Figure Drawing Resources Redux

Back in 2014—and again in 2016—I did a post about a free resource for nude models on YouTube. As I said before, since there are always new visitors to MC and blogger doesn’t make searching the archives the easiest, I thought it would be helpful to remind everyone again of these invaluable videos.


If you don’t have access to live models or figure drawing classes (or the moola for one or the other) the Croquis Cafe: The Artist Model Resource is a lifesaver. There are several hundred videos with new additions posted fairly regularly. Poses are held from 1 to 5 minutes, you can fill your screen and freeze frames for as long as you might need, and the various videos feature men and women of all ethnicities and body types.

These videos are not remotely sexual but obviously are “not safe for work” or intended for the easily offended or for kids or for immature clowns looking for cheap thrills. Using models (nude and clothed), of course, is an incredibly important part of being an artist; anatomy is a life-long study and if the artist doesn’t know what the body does—in action or repose—they can’t understand why clothes hang or fly or drape or cling the way they do. If the artist understands the body—knows their anatomy as best they can—they can convincingly make their characters do anything.