreds of other videos) was "I'm not a slave to the reference." I really struggle with it still, but I like the idea that there are better ways to describe what I'm seeing than they way they appear in the reference. It's tough, but immensely important, to not be a photocopier when drawing.

10:00 You notice you start with the hand and not drawing the arm out from the torso. That itself might be a point worth calling out, it's often easier to put the hands where they are and then connect up the arms. (a trick I learned from Sycra) This is especially true, I find, when foreshortened.

I realized one day what the different drawing methods are for. They are actually teaching us to perceive our subjects in a certain way. They are really just conceptual studies; teaching concepts. For instance, gesture drawings teach us to be quicker with our lines, and to feel the forms with our spatial awareness. Blind contour drawing teaches us to feel the line rather than the form (per se), and isolates the very process of observation. Perspective drawings teach us the rules of perspective. When the tools/concepts become habit, we have access to them without having to think. Then the subtleties of human expression may come forth without hindrance. These concepts are what I’ve heard others call an “alphabet.” In truth, your eye is already well qualified enough to make the most beautiful art. Consider your ability to recognize the subtleties of faces. Even a beginner can SEE whether or not their drawing is accurate; they just don’t always know how to correct the accuracies they are already seeing. What we are learning here is how to access latent skills we in many ways already possess.

Proko's stuff are great too but Kenzo, I swear, I really dig yours more than his. I can't even remember when was the last time I watched his content to learn anatomy/gesture drawing on a deep level. But every time you upload a new video, I make sure to finish it till the last second. Thanks for sharing your knowledge!

Kenzo, I rlly rlly wish there were more people out there like you I can literally feel the authenticity to help others in your energy I truly am afraid you'd get discouraged cuz u don't get a fraction of the recognition you deserve You truly are a precious human being 💛

Kenzo should make a tier list of most to least important steps to creating a figure

Kenzo: Your energy is so refreshing. Passion without being psychotic or aggressive. Your conversational method is engaging. Perfect blend of technical detail and common, conversational, remember-able language. The clips of your drawing partner (dog) gives your content a level of approachable that draws helps to draw a person into the conversation. Your methods and processes have helped me to get past the places where I get stuck and frustrated. Drawings, of all types, are my way of communicating. I cannot explain anything to anyone without drawing. My former employer would get so angry with me when I would start to draw on the white board (His loss). But I truly feel coupling drawing with presentation of concept gives an interaction that is more accurately remembered and builds a relationship with your audience. Whether that is an audience of 1 or 1000. I cant help but picture you on stage giving an Ted talk on something like "drawing for relaxation", or "drawing as communication" or something else inspiring. I'm thinking you may have a few stories. Who am I? I am an over 50 who is teaching himself drawing, painting and photography to de-stress from his career in Information Tech. I love the feel of the pencil on the paper and the joy of a well executed line. Thank you again

I really need to start focusing on the overall shapes compared to scratching away at tiny details early on like you said. Great video and tips ❤

I love it. How the figure just pops out magically when you add the shadow.

i can't express how much i love this channel

so helpful!!! THANKS

I'm so glad I've found you. I love your conversational style, detailed explanations without being verbose and mentor vs teacher approach. Great video! It's the only one I've found showing how all the tools fit together in a concise way

this is super helpful!! doing some pre-study before i take a figure drawing class. Your videos are super helpful -- I feel like you break things down into really concrete, manageable chunks, and it's very easy to understand your point!! Thanks so much!

I love this channel so much. As an adult who is self taught and trying to take my drawing more seriously, he explains things in such a way that makes it easy to digest, and it makes me really feel like I can one day be where I want to be even though I didn't grow up filling up sketchbook after sketchbook like other kids I know. Most of my life I admired art, but always thought I could never do it myself other than stupid funny drawings once in a while. This channel, and a few others have been such a great help in my process to understand that I could learn this.

That’s very helpful, thank you very much!

Thank you!

Awesome stuff! This helps reminds me that I really need to cool down my perfectionism when it comes to using references, and focus more on the flow and feel. Thank you!

what a superb video - nice one!!!

Your teaching style is very, very effective! Thanks!

I love your teaching style and pace. Clear, simple and concise. Looking forward to see more!

Thank you much Kenzo for uploading , glad to hear your better , you seemed a bit under the weather last video. Missed you a lot this figuary 2023, but that’s okay, I go back to all your old content numerous times. You channel here on KZfaq is a giant treasure to us all, keep ‘em coming. Please and thank you! Greetings from the USA 🇺🇸

I learnt so much from this. I'm going to watch this repeatedly in between my gesture drawing sessions!

Wowwww! This video is full of nuggets of gold!!!! I love how you work with value! Supper cool!

Thanks a lot for your videos! I've been learning how to do gesture drawings for a couple of years now and thanks to your videos I've started to understand it more.

Really love your videos it's helpful that I find myself taking it one by one when learning anything related to fundamental stuff in art which I most neglect 1 year ago

this is the most helpful video on figure drawing I've seen, thank you !

Really liked that idea about adding shading adjacent to lit areas. I have been trying to work out how to make use of the white space on the page. Also, I have a tendency to bog myself down with details as the session progresses for me, and I've done many drawings that looked really interesting only to destroy them with too much detail. As usual I learned so much from this video Kenzo! I will say there were a few things I noticed in the video that I have adopted now, all of which I have learned from you. Still have a way to go, but I can see there'll be shift in my drawing from this week on. Good times! p.s. for some reason, the first thing I draw is the head as well most of the time

That's a very useful video, thank you!

thnx for sharing your process. Great information.

Thank you. Seeing all the techniques discussed on a single drawing really has helped me to see how they mesh together.

Great help thanks , need to find more time to practice

I needed this video!

This the BEST!!! I learn from all of your videos. This one just clicked. It made so much sense. You are a wonderful teacher, I give out your name whenever anyone is looking for direction. Thank you thank you thank you 🌝

I'm off to my second ever Life Drawing Class this week and, as I find them intimidating (being with people who seem to know what they're doing and I'm a novice with NO IDEA of how to approach figure drawing) this for me, is golden. I know it's all about practice but great to have some basic info as well. Will watch this several times over and get back to the rib cage lesson for practice as well - before I slink into that room. 🙂

magnificent video

This video is amazing! Truly transformed how I draw hands. Do you have any videos on figure/gesture drawing or basic anatomy either by yourself or others that you'd be willing to share? You're videos have been a huge help to me lately

Great beginning to the video. I love getting 100 different ways of where to start drawing gestures and what to focus on. It makes it not overwhelming at all lol.

So helpful, Thank You!!!

Oh my god, thank you for making this. When I try and study gesture, everyone has their own method and it's so difficult to know what to study in a day

14:52 oh wow, i never really paid attention to details like the focal point bcs in the picture it's not shown that way, im glad i came across actual educational art videos like these, keep up the good work!

I learn a lot from these videos too.

Instant level up. Thank you! Your process helps to think about what to draw, instead of where to start and how to keep everything in place. Finally can let go the fear of ruining proportions. It's much easier to enjoy drawing now.

Hey mate happy new year!! When you were referring to gestures/squash and stretch I’m reminded of Force Drawing and Mike Mattesi. Cheers mate!

great!

I started using blender, playing with lighting cubes, cylinders etc... studying models in turning rotation. playing with animation rig to observe movement. ❤thx

This tutorial and the gesture drawing series has been extreamly helpful for me, all of my problems where discussed prominently in these videos and eventhough im a beginner i'm feeling progress! thank you for this high quality content of yours... i'd also like to suggest you to make a discord server so you can have a comunity of artist helping eachother out on their artworks so as to make even better improvements.. good luck sir!

Another excellent video..I find that I draw the shapes that you are making while you describe the image you are looking at. As they change very quickly, it has helped my speed.

Great . Thanks for sharing. 😊

Amazing and perfectly educating vid. So incredibly helpful I cannot begin to express

thank you brother I'm starting out to drawing and got confused with figure drawing this helps me understand it more

Beautiful!

10:40 is probably the best way ive ever heard shape simplification explained. ps: Overall fantastic video!!!

Damn. I've been wacthing loads of gesture/figure drawing tutorials, but it never really cliked for me. THIS is such an amazing video, it puts it in a different perspective, using more than just one or two tools for the drawing. Thank you so much.

Simple, enlightening, concise, patient and easy to understand. Now that is great teaching. Lovely.

i really loved this this, very helpful, helped me a lot in how to put all the skills together, thank you i appreciate it.

Immediately subscribing after seeing this video. You have incredible teaching skills

Love this video. It's still a bit difficult for me to know when to use what, especially when I am outside drawing from life and feel the time pressure.

it was super fun. thank you

Really educational

I've been waiting for this video

brilliant, thanks

i have been crying why some of my drawings don't see .... light! I was sobbing with gratitude .... thank you. 😊

This video is extremely useful for learning figure drawing!

oh god - this video couldn't come at a better time - the 20 sec intro is exactly how I constantly feel

I really liked the shading to bring out the light side! I can see those Lane Brown influences coming in! CONTRAST. Wow!

this was really helpful

FINALLY. something useful. i ve been looking for it for ages literally

I watched it again. I laughed again at the beginning. THANKS!

Love ur references ❤such a nice combination of dynamism and light/shadow play. Mark is wonderful 🎉

I feel this; whenever I focus on structure and proportions my poses get stiff, whenever I draw more gesture and flowy the proportions and structure is waaaaaay off. It feels like I have to pick one over the other

well then. this is actually. really really straightforward to me now. this video has really helped my progression. cheers. i got big goals and im glad there are people like you out there

Mate, this is a great video

What a brilliant video, Kenzo! It’s taken me a few years to get comfortable with figure drawing. For quite some time I was trying to figure out how to bring all of the concepts I’d learned, or was learning, together to make successful drawings consistently. With lots and lots of practice every day, it happened. Now I find myself pulling from my toolbox, much as you did here, to create a figure drawing. Seeing how you do it is extremely helpful for all of us. Thanks for showing us. You’re the best!

Bro your videos are so relaxing for some reason. They give me asmr lmaooo i feel so relaxed during these videos

Killer Video, subscribed. Not sure why this channel has been hiding but I'm here now!!

so great

I felt the intro so much!

Love that intro, lol. People really don't know how frustrating it is when they tell you "dude just do it, lmao." If I could don't you think I would've already?

I've recently heard that you should start with the most "powerful" line (something like a line of action that's also a countur line) and place the head as the very last thing...

The important lesson here is that yes, you can combine different techniques, so long as you have the goal of making ghe drawing that you wanr to make. A lot of times, I'd only focus on one thing, because I am afraid that I'd create something incoherent, but in fact, what artosts do is they pull out different tools at different stages and for different elements of the figure they're trying to draw. Dividing everything into different systems and figuring out how to do each step of the process. It changes the way you think about drawing.

0:33 You reminded me this Abraham Maslow's : "If the only tool you have is a hammer, it is tempting to treat everything as if it were a nail

As an art teacher, I'm always looking for ways to communicate these fundamentals. Your delivery is fantastic! "Pelvis pants!"

not to be dramatic but i would die for this man and his 17 min long video

One of the best advice I heard was "just because you can't see it doesn't mean it's not there"

Do you have a video on how to draw the arms and legs? I always struggle with making them the right size/shape, especially when it comes to the calves and forearm. I end up making them look huge

Bro the start of this video is exactly what I was thinking 😂

just realized I've commented on this video a year ago XD, I'm watching it again and I'm like "hey I didn't know any of these", funny how it felt new. Anyway I have a question, does it matter which one of these "tools" we use in every step? or it totally depends on different mindsets? for example where you saw a 2d abstract shape of the head, I saw the sphere of the skull and drew the browline as a general indicator that shows angel. can we dicuss that certain "tools" are supposed to be used in certain places? thanks for the response in advance

What are you using to draw that?

Brilliant, as usual. Question - you've mentioned in a couple of videos, a video that addresses how far down the ribcage comes - which one is it? Thanks!

"No dont use a rubber!" 😂😂😂

i want every artist in the world to be my teacher now.

I usually like to start from the hips. The head is the worst place to start for me.

Someone is a fan of Steve Huston.

12:54 Always use a rubber when pulling something back. 😏

I just wish there is a way to cram 150 pages of Hempton's figure drawing in like 7 days in like 3-4 hours each, time is against me and entry exam is just around the corner

I just watched a 16-minute video, but I had a tough time grasping the content, even though I was fully focused. I suggest making the material clearer to help viewers understand better. the fact you threw in anatomy is already a big reason why i do not understand the process. Should i learn anatomy before doing poses or is nailing the lines of action necessary to draw anatomy? Because the answer might be "both" how can they be learned in a way that is possible?

Figure drawing still doesn't make sense to me, but I think I now have an ACTUAL Idea of it.... I guess I will be re-watching this video a few times to understand better!

"Don't use a rubber" 12:54