Graphite Pencil Life Drawing (Rendering & Sketch Examples)

"Seated Woman" Graphite pencil life drawing

This is a nicely rendered life drawing of a girl sitting on a box with some delicate shadows.

"3 men from my sketchbook" Graphite pencil drawings

I liked all three of these drawings so I scanned in the entire page from my sketchbook. The model was doing some unusual poses such as the top left one, you don't get to draw that everyday!

"Sketch of two girls" Graphite pencil drawing

When I draw multiple drawings on the one page in my sketchbook I sometimes like to overlap them to give a sense of depth.

In this sketch the pose on the right was drawn behind the previous drawing even though it was the same girl.

The left sketch was 10 minutes and the right was 15 minutes which gave me extra time to block in the shadows and to work on her hair.

I really liked this models hair, she was wearing a little scarf to pull her hair back and there were some nice messy locks sticking out at the back of her head. They were fun to draw.

"Two girls leaning on stool" Graphite pencil life drawings

The stool makes these poses quite interesting. Sometimes I neglect the surroundings when I draw because I focus too much on model but I've discovered that a drawing can tell more of a story if the composition incorporates other surrounding objects.

"3 girls in my sketchbook" Graphite pencil drawings

This was the same model drawn 3 times on one page of my sketchbook.

I like the top drawing best because it has some nice flowing lines and it looks a bit more anatomicly correct. I didn't quite finish everything; some of her limbs are only lightly mapped out. If I had more time I would have finished drawing them in more detail.

"2 girls from my sketchbook" Graphite pencil figure drawings

I had 10 minutes for each of these two sketches so I took my time and mapped out as much anatomy as I could.

I didn't complete either figure but sometimes it's nice to see partially finished drawings because you get insight into how an artist starts out a drawing. This can be quite useful if you're learning.

"Girl touching toes" HB graphite pencil life drawing

This was a very quick sketch with only a few quick hatching lines to block in the shadow areas. I think it has a nice relaxed feel to it.

"Girl with a ring" Graphite pencil life drawing

I can get so much more detail with graphite pencils because they are a lot harder than charcoal and they keep a sharp point for longer.

My favorite part in this drawing is her foreshortened arm and hand and the ring she was wearing. The hardest part was her neck because her hair was partly covering it and I couldn't quite see what I was drawing.

"Standing man #2" Graphite pencil drawing

Just a simple drawing of a man standing and holding a pole.

I love the three-quarter shadows down his back.

"Reclining female" Pencil sketch

This is a example of extreme foreshortening!

I drew this on the first page of one of my sketch books. Because it was in contact with the black plastic front cover it rubbed together over time and smudged the picture quite a bit. Lucky I scanned it before it was ruined! Since that day I always skip the first page when I get a new notebook.

Another thing I've learned is to draw on one side of each page only. This allows me to scan a drawing later without any danger of other drawings showing through from the other side. Some of my old sketch books wern't done this way and as a result you can see other drawings showing through no matter how I scan them.

"Seated girl in graphite pencil" Figure drawing

This is one of my favourite life drawings!

The detailed shadows even show the model's individual ribs in her back.

"Male torso" Graphite pencil life drawing

Muscle study in rendered graphite pencil. I put a lot of work into the shadows and even captured the veins in the male model's arm.

"Asian girl standing pose" Graphite pencil rendered life drawing

After completing the drawing I drew the skeleton on tracing paper over the top.

This is excellent practice to help visualize the skeleton in a pose when life drawing.

"Man standing" Pencil drawing of a male model

I love the rendering on this one. A bit rough but the solid, even tones work well for the shadow areas.

Best Graphite Pencils For Life Drawing

I've been using Staedtler Lumograph graphite pencils for years and they've never let me down. The graphite leads are strong and rarely break.

You can buy these individually or in various sets that come in neat protective storage tins.

Here's the set I recommend: (Amazon link)

See more of my recommended life drawing mediums.

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