There are really 2 types of drawing classes: regular drawing classes (from simple to advanced), and figure drawing. Most student love to take figure drawing, but you almost always start with drawing still-life... that is, the boring pictures of fruit and cubes.
Still-life isn't always boring, and many artists have demonstrated a perfect knowledge of color, lighting, and shade by using still-life. The advantages of still-life over figure drawing is that an apple doesn't need to breath or scratch, an orange doesn't need to take a break, and a wooden cube rarely charges by the hour. So these are perfect for learning how to draw, when it comes to understanding light, shadow, form, and relationship. As regular drawing classes progress, they often explore deeper topics. Sometimes it gets so deep, they start to explore the relationship between drawing and painting. What is the difference? Why does it matter?
Once you get up to figure drawing, you start to learn the way the body is shaped, the connections and relationships, the inner-workings and the elegant lines of the form. It is necessary for all good artists to understand the human form on a deep level if they wish to ever draw a human. That often means drawing bones, muscles, and skulls. But it also means drawing from live models.
My school was lucky enough to have the art department situated next door to the dancing department. I had the pleasure of drawing many attractive young women, which is ideal for art. Unfortunately, there were very few attractive young men who were interested, so I had only 1 class with a young man.
When you are looking for a figure drawing class, there are 2 places to look, universities/colleges, and art groups/clubs or galleries.
In order to take classes at a university or college, you first have to be enrolled in the school, often in the specific field of study, and paying your dues and fees. Because college classes need to budget ahead of time for their term, they usually have to charge students an extra fee to help pay for the models, who do not come cheap. This usually means there is an upfront cost, which can easily be over $100 for a term. Not all university classes will be able to use young, attractive models either. When young models are not available, there are plenty of older people ready to take their place. (I swear, as an art student, you start to wonder if the only thing people do when they retire is pose naked in front of other people.) Now drawing older people is very good too, and you can learn a lot about drawing different body types, different details such as wrinkles, and how the body ages. I did find that most of these older models were quite good.
However, unlike colleges and universities, art groups and art galleries can chose to allow anyone to participate, provided they are willing to learn and pay to participate. Sometimes there is a membership fee, sometimes it is an up front class-by-class fee, sometimes it is a term fee. While I have not priced them myself, I have heard that models can easily make $100 an hour, and they will pose for several hours at a time. That is easy money, if you think standing still in a room full of people staring at you naked is easy. So classes of all sorts need to compensate their models for their time and service. You may also find that some colleges and universities will offer figure drawing classes to anyone interested as well.
You will find that most figure drawing classes advertise in local art publications, local art galleries, art stores, and even online. Art clubs and other art groups will often hold a figure drawing class in a studio, where they will either have a series of instructions for those who pay to take the class, or they will have a free form drawing session, where they provide the model, and you draw whatever you want, however you want. That way, they do not instruct the class, they merely provide a service. Usually, these classes range from weekly to monthly. The average cost for these classes seems to be around $10 per class. They will also often advertise the types of posts they will provide. Sometimes they have long poses, that can last up to an hour, or short posts, that may last 5 minutes or less.
One exercise is to do gesture drawing. This is where the model posts for about 30 seconds, maybe less, and changes between different poses one after the other. The idea is that you have only enough time to get a feel for the motion, the gesture, the essence of what they are doing, how they are moving, and to get that on paper without any actual detail. This usually allows for a good idea of motion, but it also lets you see people in motion, standing in an uncomfortable position, something you can not do in a long pose, where the model has to be as comfortable as possible. When they have to sit or stand for 30, 45, even 60 minutes, they often needs breaks, have to be as still as they can, markers are often left where their limbs were so they can get back into position after their breaks, and maybe even need heaters to keep them warm.
Now the biggest and best advantages of drawing from real life, is that you have a person you can communicate to for your pose. If you need them to lower their hand, or change their balance, or shift their weight, or anything else, they can do it for you. You also have a 3D life-size model in the room, that lets you walk around them, chose your best position, and even take compliments when they do a good job. The disadvantages are important to know as well, but are workable. First, they are not cheap. Also, you have a human, who moves and itches, and scratches, and has gas, and gets cold, and can sweat, and needs to breath, and take breaks. This means they are going to be moving, even if just a little bit, which could be enough to throw you off, if you are still learning. Sometimes the model will be perfect, other times they will be troublesome, and if you have never worked with the model before, you have no way of knowing. Finding the right model can also be hard. If you need a middle aged woman to pose for you, but all you can find are old men, you are out of luck. However, the way I see it, all the great masters managed to create the most beautiful art using live models, long before still-pictures, aka photography, was invented. If they could create these great works of art, there is no reason we can not follow their example.
Luckily, thanks to the modern science of photography, drawing from a picture is a very good experience as well. Here, you can draw someone who is in a pose that a live person can not possibly hold, such as in the middle of the air or some other action. You will also find photographs don't move or take breaks. There are also a large variety of books and other resources, giving you a plethora of choices for your model and position, and usually books cost less. However, there are some major draw backs to drawing from photography. First, the camera. When you are drawing from a photograph, you have to remember that a camera does not tell the truth, it tells only what it sees. So nothing is in 3D, you cannot walk around the model and chose your position, you can not chose to readjust the focus, the lens and aperture and film and such all can affect the way the model looks. Most images are printed at a set resolution, usually around 300 dpi, which means you are stuck with the details presented on the page, and you can not get a close look to get more information. Whats more is that, while there are a plethora of options, sometimes it isn't enough, or it takes too long to find exactly what you want. If the model is not right, you have to find one that is close, or keep looking. If the model is in the wrong position, you can only change what you can figure out, but you can't reposition the model. If the camera is at the wrong angle, there is nothing you can do to fix it.
That being said, there are a lot of good books available for figure drawing resources, that are a great help when you don't have a live model available. This is better for if you are trying to draw something for a comic, because you can use stylization and like to compensate, but not so good for leaning if you are just starting out. If you already can draw people, and have already had classes, these books are great.
Pose File. From what I can tell, are are 2 series of Pose File books. The American pose file books are good mainly for costumed super-hero and anime/manga themed comics. All of these models are dressed, either fully, or at least in underwear. The often are dressed in costume as well. The book itself uses a series of camera angles for each pose, showing all of them on one page. However, if you look at the included CD, you will find that they actually took many photos from a series of angles, with even more positions than the book has. Since they specialize in costumes, you can see anything from superhero costumes, to schoolgirl outfits. And of course, they pose as these comic characters should as well. They provide various flying poses, fighting positions, weapon forms, and so on. You can even see some detailed shots of the weapons they use. It is good for getting some unusual shots and positions most reference books just do not do. They have a series of them available, mostly involving action and combat poses.
Besides the American Pose File books, there are the Japanese ones
. I have not had a change to look at one of these myself, but I can say that they are available on Amazon, and usually involve nude models in various poses, including sports, dancing and martial arts.The Nude Figure. There are a few books by photographer Mark Smith, which explore the nude figure. While he usually works with female nudes, you can also find men, couples, pregnant women, and unusual poses. He has books with models jumping and dancing and moving. His photography is excellent, with each model well depicted. Since this is a traditional reference book, he does not provide costumes or props, and does not cater to the comic artist specifically. However, he does an excellent job choosing which photographs to use, and provided top quality, detailed images. His books are usually black and white, but some of them (such as this one) is in full color. The one drawback to his work is that he does not provide panning or revolving perceptive. He only takes the images as they are, from his perspective, and from no other position. I find that, because of this, these are very limited in use for something like a comic artist, since we often need to have the characters in just the right position, from just the right angle.
People and Poses. There are actually 3 books in this series. Each one of these has a different theme, which is specific for the comic artist. There is People and Poses, Men and Boys, and Women and Girls. While there are other reference books by the same artist, these are the only ones that follow this theme. He tends to photograph specifically for the comic artist, choosing which angle to present in the book. These are in full color, and use a series of camera angles for each shot, similar to the Pose File books, but unlike the post file books, he does not represent them all on each page. Often, these books use a single dynamic shot, one that would be ideal for a comic layout. These each have flying shots, jumping, weapons, fighting, and more. they use dynamic photography to give you those head on, close up, and angled shots you love to see in comics. They even include pages from actual artists that used these models in their art, often with a presentation on how they made the shot. The best part is, these also include a CD, which has a huge variety of poses, weapon close ups, angles, and more. All of these use excellent side lighting to see the best details of the models, and they are all in full color. Unfortunately, while they provide a few costumes, there are no nudes, and the models are all fully dressed or in underwear. However, this is a minor drawback as these offer some excellent photographs, with some excellent tips and advice.
Facial Expression. This is perhaps one of the best tools for any artist. While you may be limited to using a mirror for your own face, these image provide you with a series of models posing in a large variety of expressions, often exaggerated for effect. The models are listed in order from youngest to oldest, and include everything from young attractive men and women, to acne riddled teen, to the wrinkly old woman. They include all face types, and the photographs are taken from 3 different positions surrounding the face. They include side shots, overhead shots, 3/4 shots, straight on, and several in between. The end of each model also has some art inspired by the expressions of that model, which are often creative and expressive. This is an excellent way to see how other people react, how emotions are portrayed on the face, and how the age and gender and race can differentiate how we look. As my good friend would say, it is also the favorite book of her kids, who call it the "funny face book". The best part of this book is that it includes not only a huge series of expressions from many angles, but also a sequential expressions gallery for animators, a kissing gallery (woohoo!), a hats and headgear gallery, and a Phonemes gallery (that is the shape the mouth makes when you say words and make certain sounds)!
This is only the tip of the iceberg for reference photo books. There are literally thousands of them out there. There are entire websites that are dedicated to giving you the best reference picture you can find. Some of them specialize in live models in various poses for your drawing benefit, others give you samples of various parts of the body for 3D modeling and the like. There is even a program out there that gives you a full 360ยบ rotation around the model, for best viewing angle.
So for the best reference material out there, you have to get to a figure drawing class or session. The more live model practice you get, the better you will become at drawing a figure from your mind, or from a small reference material like a book. Book and photograph reference materials are also great, but only if used right. Don't forget you can use the internet, such as google, to search for a pose, a figure type, even a costume, if you need help. And while the photographs at websites like istockphoto, corbis and gettyimages are not free, you can often download a watermarked image with their giant logo on it, and use that for your reference for your drawing. Just make sure you don't draw their logo with it.
Next time, Phil Foglio, and Girl Genius!
, it has amazingly simple and useful techniques for simplifying drawing people. However, avoid his books that focus on manga and anime, as his style wreaks of Americanized copycat, which does not stay true to the Japanese form, and actually fails to accurately depict any sort of Japanese style.