The Art and Science of Figure Drawing: A Systematic Approach for All Levels

Brent Eviston's Art and Science of Figure Drawing is one of the highest-rated figure drawing courses on Udemy, with over 18,000 reviews and a student base that has exceeded 100,000 learners. The course teaches figure drawing from the ground up using a systematic, research-informed approach that makes the complex skills of figure drawing accessible to students at all levels, from complete beginners who have never attempted to draw the human figure to intermediate artists who want to develop a more solid foundational understanding.

Brent Eviston is a professional artist and educator with more than twenty years of teaching experience, and his approach to teaching drawing reflects both his deep knowledge of the subject and his genuine understanding of how people learn. The course is notable for its clarity, its systematic progression, and its ability to make skills that many students find intimidating feel achievable and even enjoyable.

The Systematic Approach

The defining characteristic of Eviston's teaching is its systematic approach to figure drawing. Rather than presenting figure drawing as a mysterious skill that requires natural talent, Eviston breaks it down into a series of learnable components that build on each other in a logical progression. Each component is taught clearly and specifically, with demonstrations that show exactly what to do and explanations that make clear why each approach works.

The course begins with gesture drawing, the practice of capturing the essential movement and energy of a pose in quick sketches. Gesture is the foundation of figure drawing, and Eviston's approach to gesture is particularly clear and practical. He teaches students to see the major line of action in a pose, to identify the key rhythms and movements that give the pose its character, and to capture these essentials quickly and confidently before adding detail.

From gesture, the course progresses through figure proportions, covering the canonical proportional relationships of the human figure and how to apply them consistently. Understanding proportion is essential for figure drawing, and Eviston's instruction develops the ability to identify and correct proportional errors that is one of the most important skills in the discipline.

Basic anatomy is covered with the depth necessary for figure drawing without overwhelming students with medical-level detail. Eviston focuses on the anatomical knowledge that directly affects the visible surface of the figure, covering the major muscle groups and skeletal landmarks that create the forms artists need to represent. This focused approach to anatomy makes the instruction genuinely useful for drawing rather than an academic exercise.

Value and Shading

The value and shading instruction covers how to represent three-dimensional form on a two-dimensional surface through the control of light and dark. This is one of the most important skills in figure drawing, and Eviston's instruction develops it systematically through a series of exercises that build the ability to see and render value relationships accurately.

The instruction covers the five elements of shading: highlight, light, shadow, reflected light, and cast shadow, and how each element contributes to the representation of three-dimensional form. Understanding these elements and how they interact allows students to render the figure convincingly in any lighting condition, rather than relying on copying the specific appearance of a particular photograph or pose.

Foreshortening is covered in dedicated lessons that address one of the most challenging aspects of figure drawing: representing the figure when parts of it are pointing toward or away from the viewer. Eviston's approach to foreshortening is systematic and practical, providing strategies for seeing and representing foreshortened forms that make this challenging subject more manageable.

The Udemy Platform Advantages

The course's availability on Udemy provides several practical advantages. The frequent sales that Udemy runs mean that the course is often available for $19.99 or less, making it one of the most affordable professional figure drawing courses available. The lifetime access means that students can revisit lessons and exercises as their skills develop, returning to earlier material with new understanding and applying it to new work.

The certificate of completion provided by Udemy upon finishing the course is a credential that some students find useful for demonstrating their commitment to developing their skills, though it is not an accredited academic credential.

The course's downloadable resources include reference images, practice exercises, and other materials that support the video instruction and provide structured practice opportunities outside the video lessons.

Who Should Take This Course

The course is well-suited to complete beginners who want to develop figure drawing skills from the ground up, as well as to intermediate artists who have some drawing experience but who feel that their figure drawing lacks the systematic foundation that would allow them to draw the figure confidently from imagination or from any reference.

Artists who have tried to learn figure drawing through other means and found the results unsatisfying will find Eviston's systematic approach particularly valuable. The clarity and specificity of the instruction address the common frustrations that self-taught figure drawers experience, providing the structured guidance that makes rapid improvement possible.

The Bottom Line

The Art and Science of Figure Drawing is one of the most accessible and systematically taught figure drawing courses available at any price point, offering clear, research-informed instruction that makes the complex skills of figure drawing achievable for students at all levels. The combination of Eviston's exceptional teaching clarity, the systematic curriculum, and the affordable Udemy pricing makes it one of the best entry points into figure drawing education available online.