[image_with_animation image_url=”9446″ alignment=”” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”] For the past couple quarters I’ve been teaching beginning figure drawing shorties. “Shorties” are Seattle Artist League shortened classes – shorter by hours, by weeks, or both. These are run like cardio exercise classes, fast paced and intensive, but short enough to not be too overwhelming. I’ve been adding more shorties to the schedule because they’re super fun for me to teach, and they’re great for people who aren’t ready to commit to an 8 session, 4 hour studio class. Many of these students have never taken a drawing class before, almost all of them are new to figure drawing. I’m going to say this again, because it’s amazing. These are BEGINNERS.
Rather than learning one style, I offer a completely different stylistic approach every session, so by the end of the class the students have learned a different drawing style for every week. We’ve done straight line measures, site sizing, envelopes, kites, mass shapes, shadows, gestures, contours, volume, cross-hatching, and more. They even did a stylistic approach that a student named “Chocolate Bar Drawings” because they used the side of brown conte to make volume, and everyone’s drawing looked like it was made with a bar of chocolate. Recently I’ve started collecting photographs of this work, so that I can share it with you.
Remember, at the beginning of every class, the concept is new. The students have never done this before. The first drawings are usually pretty awkward, but midway through each class, they’re making high quality work. These do NOT look like beginner drawings. They’re gorgeous, I’m thrilled, and I wanted to share.
To start with, here are drawings in which the class combined big shadow shapes with thin contour lines. We were also thinking about implied lines, leaving some areas of the drawing purposefully open and undefined.
This is day 12 of our 30 day creative challenge! To learn more about this 30SAL challenge, click here. Today we have another Vocab word challenge. Make something inspired by the word Atramentous: (adjective) similar to or as black as ink. Share your drawing on Instagram with these tags: #30sal, #atramentous Or post to today’s Padlet page.
What would you do if you loved to draw, and then you went blind? For two years now, Kathy Paul has been a regular in my drawing classes. When she started in figure drawing, I admired her uncommon and interesting way of recording the forms. Then on March 3, 2019 Kathy suffered a stroke in …
On day 15, halfway through our 30 day challenge, I introduced inverse perspective, in which objects grow larger as they’re farther away. Beautiful examples of inverse perspective can be found in Chinese, Japanese, and Indian artworks, as well as Byzantine. Here are a few by adventurous artists who responded to the challenge:
Last Saturday was our Draw like Diebenkorn class. Since Diebenkorn himself was unable to join us (technical issues with zoom), I stepped in to facilitate with slide shows and observations about how Diebenkorn uses form and line to lead us around the composition. I set up still lives that were Diebenkorn inspired, and we had …
Beginner’s Drawings That’ll Knock Your Socks Off (Part 1)
[image_with_animation image_url=”9446″ alignment=”” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”] For the past couple quarters I’ve been teaching beginning figure drawing shorties. “Shorties” are Seattle Artist League shortened classes – shorter by hours, by weeks, or both. These are run like cardio exercise classes, fast paced and intensive, but short enough to not be too overwhelming. I’ve been adding more shorties to the schedule because they’re super fun for me to teach, and they’re great for people who aren’t ready to commit to an 8 session, 4 hour studio class. Many of these students have never taken a drawing class before, almost all of them are new to figure drawing. I’m going to say this again, because it’s amazing. These are BEGINNERS.
Rather than learning one style, I offer a completely different stylistic approach every session, so by the end of the class the students have learned a different drawing style for every week. We’ve done straight line measures, site sizing, envelopes, kites, mass shapes, shadows, gestures, contours, volume, cross-hatching, and more. They even did a stylistic approach that a student named “Chocolate Bar Drawings” because they used the side of brown conte to make volume, and everyone’s drawing looked like it was made with a bar of chocolate. Recently I’ve started collecting photographs of this work, so that I can share it with you.
Remember, at the beginning of every class, the concept is new. The students have never done this before. The first drawings are usually pretty awkward, but midway through each class, they’re making high quality work. These do NOT look like beginner drawings. They’re gorgeous, I’m thrilled, and I wanted to share.
To start with, here are drawings in which the class combined big shadow shapes with thin contour lines. We were also thinking about implied lines, leaving some areas of the drawing purposefully open and undefined.
Enjoy.
Related Posts
Day 12: Atramentous #30SAL
This is day 12 of our 30 day creative challenge! To learn more about this 30SAL challenge, click here. Today we have another Vocab word challenge. Make something inspired by the word Atramentous: (adjective) similar to or as black as ink. Share your drawing on Instagram with these tags: #30sal, #atramentous Or post to today’s Padlet page.
A Different Way of Seeing
What would you do if you loved to draw, and then you went blind? For two years now, Kathy Paul has been a regular in my drawing classes. When she started in figure drawing, I admired her uncommon and interesting way of recording the forms. Then on March 3, 2019 Kathy suffered a stroke in …
30SAL Faves: Inverse Perspective
On day 15, halfway through our 30 day challenge, I introduced inverse perspective, in which objects grow larger as they’re farther away. Beautiful examples of inverse perspective can be found in Chinese, Japanese, and Indian artworks, as well as Byzantine. Here are a few by adventurous artists who responded to the challenge:
Drawings Inspired by Diebenkorn; Images from the Workshop
Last Saturday was our Draw like Diebenkorn class. Since Diebenkorn himself was unable to join us (technical issues with zoom), I stepped in to facilitate with slide shows and observations about how Diebenkorn uses form and line to lead us around the composition. I set up still lives that were Diebenkorn inspired, and we had …