In Figure Drawing and Painting , students will develop one or more intensive figure studies, choosing a selection from the works of the Old Masters to copy and analyze with guidance from the instructor. During class time, the instructor will demonstrate principles and techniques and then give individual feedback on student work.  Starting with drawing, students will progress through a series of stages:

• The first stage is to start with the general ”envelope” shape. We will discuss how to visually abstract a complex shape like a human body into a larger, simpler shape to initially place it on the page. We will learn to find the angles and proportional measurements in the pose.

• The next stage is to determine and place the major masses of the body. We will discuss basic proportion, gesture, and anatomy of the head, ribcage, and pelvis, and build the limbs out from there, still using simple shapes.

• As we break down the shapes even more, we will continue to discuss anatomy and begin to refine the contour line of the figure. We will explore principles such as convexity of form, quality of line, overlap, and hard/soft edges.

• The next topic will be the structure of light on form. We will learn to find areas of light and shadow, and define the boundary between them. 

• The final stage is tonal shading, in which we learn to create subtle gradations of value to represent the dimensionality of form.

Students who are ready to move on to painting will first create a small, simplified color study, choosing from several different strategies for mixing flesh tones: warm/cool palette, limited palette, pre-mixed color strings, or expanded open palette.  The preparatory drawing will be transferred to canvas, followed by a color underpainting and then a finishing layer.

Click on the images to see more of the instructor’s work