Drawing From Observation

Whether you are a painter, designer, potter or someone interested in exploring art as a beginner, a solid foundation in observational drawing can strengthen your skills in perception and expand your confidence in other media. We’re pleased to host artist and educator, Isaac Weiss for a 4-week intensive focused on the foundations of observational drawing. 

This course is designed around the idea of building, developing, and applying tactile skills to the process of drawing. Working from still-life arrangements, Isaac will guide students through a variety of formal and conceptual approaches with the goal of developing an understanding of composition, picture plane, and positive/negative space, while strengthening students’ direct observation skills and articulation of form in space. 

Students will work with a variety of media, including charcoal; vine, willow, compressed, charcoal pencils, erasers and a selection of paper including newsprint, charcoal drawing paper and toned paper. 

Each week will be dedicated to a distinct topic/skill including, composition (negative space, figure ground, gesture), linear structure (inner corner & outline, shape, approximation), light and mark making (contour, value scale, toned paper, texture & edge) and perspective (1-2-3-infinite point, sight measuring). 

Class time will include short sketching sessions, time spent working on more developed drawings and group discussion and critique. For those who want more instruction, Isaac will provide optional assignments to be completed outside class time.