With Sarah Parks’ detailed, clearly organized video instruction and accompanying lesson practices, you’ll learn essential drawing skills that build on her
Section 1 course. In this course, you’ll learn drawing techniques to infuse anemic drawings with life and movement, achieve accurate proportions across even complex compositions, and learn facial and body proportions. This course is packed with terrific drawing tips, and to get the most out of it you are strongly encouraged to sign up first for Sarah’s
Section 1 course, which lays a strong foundation complete with identifying basic shapes, achieving a good block-in, and mastering values (lights and darks). Section 2 hits the ground running, so having
Section 1 under your belt is essential. This course is ideal for people who have ventured into color media but are frustrated with their results because their drawing skills are lacking so their paintings don’t have a solid foundation. Visit Sarah’s
web site to learn more!
COURSE BEGINS: July 17, 2012
COURSE LENGTH: 4 weeks
TUITION: $149.99 ($135.00 for
VIP)
COURSE MATERIALS (included with tuition):INSTRUCTOR: Sarah Parks (
Bio)
WHAT YOU'LL LEARN IN THIS ONLINE DRAWING CLASS:- How to do “action drawings” well so you train your eye and hand to infuse your drawings with vigorous movement
- Tools and techniques for gauging accurate proportions both in single-object compositions and complex compositions with many differently-sized objects, so that your drawing doesn’t look “lopsided” or “awkward”
- The basic guidelines for facial proportions from all angles, not just when the model is facing forward
- The basic guidelines for body proportions from all angles, as well as some techniques to accurately incorporate concepts such as foreshortening accurately
WHO SHOULD TAKE THIS DRAWING COURSE:- Artists who have a drawing foundation, which can be achieved by taking Sarah’s Section 1 course, which can be found here
- More experienced artists who are frustrated with lifeless, awkward connections in their drawings
- Artists who would like more detailed instruction in figure drawing and proportions
ART SUPPLIES YOU WILL NEED:- The following graphite pencils: 2H, H, B, 2B, 4B, 6B, and 8B (woodless pencils are helpful but optional)
- Thick compressed charcoal stick (best if not round, but rather square so you can lay it on its side, like these)
- Kneaded eraser and pencil sharpener
- Pad of newsprint paper any size (largest size available is recommended, or whatever will fit your drawing board)
- 11” x 24” pad of drawing paper (such as Strathmore or Bristol)
- Drawing board (such as the ones found using this link) larger than 18” x 19” could be helpful)
- Pad of tracing paper (optional)
- Sewing gauge (optional)
- Artist’s mannequin (optional – can be purchased at an art store like Michael’s or Jerry’s Artarama)
General
In order to be successful with this course, watch all the videos all the way through and refer to the accompanying PDF Lesson Summaries for easy reference and refreshers. You will only get out of it what you put in and, although watching the videos alone will help you develop, there’s nothing like actually practicing the concepts on your own to develop muscle memory and train your eye to really SEE like an artist. The warm-up activities at the beginning of most of the lessons will benefit you and are encouraged but not required. Also, although you will only be required to complete one assignment per week, additional practice activities are found at the end of each lesson video and summary to provide you with more opportunities to master the concepts presented. The only activities you will be responsible for in this course will be found below in the “Course Syllabus” section and listed on Blackboard.All assignments should be completed on appropriate drawing paper such as Strathmore or Bristol (any arts and crafts store such Michael’s will have paper specifically for graphite pencil). For Lesson 5 – Action Drawing, you’ll be using newsprint paper, while for the others, you’ll be using standard drawing paper.
11” x 14” drawing paper should be all you need for this course, but for the newsprint, the instructor encourages buying the largest size possible so you can fit several action drawings on one page. Drawings should be scanned or photographed and saved on your computer as a JPG or JPEG format. Before uploading them to Blackboard try to resize them to about 400 - 600 KB at 72 dpi or ppi. That opens up at a good size on the screen (not huge, but not too small so zooming in is pixelated). A great resource to help you do this easily is
www.resizr.com.
All assignments must be submitted through the Blackboard System for evaluation. To expedite responses to questions, contact the instructor via e-mail.
COURSE SYLLABUS
Lesson 5: Action Drawing- Watch the video, “Lesson 5 – Action Drawing." Remember, there are several practice activities at the end. This encompasses optional exercises
- Homework Assignment: Use the document “Action Poses for Charcoal” to practice creating action drawings. Do half in charcoal and half in pencil. For the charcoal ones, use your piece of charcoal on its side with an overhand grip. Because you will be making wide strokes with a half-inch or one-inch piece of charcoal, you won’t be able to focus on details. For the pencil drawings, a 2B pencil will suffice. Set your timer for ONE MINUTE for each action drawing. Remember, no detail, just core lines and speed. (You may have to do this assignment more than once to get enough speed to complete an action drawing in the time allotted)
Lesson 6: Relative Proportions- Watch the video, “Lesson 6 – Relative Proportions.” Remember, there are several practice activities at the end. This encompasses optional exercises
- Homework Assignment Part 1: This lesson is focusing on both the relative proportions within a single object as well as the relative distances between multiple objects. So your first homework exercise is just to focus on the relative proportions of individual objects. Use the document “Glass Jar Photograph” to create a drawing using the procedure for gauging relative proportions
- Homework Assignment Part 2: Then use the document “Basic Shapes Composition” to gauge the relative proportions of all the objects to create an accurate drawing of the photograph. Be sure to also match the values in the photograph (including the background) with those in your drawing; a value scale is a helpful tool for this
Lesson 7: Facial Proportions- Watch the video, “Lesson 7 – Facial Proportions." Remember, there are several practice activities at the end. This encompasses optional exercises
- Homework Assignment Part 1: Use the document entitled “Facial Guidelines Practice” and your ruler or sewing gauge to draw all the guidelines on the photograph as demonstrated in the video (also shown in Fig. 7-16 through 7-24 of the Facial Proportions Lesson Summary)
- Homework Assignment Part 2: Sketch the face in the “Lesson Practice Face” document
Lesson 8: Body Proportions- Watch the video, “Lesson 8 – Body Proportions"
- Homework Assignment Part 1: If you don't own an artist mannequin to practice drawing, then draw from the pictures in the document titled, “Mannequin Poses.” The mannequin is very similar in body structure and joint movement to humans, so it is good practice. Don't get bogged down in the details when you are drawing. Remember the lesson on action/gesture and sketch the line of the body first to get the movement. Then follow up with the block-in and work loosely to sketch ovals for the arms, legs, and head; triangles for the chest, hands, and feet; and circles for the joints (elbows, wrists, and knees)
- Homework Assignment Part 2: The images in Fig. 8-21 through 8-23 in the Body Proportions Lesson Summary help the artist see how important the mannequin is in understanding movement and how the light falls on the planes of the body. Try tracing the mannequin and the finished figure. This will help you render the muscles and skin realistically
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