Depict

Depict is a simple Windows program that can be used by artists to practice gesture drawing (See also Vilppu for a good video on how to do gestures). As an aspiring artist, I was interested in practicing gesture drawing at home where a model was not readily available. In lieu of a live model, I wanted a way for the computer to present a sequence of images for a fixed amount of time so that I could practice these fast drawings. There are several websites that I found which would facilitate this (e.g. artists.pixelovely.com and www.quickposes.com), but I was unable to find a site that had a large suite of quality images that I could use for practice.

What I did find was that for a few dollars, I could buy a large set of poses that while not perfect, would be appropriate for practice if I could get the computer to display them serially. Out of this grew Depict. If you have a set of images (e.g. jpgs), you can point Depict at your images and it will randomly choose and image and display it for a fixed amount of time before moving on to another image. For example, it will show you 10 randomly selected images, with each image displayed for 2 minutes. Or you can ask for 4 random images, each displayed for 5 minutes, etc. Alternately, you can ask Depict to simply time how long a particular image has been displayed so that you know how much time you have spent on a particular practice drawing.

If you are an artist in search of practice, here is my suggestion to you:

  1. Go to a modelling site such as www.posespace.com and purchase a set of images. I purchased the images that were included with Book 8 (approximately 4500 images!) for $25. Note that Depict will work with any jpg images, not just the ones from this site. If you already have images, or purchase images from another site, Depict should be fine with them. For example, you could go to www.deviantart.com and select images from their photography / people / artistic nude section, but I find that while there are quality images available, it is interspersed with pornography. It is far simpler to simply buy a set of images...
  2. Download Depict.
  3. In Depict, File->New List, and give Depict the folders containing the images (note that Depict will search through folders looking for images, so you do NOT have to click on all 4500 images; just give Depict the model folders).
  4. In Depict, Session->10 Twos.

Start Drawing!

Currently, Depict is available for free. At some point in the future, I might start charging a nominal fee. For now, all I ask is that if you find it useful, send me some email so that I have an idea about how many people are using it. My email address can be found in the "about" information in the program (see "Help").

Note that I want to be an artist, not a software support technician, so Depict comes with NO SUPPORT. Use it at your own risk. Feel free to let me know if there are things I can do to improve the program. However, I will do so at my discretion and leisure, and may not have time to do any upgrades or bug fixes at all!

Happy Drawing.

Chris

Depict Download can be found here.