When I do figure drawing, it would be nice to have some pictures to use for reference. Some pictures that show male and female figures in lots of different poses. I've seen Posemaniacs.com has been recommened on this forum, but my mom didn't like that website because of the full nudity... Are there any books or websites that show figure poses without full nudity? Like maybe just a basic line figure? To illustrate what I mean, I attatched a file of an example. Are there any sites or books like that? Or do they all show full/overly graphic nudity?

Most sites that have nude figures for the purposes of art will have full frontal nudity, both male and female. Now there is a world of difference between artistic nudes and pornographic nudes, as I'm sure you're well aware. Deviant Art has some tasteful nudes, but may not fit the bill in your mother's eyes. Unfortunately, many people still see the naked human body as a sexual form, not an artistic form and of course it depends on how it is portrayed as to which way it is viewed.

Is there a life class in your area that you could join? You'd get some tips there and lots of experience in figure drawing. However, there is more to figure drawing than nudes. The human form is a classic concept in drawing and very useful, but so are clothed figures. With clothed figures you get figure drawing as well as drapery in the clothing. Or you can crop and concentrate just on a face or hand.

you can use a google image search and put "people standing" or "people sitting" as search strings and you will get lots of pictures of people with cloths on. Hope this helps a little

I agree with Jeanette - if your Mum has a problem you might try explaining that you want to create something like Michelangelo, or Da Vinci - not something that could be included in "Girls Gone Wild".

That aside - I truly believe that the outline that you are looking for will actually inhibit your artistic development. You need to understand the structures below the skin to get the finished drawing to be believable. That is why many of posemaniacs daily drawing poses look like skinned rabbits! If you see the underlying muscles and tissues you know where a muscle bulge should be - where a bone juts out , and lends an air of authenticity to your work.

You can indeed concentrate on an arm or a leg, hand or a foot. In fact on Wet Canvas we had several threads on just one body part - there was a hand a day thread for a month, foot a day and eye a day - you'd be surprised at how much you improve (no matter where you start from) when you do these tasks in earnest.

So go for clothed models, single limbs or body parts - and work on your mother's perception of what you are wanting to achieve.

Just to let you know how much easier it is with a computer, when I first started figure drawing I had no idea where to find a local class. Female figures are easy to come across - there plenty of near nude, or swimsuit clad models in a variety of poses in women's magazines, and all kinds of ads. Men were a little harder. As I didn't have a computer (and NEVER intended to get one at that stage), the only way to get great poses in male figures (without it being a beefcake calendar) was to buy a particular Gay magazine here in Australia - all the pics are extremely artistic and usually very tasteful, but it still didn't stop my newsagent wondering what the &%& I was up to! He had a good laugh with me after he talked to my local Office Supplies shop owner, Denise, who used to do laser copies of some of my work, and he finally realised I wasn't a complete weirdo!

The things we do for our art

Just keep practicing the things that you can - get the details down in the extremites - hands and feet are notoriously hard - that's why so many artists leave them out or hide them as best they can. If you can work on them you'll be way ahead of the pack.

Good luck!

Trooper,
This lens has lots of links for figure drawing. It may help.
http://www.squidoo.com/figure_art

You can always use yourself as a model. Your always there and available when you want to draw. However, I’m not to blame when your mother walks in on you as you pose naked with pencils behind your ears in front of the mirror

That's a very good idea Lance500. I remember reading in one book that you should look in a mirror and draw yourself.

Thank you for the advice everyone. I do practice doing clothed figures alot, but when I'm trying to practice the body, this is how I've been doing it; do you think this way works?

I found some partially clothed figures online yesterday. Unfortunately, the male figures were cartoons, so I didn't save any of them. But the female figures (at least, the torsos) looked fairly realistic. I'd like to use these as guidelines; are they realistic enough? Or will these hinder my learning?