Drawing Basic Human Poses Without Reference (Online Course) Spring 2024 w/ Misha

May 2 to May 30 (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.

Course Description

The course is designed for everyone who wants to learn and eventually master figurative drawing remaining loose and spontaneous. We will be working without reference and gradually build up the figure starting from basic shapes. We will discuss how to turn blocky shapes into curvy ones, how to unite separate units of the body into one continuous system, how to capture gravity.

We will also learn how to manipulate the weight of the body and age. Also a significant portion of the class will be dedicated to how to avoid rigidity, proportional errors and excess of marks.

Course Outline

Week 1 – Discussing technical aspects of the charcoal. Practicing how to draw basic shapes, lines, curves – general handling of charcoal. Drawing 2D silhouettes of people in main stances – sitting, standing, laying, running and falling.

Week 2– Drawing the standing figure – frontal and profile view. Assembly of the figure by tracing the extremes of the body. Focusing on capturing the balance, confidence in pose, making it look like the motion was interrupted.

Week 3 – Drawing the seated figure – frontal and profile view. Assembly of the figure by tracing the extremes of the body. We will focus on the touching point with the ground and how to indicate the weight exerted on the surface.

Week 4 – Drawing the running figure – frontal and profile view. Assembly of the figure by tracing the extremes of the body. Understanding the nature of running.

Week 5 – Drawing the falling figure – frontal and profile view. Assembly of the figure by tracing the extremes of the body. Understanding gravity in drawing and how to capture it. Learning how to draw the absence of resistance in motion and adding fluidity.

Course Materials List

Willow/vine charcoal

Hard eraser “Milan”

Strathmore sketching paper (toned) A2 / A3 format

Graphite stick 9b and 6b