Figure Drawing and Painting

This course will be divided into 2 six-week paintings from the live model, one that produces a portrait painting and one a figure painting. Emphasis will be placed on understanding the science of light; shadow and color and how to combine that knowledge with ones perceptual awareness in order to accurately represent the figure in space. Each student will learn how to create naturalistic flesh tones to apply to the Grisaille and glazing will used to tie together the light source and tones.  

Q&A

Q: Can I make up a class if I miss one? 
A: No, there are no makeup classes. Because art is taught with demonstrations and demonstrations are time consuming, if one person misses the class each week, the instructor would spend the first part of each class repeating the demonstration from last week before moving on to the next lesson, which isn't fair to the students who attended. That said, most of our classes are taught atelier style. If there is a demonstration during the particular session, after the demonstration, the instructor goes to each student to work with them on a one-on-one basis. During this time, the instructor can work with you if you missed the previous week to talk and explain what to do.

Q: Are materials provided and included in the cost of the class? 
A: No. Materials include:

Charcoal

• Generals brand Charcoal Pencils: A few of their soft and medium. If you had to choose one, the medium is my favorite. I usually have two of each when I work with them.
• Generals brand White Charcoal Pencil:This is my favorite charcoal white to heighten with.

Graphite

• A selection of graphite pencils:A range of 4B, 2B, HB, 2H, and 5H would be great.

Universal Drawing Materials
Erasers:

• Kneaded eraser
• Tuff Stuff eraser, made by Papermate

Sandpaper: 

• 220 Grit is great, something that’s not too coarse, but not too slick either.

Bristle Brush: 

• A brush to push around the media, should be medium in size, and one you don’t mind getting dirty/roughing up. This is optional. I use it for my charcoal work.

Blending Stumps:

• medium sized blending stumps, also called tortillons. 

Razor Blades:

• Single Edged Razor Blades. I prefer them by themselves instead of with a cutting tool. Single edge is important for safety.

Drawing Board/Support for your surface:

• Drawing boards, the kind with the two clips at the top are fine. So is a 1/2” thick sheet of foamcore that’s cut to size. Whatever works for you.

Paper towels or rag:
Never hurts to have these around.

Paper

• Strathmore 400 Series Drawing Paper, which can be found in pads at any art supply store. It’s a great paper that can take a beating, and get really worked while holding up well. It’s not super cheap, but it’s not expensive either. Graphite or Charcoal will work on this paper for what we’re doing. 18”x24”.

Paint 

• Whatever you use in your studio is fine with me brand/medium wise. Please keep in mind when painting around others that your medium may be abrasive in the space with all of us, and I recommend considering using an odorless version of your paint thinner.

To Start, bring this palette:

• Raw Umber
• Titanium White
• Ivory/Mars Black

This simple, tonal, palette lets you focus on drawing issues over color issues, but doesn’t ignore warm/cool temperature relationships. 

Prim the surface with a gray ground. This gray should be as neutral as possible (not warm or cool) and should be a midtone, so darks look dark and lights look light. This way you won’t be fighting the bright white of your surface and can locate tonal clarity with greater ease. This ground can be accomplished with acrylic paint rather quickly. 

Paint Palette

• a glass palette, which is very easy to clean and mix paint on top of. Buy a really cheap frame from a craft store, and remove the glass (most of my palette’s are 8x10”, or 11x14”) and put duct tape around the sides and put an “X” on the back to give it more support incase it falls. 

Paint Surface

• A regular stretched canvas is fine, but highly recommend working on primed panel or canvas mounted to a panel. More on that and other material tips can be found here: https://newamericanpaintings.wordpress.com/2013/05/16/painting-youre-doing-it-wrong/
• The surface should be 18”x24”.

Brushes
A nice selection of various brushes is recommended- Use a lot of flats, old beat-up brights, and fan brushes. You can’t go wrong for the most part. Bring whatever you work with in your studio. It is highly recommend having at least six brushes available to you when you work. Separate brushes for darks and for lights. Also, prefer natural hair over synthetic if possible. 

Rags/towels
To help clean brushes, first use Glass Towels- the blue ones that are really wonderfully absorbent and don’t leave extra fibers after you use them. 

And an old phone book. That cheap paper is great for absorbing oil and scrubbing your brush on to clean extra paint/medium off of. Something to think about for studio use.

Trash bag
Make sure to have an extra trash bag for used paint towels/rags.

Safety
Paint thinner/mediums should be kept in a sealable glass or metal container, no plastic. Each container should be labeled with your name, the date it was mixed, and what’s in it. Typical medium is Stand Oil mixed with Odorless Turpenoid, 1:1 ratio. So my label would be something like this:Evan Kitson 1/17/16Stand Oil, Turpenoid 1:1
We do this incase something is spilled or misplaced. Safety first.

Sketchbook
Bring a sketchbook to do some smaller drawings in, as well as take notes.