Drawing can be an extremely satisfying activity that permits us to visualize ideas, copy a subject faithfully and express aesthetic concepts. But drawing can also be extremely frustrating if we lack the essential technical and methodological elements of this activity.

This course, part of the New Renaissance Atelier Academic Program, is designed to provide the students with a solid drawing foundation, through a variety of exercises aimed to practice measuring, tonal rendering, light on form, elements of perspective, drawing techniques, drawing on white and toned paper with graphite, charcoal, and chalk, colored pencils, pen and ink, silverpoint, monochrome watercolor washes.

We will practice copying a variety of subjects starting from basic volumes such as a cube, a sphere, a cone, and a cylinder, perfect subjects to study light theory, and gradually moving on to more complex ones, like photos of Casts, reproductions of Masters works and photos of the human figure, to study and practice measuring, tonal rendering in graphite and charcoal and chalk. We will also be drawing landscapes, working from photos and Master’s works, practicing perspective, composition, and how to use a grid to replicate, enlarge or reduce a subject.