Abbreviated Drawing Styles for Figures (Jinbutsu ryakuga shiki 人物略画式)

Kitao, Masayoshi, 1764-1824 · 1795 · Japan : [producer not identified] · 24 pictures

Abbreviated Drawing Styles for Figures is a 1795 Japanese instruction manual by Kitao Masayoshi, published in Japan for artists learning to sketch people quickly. Its pages are spreads of small ink figures, many lightly tinted in red and brown, shown in loose groups. A designer could take from them a economical shorthand for gesture, posture and clothing, built from a few confident contour strokes.

Human figure in art -- Pictorial works · Landscapes in art -- Pictorial works · Japan -- Social life and customs -- 1600-1868 -- Pictorial works

Thomas J. Watson Library, The Metropolitan Museum of Art · No known copyright restrictions · More from this library