In This Figure drawing course, we will practice drawing the human figure from a variety of points of view, including copying the works of masters like Seurat, Rodin and Del Sarto, to name a few, practicing various techniques and styles, with the intent of applying aesthetics to the structural, anatomical and dynamic concepts that will also be practiced during the 6 sessions of this course.

The holistic method I designed for this Figure Drawing course includes a variety of exercises directed to obtain a deep understanding of the human figure and to improve your figure drawings skills overall. The works that we will be copying in this online course, will be created using a multifaceted method, looking at the effects of light and shadow on the figure, its proportions, the characteristics of the pose, the figure’s structure, and figure anatomy. We will be copying images of male and female figures, in various poses and techniques, from photographic references and Masters’ works.

Some sessions will be dedicated to figure drawing, rendering the figure realistically using a variety of techniques, other sessions will be dedicated to the anatomy and structure of the figure, other drawings will be dedicated to the dynamic and expressive aspects of the subject.

We will learn to identify the various anatomical, proportional and structural characteristics of the human body, draw more accurately and quickly, study figure drawings fundamental techniques copying iconic works by Raphael, Prud’hon, Cadmus, Degas,and more.

We will create a few “dissected” drawings from old Masters’ and photographic references to better understand the anatomy and structure of the human figure.

The techniques we will be practicing include drawing on toned paper with charcoal and chalk, sanguine, reduction technique, graphite, trois crayons. We will practice how to methodically approach tonal rendering, improve the clarity and precision of our line drawings, practice a variety of measuring techniques and more.

Materials

• Paper: a pad of Strathmore Drawing in vellum or medium surface, about 11”x14”; or a pad of Strathmore Bristol, same size and same surface; or a pad of Stonehenge Legion in white, same size.
• Toned paper: you can wait to buy the toned paper as we will be discussing various types of paper in class, but these are a few possibilities: a pad of Strathmore charcoal, 11” by 14” or bigger; or a few sheet of Fabriano Roma, Fabriano Ingres, Canson Mi-Teintes.
• Graphite pencils: traditional wood casing pencils or lead holders in gradations HB, B, 2B, 4B.
• Charcoal and chalk: you can wait to buy these materials as we will be discussing about these in class, but if you already have some of these, you are set Nitram charcoal sticks and General’s compressed charcoal pencils, in medium and soft gradations; white chalk in pencils or sticks, red earth pastels (Conte, Cretacolor or General’s).
• Kneaded eraser, pencil sharpener, sand paper, other tools and materials will be discussed in class.