BEGINNING DRAWING: Linear vs. Painterly (Class 2)

~With Gerald Lucena

Tuition: $150

Level: Beginners - Intermediate

"...drawing is not for the timid. You may have come across a how-to book that lays out a step by step method meant to prevent failure, but you'll soon find out it also prevents success. The best that a safe approach can do is to habituate a young artist's work into perpetual mediocrity...it is through the gamble that we keep our work alive and growing" - R. Winter from On Drawing

Students will be introduced to the fundamentals of drawing while exploring properties of two distinct formal languages: the linear and the painterly. An emphasis will be on a series of inter-related problems dealing with observation, mark-making, visual language, and the development of necessary technical skills. These drawing problems will intensify the student's perception and understanding of line, shape (positive/negative), tone (value), texture, space (linear/atmospheric perspective), volume, movement (gesture), and composition (structure). Instruction and demonstrations on the use of various drawing materials and processes along with a look at traditional and contemporary drawings will help students identify the range of drawing as an expressive medium, one that spans from the linear (analytical, hard edge, attention to linear detail) to the painterly (tonal, emotive, gestural) from the conceptual act of mark making to the human need to define the world through narratives. Subject matter will include still-life studies, landscape, interior spaces, and the human form (self-portrait, hands). The session will culminate with students creating a final series of drawings that will hopefully serve as a springboard for further development toward the evolution of the students own personal means of expression.