Remember during the pandemic everyone started a "lockdown project"? Mine was a video game to practice drawing. Well it's now 2025,  and my “lockdown project” is finally starting to take shape —  so I thought it's about time I made Figure Drawing Garden's first devlog!

ORIGIN OF THE IDEA...

Back in 2020, before the world came to a complete stop, I was on Erasmus in Paris, studying animation at Gobelins L'École de L’Image. My favorite thing to do while there was draw in the Louvre's magnificent sculpture gardens. Every time I visited, without fail, there would be at least a dozen artists studying these magnificent sculptures. I remember feeling extremely fortunate to be able to draw there, and at the same time — envious that such an incredible resource wasn’t something I had access to at home.

Then the pandemic hit. I moved back to Ireland, and the contrast couldn’t have been sharper — I went from exploring a city overflowing with ateliers and galleries, to being confined to my bedroom with no statues to draw at all.

Then one day, when I really had an itch to do some figure drawing, I came up with a simple solution — a flat plane in Unity with a couple of sculptures dropped onto it, just so I’d have something to practice with. It was basic, made only for my own use… but it was a step towards how it felt to draw in that sculpture garden at the Louvre — and the start of what would eventually become Figure Drawing Garden.

GETTING CARRIED AWAY...

But after doing a drawing or two, I quickly found myself… distracted. Instead of sketching, I kept tinkering. First I adjusted the lighting, then added fog, then some ambient audio. Every time I sat down to draw, I’d think of a new way to improve the tool.

I realized I could set up custom lighting however I liked, I could overlay three-dimensional perspective grids to guide proportions. I could even simplify a figure down to its most basic shapes.  Before long, my simple flat plane had grown into an immersive, procedurally generated garden and the basic models I had started with were replaced with beautiful scans of real sculptures— including some from the very same garden at the Louvre.

FIVE YEARS LATER...

Figure Drawing Garden has come a long way from that flat plane of models back in 2020. Today, it features an exquisite collection of classical and Renaissance sculpture scans so that you can study directly from the masters. Your garden expands as you draw, and drawing tools like Dynamic Lighting help you practice shading, while the Perspective Grid and Simplified Form modes are beginner friendly. For an extra twist, rare Challenge Sculptures introduce new techniques and keep things exciting.

And next, I'll be adding support for community-made Modelpacks — allowing players to customize their gardens and draw any models they choose!

FEEL LIKE DRAWING?

• Download the free demo and grab your sketchbook, relax, explore, and draw. 

•  Art is more fun together, so hop into the Discord— share your drawings, get inspired, and grow alongside fellow artists.

#artgame #figuredrawing #relaxing #cozy #simulation #educational #drawing #sketching #learnart