Life drawing glossary
Every term you'll meet at a life drawing session, defined in plain English — from gesture drawing and croquis to session etiquette. New to life drawing? Start with how Meetup Art works or find a session near you.
Blind contour drawing
A drawing exercise where you draw the outline of the subject without looking at your paper, training hand–eye coordination and observation. Often used as a warm-up in life drawing sessions.
Body painting session
A session where artists paint directly onto the model’s skin, or draw a model wearing body paint. One of the specialist formats listed alongside life drawing and portrait sessions.
Charcoal
A drawing medium made from charred willow or vine, prized in life drawing for its speed and tonal range — it moves fast enough for short poses and smudges for soft shading.
Concession rate
A reduced session price offered to students, seniors or low-income attendees. Many life drawing groups list a concession rate alongside the standard drop-in fee.
Contrapposto
A classical standing pose in which the figure’s weight rests on one leg, tilting the hips and shoulders in opposite directions. A staple of figure drawing because of the natural S-curve it creates.
Croquis
A quick sketch of a live model, typically made in one to five minutes. Croquis sessions consist of a rapid sequence of short poses, prioritising gesture over detail.
Croquis café
An informal, social life drawing format — often in a bar or café — with music, short poses and no instruction. Popularised as an accessible alternative to studio sessions.
Drop-in session
A life drawing session you can attend without enrolling in a course — pay per session and turn up. The most common format for untutored life drawing.
Figure drawing
Drawing the human form in any medium, from quick gesture studies to sustained tonal drawings. "Figure drawing" and "life drawing" overlap; life drawing specifically means working from a live model.
Foreshortening
The apparent compression of forms as they angle toward or away from the viewer — an arm pointed at you looks short and wide. One of the core challenges life drawing trains.
Gesture drawing
A rapid drawing (30 seconds to 2 minutes) that captures the action, energy and flow of a pose rather than its outline or detail. Most life drawing sessions open with a set of gesture poses.
Life drawing
Drawing the human figure from direct observation of a live model, usually nude or draped. Sessions run with timed poses, from quick gestures to long studies, and are typically open to all abilities.
Life drawing etiquette
The conventions that keep sessions comfortable: no photography, no touching or commenting on the model’s body, keep noise down during poses, and address requests (like pose changes) to the host rather than the model.
Life model
A person who poses for artists, holding timed poses — nude, draped or clothed — in life drawing sessions, art classes and private sittings. Also called an art model or artist’s model. Life modelling is paid, skilled work.
Long pose
A sustained pose held (with breaks) for twenty minutes up to several sessions, allowing a developed, detailed study. The counterpart to gesture and croquis work.
Mark-making
The characteristic lines, strokes and textures an artist produces — the handwriting of a drawing. Life drawing develops mark-making because timed poses force decisive strokes.
Negative space
The space around and between the subject rather than the subject itself — for example the triangle between an arm and a torso. Drawing negative space is a standard technique for checking proportions.
Nude vs naked (in art)
An art-historical distinction: "the nude" refers to the unclothed figure as an artistic subject and tradition, while "naked" describes simply being without clothes. Life drawing works within the tradition of the nude.
Online life drawing
A life drawing session held over video call (typically Zoom): the model poses on camera, the host calls timed poses and attendees draw from home. It follows the same structure as an in-person untutored session.
Plumb line
An imagined (or actual) vertical line used to check alignments in a pose — for instance, where the model’s ear falls relative to the ankle. A basic measuring technique in observational drawing.
Portrait session
A session focused on drawing or painting the model’s head and shoulders. The model is clothed, poses are longer than in figure sessions, and the emphasis is on likeness.
Pose reference pack
A downloadable set of photographs of a model in a sequence of poses, sold for artists to practise figure drawing outside live sessions. On Meetup Art, models sell reference packs directly.
Proportion
The size relationships between parts of the figure. Classical guides (such as "the body is about seven-and-a-half heads tall") give a starting framework that observation then corrects.
Quick poses
Short timed poses — commonly 1, 2 or 5 minutes — used to warm up and practise gesture. A typical untutored session runs quick poses first, then progressively longer ones.
Sight-size
A measuring method where the drawing is made the same size the subject appears from the artist’s viewing position, allowing direct visual comparison. Associated with atelier training.
Sketchbook practice
Regular drawing outside formal sessions. Most tutors recommend combining weekly life drawing with daily sketchbook work, since the timed-pose format rewards accumulated observation skill.
Tonal drawing
A drawing built from areas of light and dark rather than outlines, describing form through value. Long poses in life drawing are commonly used for tonal studies.
Tutored vs untutored
A tutored session includes instruction — demonstrations, guidance, feedback — while an untutored session simply provides a model, timed poses and a space to work. Untutored drop-ins are the most common life drawing format in the UK.
Warm-up poses
The short gesture poses at the start of a session that loosen up both the artists and the model before longer studies. Typically 30 seconds to 2 minutes each.
Willow charcoal
Soft, easily-erased charcoal made from willow branches — the classic material for gesture and tonal work in life drawing, usually paired with a putty rubber and fixative.
Ready to put the vocabulary to use? Find life drawing classes near you or join an online session.