Portraiture II The Structure of the head

Service Description

Portraiture Drawing IIThe Structure of the Head This course is aimed at beginner artists and those wishing to brush up on their head-drawing fundamentals. The skills learned here will be developed further in terms 2 and 3, as part of a year long programme. The term can be taken independently also, do not be put off if you enter 1/2 way through the year, as all drawing practise in such a methodical teaching approach can only be beneficial! This course is also great at preparing the student to begin painting. It is wonderfully versatile, in that if you want to draw for a year and paint the next, you can, or if you would like to prepare for an afternoon of painting by first a morning of warm up drawing, you also can. As such, the course is highly recommended as a precursor to the “Portrait Painting in Oil: Beginners+ & Intermediate” course. The purpose of this course is to provide students with a firm foundation in the basics of head drawing, with a particular focus on understanding of the structure of the head through constructive line drawing from life. Students will begin by studying the skull and will learn the proportions of the head and neck, before moving on to a series of short pose drawings from the live model. Finally, students will undertake a two hour and a six hour study from life (the latter over three weeks), during which the concept of light and shadow will be introduced. The course focuses on drawing, as the foundation of visual understanding and the bedrock upon which painting skill is built. Course Structure: week 1: • Short presentation – The Basics of Light and Shadow • Light and shadow analysis 1 – short poses Week 2 : • Light and shadow analysis 2 – short poses Week 3: • Modelling in the round vs. modelling by planes • Light and shadow analysis 3 – 1.5 hour pose Week 4: • Mass drawing in Charcoal 1 – 2 hr pose, developed from week 3 analysis Week 5: • Mass drawing in charcoal 2 – 2 hour pose Weeks 6 – 8: • Mass drawing in charcoal 3 – 6 hour pose Materials: ESSENTIAL (EDS provides): • 3B drawing pencil • willow charcoal • Heavyweight smooth white paper • Eraser RECOMMENDED (Student provides): • SKETCHBOOK for note-taking • KNITTING NEEDLE/KEBAB-STICK for measuring distances and angles • PLUMB LINE AND BOB for checking vertical alignments (a large penny washer on a string works well) • SMALL MIRROR for checking your work (a smartphone screen is fine)