Leonardo, Michelangelo, Rembrandt, Ingres. The most acclaimed draftsmen in Western art had extensive knowledge of human anatomy, and some even performed their own dissections. Students of the academic tradition of the past studied anatomy concurrently with life drawing. In this class, we won’t work with actual human cadavers or perform dissection, and you won’t be required to memorize the names of the bones and muscles, but you will intensively study figure drawing under the tutelage of an instructor with experience in the dissection room and 20 years of figure drawing.
Working from a model, you will learn how bones, muscles, and tendons build a foundation for what we see when we draw the figure, and the way different poses require different sets of muscles. You will also learn how to quickly find the major forms in the body to compose your drawings with confidence and speed, resulting in more dynamic figure drawings.
No previous figure drawing experience is necessary; however, this is an intermediate class, and students are expected to be familiar with drawing techniques and a variety of mark-making techniques.