Drawing: Life Drawing — Year 5 Lesson Plan
National Curriculum: Art and Design KS2 — To improve their mastery of art and design techniques, including drawing; to know about great artists and the historical and cultural development of their art forms.
Overview
Pupils are introduced to life drawing as one of the foundational disciplines of fine art. Through a series of gesture drawing exercises and longer observational poses, they develop understanding of the proportions and gesture of the human figure. Inspired by the expressive figure drawings of Egon Schiele and the attenuated forms of Alberto Giacometti, pupils develop a personal and expressive approach to drawing the figure.
Learning Objectives
- To understand the proportions of the human figure using simple measuring techniques
- To capture gesture and movement through timed drawing exercises
- To know about figure drawing as a foundation of fine art practice and the work of Schiele and Giacometti
- To develop charcoal as a medium for expressive, gestural figure drawing
Key Vocabulary
Suggested Lesson Structure
Show the class figure drawings by Schiele (expressive, energetic) and Giacometti (elongated, searching). Ask: how are these different from a realistic photograph of a person? What do these drawings tell us about how the artist felt, not just what they saw? Introduce the proportion rule: the body is approximately 7 to 8 head heights tall. Pupils check this on their own body using a pencil.
Demonstrate gesture drawing: a 30-second pose where the aim is to capture the overall tilt and energy of the figure in a single flowing line. Show that the lines do not need to be outlines — a diagonal line for the spine and a curved arm line is enough in 30 seconds. Demonstrate a 2-minute pose: building from the gesture skeleton to contour lines. Show charcoal blending for areas of shadow.
Six rounds of gesture drawing using a willing pupil model or a poseable wooden mannequin: two rounds of 30 seconds, two of 1 minute, two of 2 minutes. Teacher narrates: do not lift the pencil; capture the whole figure first, detail last. After each pose, the class briefly shares one drawing and the teacher highlights what is working.
Pupils make a final 5-minute charcoal figure drawing from a sustained pose. They work on A2 paper, filling the page with a large figure, using charcoal for dark shadows and leaving the paper for light areas. They add three annotations to their drawing: gesture direction, a proportion challenge they noticed, and one Schiele or Giacometti quality they aimed for.
Pupils pin up their gesture series alongside the final drawing. Discuss the improvement in confidence and scale from the first 30-second sketch to the final 5-minute drawing. Ask: what is the difference between drawing what you know and drawing what you see?
Common Misconceptions
- Pupils often begin by drawing the head in detail before establishing the overall figure, running out of paper for the lower body — reinforce: always start with the whole figure in a light gesture mark before adding any detail
- Some pupils are reluctant to draw the figure for fear of getting it wrong — normalise imperfection by showing that even professional figure drawings are not photographic likenesses
Prior Knowledge
Pupils should already be able to:
- Portrait drawing with proportions from Year 2 and Year 4
- Chiaroscuro and tonal shading from the Year 4 Drawing: Portraits unit
- Charcoal as a medium from the Year 3 Drawing with Observation unit
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