Life drawing online, 17 February 2026

Vitruvian Man. The drawing by Leonardo da Vinci. You know the one, described on Wikipedia as depicting: “a nude man in two overlapping standing positions, inscribed within a circle and a square“. Well, for this online session run by Joanna McCormick the time had come for me to be that man.

‘Two overlapping standing positions‘ meant two separate standing poses for artists to overlap in any way they liked. Maybe drawing the second pose directly upon the first, or maybe making each drawing on a separate piece of tracing paper. Whatever. That side of things wasn’t my problem. My problem was keeping my arms up.

Each pose would last just 12 minutes (mercifully chopped from 15 minutes before we even started) but, hey, try it! The first pose had my feet wide apart and hands at head height; the second pose had legs together and hands at shoulder height. During both it became necessary to shake my aching arm muscles after six and nine minutes.

I was a little disappointed with myself. I knew it would get uncomfortable but I hoped I might go the distance without visibly wilting. Alas my home studio doesn’t have ropes hanging from the ceiling to cradle my arms; a luxury I’m told was available for models at the more enlightened Renaissance art studios.

After these two endurance exercises it was comparatively a sumptuous comfort to sit motionless for a 40-minute close-up portrait study. Ohh, the relief. Yet thinking back, I learned nothing about myself or my practice during the portrait pose. As the Vitruvian Man, however, I discovered limitations that, with practice, maybe I can exceed.

Pose minutes, 11am-12:30pm

Part 1 : 12, 12, 40.

Artworks

With apologies to artists I’m unable to credit.

Artwork by Michelle Russell.

Artwork by Usha Chitsabesan.

Artwork by Peter Mollett.

Artwork by Peter Mollett.

Artwork by Michelle Russell.

Artwork by Michelle Russell.

Artwork by Usha Chitsabesan.

Artwork by Sandra Kinchin Thornley.

Artwork by Dick Graham.

Artwork by Jo McCormick.