Drawing: Figure

This in-person course will provide introductory to intermediate students with material that provides a strong, foundational understanding of principles and techniques of fine art figure drawing. As a class community, we will emphasize learning to draw what can be represented through close observation, applying traditional techniques. Students will expand their basic structural drawing and perceptual skills through the study of the figure’s relation to the environment, including movement and drapery. Students will discover individual sensibilities of mark-making and aspects of personal vision through a variety of traditional and non-traditional drawing media and techniques. Students will learn basic anatomy for the artist and proper terms for the structure of the human skeletal and muscular system.

Students will learn how to use how to apply basic drawing materials, graphite and charcoal, to produce informed works of art. Along with material skills, students will learn conventional techniques that include sighting and measurement, scale and perspective, and value and composition. Students will develop a context for their work through readings and research projects about influential artists, both historical and contemporary. A final portfolio of completed assignments will be reviewed at the end of the quarter in a group critique.

Regularly scheduled in-person meetings will take place once a week. Assignments will be supported with online drawing tutorial to be completed outside of class time. Students should be prepared to invest 6-8 hours a week to complete all projects outside of class sessions.