Drawing Crowds in Charcoal (Online Course) Fall 2024 w/ Misha

September 5 to October 3 (Thursdays), 10:00 AM to 12:30 PM, Eastern Time

**All sessions are live and will be recorded, students do not have to be present. All recordings will be available to students for 3 months after the final session, after 3 months the recording will be deleted.

Please check your email spam/junk folder for your Zoom invite.

DEMO: https://youtu.be/opTG7bwUV44

Course Description

The course is designed for everyone who is interested in drawing a group of people in motion, captured in a candid moment. We will be working strictly with charcoal and white soft pastel.

We will learn to work with a horizontal layout, learn compositional tricks and nuances of a landscape format. Exploration of the crowd will be initiated by drawing one figure and then multiply it using the frame method, continuity of the line, spontaneous grouping. The line work will be done using charcoal.

The main idea of the course is to learn how to capture people in motion, add expression to their poses, fluidity and a sense of presence. I will demonstrate how to balance between realism and abstract realism, how to manipulate figurative elements and cluster the figures to convey a crowd effect.

No reference will be used, only imagination/improvisation/memory.

Course Outline

Week 1 –

Discussing the landscape format of paper, charcoal technical aspects, compositional methods and warm up exercises.

Week 2 -

Introducing the first 2 figures into the imaginative environment, creating the tension between the two, trying different placement, thing about perspective and angles. Drawing 10 different 2 people environments.

Lesson 3 –

Adding the third and fourth person to the existing two figures. Working on clustering, overlapping, adding expression to the gesture.

Week 4 –

Introducing the background crowd and figures in the foreground, exploring the compositional tension, adding distracting elements, adding facial expressions.

Week 5 –

Finalising the drawing by balancing the linework, values. Adding highlights with white pastel.

Course Materials List

Willow/vine charcoal

Hard eraser “Milan 430”

Strathmore sketching paper (toned) A2 / A3 format

Soft pastels/charcoal spray fixative