STUDENT DISCOUNT 25% (email first to receive discount)

This class is ideal for the beginner or an artist looking for a review of how to draw the figure with gesture, form and feeling. We will explore a variety of materials with an emphasis on charcoal. The format of the class is designed around high-energy short poses and how to best capture the expressive figure in motion.

Students will be working with proportion and figure structure (forms) during this 6-week class. Studio Paradiso is located in a beautiful Pioneer Square loft.

This class will begin with an in-depth overview of the foundation techniques of basic figure drawing and progress towards helping students finish more “complete” drawings. Students will be introduced to strategies for laying the groundwork for a more developed figure drawing through anatomy, proportion and structure. Working directly from a live model, either nude or in costume, each week students will use charcoal on paper.

This drawing process emphasizes strong light/dark relationships, basic shapes and overall composition. Students will move the drawing from simple shapes to more and more complex details in a gradual progression towards a true likeness of the model. Lectures and demos will support the goals of the class.

Week One: Gesture and the theater of life. How to make line imply movement and action. Finding the heart of a pose.

Week Two: The Three Major Masses of the body, and the Secrets of Old Masters. Male vs. Female skeletal distinctions. Finding the Landmarks.

Week Three: Thinking in 3-dimensions. The sculptor’s mind. Cross-contouring in the sand dunes of the human form.

Week Four: Don’t take seeing for granted. Light and Shadow relationships and shapes. What is reflected light? How composition helps with proportion.

Week Five: Slowing down and Refining our Sketch. Building and Rebuilding the forms.

Week Six: Reviewing strategies and the artist’s toolbox. The Challenges and Shortcuts of the Standing Pose.