Life drawing is at the core of any serious program of fine arts. In these classes, students draw from the figure in pencil, charcoal, including an option of painting. Each drawing or painting is created over a period of sessions, developing the student’s eye for accurate gesture, proportions, and anatomy. With a single sustained pose, students will have the option of either taking one drawing/painting to a high degree of finish or completing several drawings from different positions around the model.

The most crucial part of any artwork is its preliminary stages. In this class, Sawyer will emphasize the most necessary of these stages: the block-in. The goal for this class will be describing the figure as efficiently—and accurately—as possible. Through a series of demonstrations, explanations, optional assignments, and primarily model time, students will be eased into complex topics. Gesture, rhythm, proportions, shape simplification, structure, and notan statements will be discussed and practiced in an approachable manner. There will be no intimidating rendering. This is the meat and potatoes of drawing!

Students will be introduced to the pencil and its first mark, the line. Students will be restricted to the line for most of the class. Several line qualities will be demonstrated, from thin and sharp, to broad and soft. Students will be restricted to a line quality in between—a firm line that is made with the dulled tip of a pencil. Students will then be presented to the concept of gesture.

Breathe life into your figure drawings and gain a deeper understanding of gesture. Christine will coach you through a variety of exercises exploring different ways to see, understand, and capture gesture. Through gesture we can bring a sense of life into our drawings, evoke emotion, tell a story through body language. We will be studying gesture from the nude figure. This class blends The Atelier and Studio Arts figure study methods. Throughout the course, there will be a variety of models and pose lengths. Experimentation of materials will be discussed and encouraged.

Life drawing is at the core of any serious program of fine arts. In these classes, students draw from the figure in pencil, charcoal, including an option of painting. Each drawing or painting is created over a period of sessions, developing the student’s eye for accurate gesture, proportions, and anatomy. With a single sustained pose, students will have the option of either taking one drawing/painting to a high degree of finish or completing several drawings from different positions around the model.

Life drawing is at the core of any serious program of fine arts. In these classes, students draw from the figure in pencil, charcoal, including an option of painting. Each drawing or painting is created over a period of sessions, developing the student’s eye for accurate gesture, proportions, and anatomy. With a single sustained pose, students will have the option of either taking one drawing/painting to a high degree of finish or completing several drawings from different positions around the model.

Life drawing is at the core of any serious program of fine arts. In these classes, students draw from the figure in pencil, charcoal, including an option of painting. Each drawing or painting is created over a period of sessions, developing the student’s eye for accurate gesture, proportions, and anatomy. With a single sustained pose, students will have the option of either taking one drawing/painting to a high degree of finish or completing several drawings from different positions around the model.