Summer Courses

Figure Drawing

Credit hours: 3--Contact hours: 90

Course # 22-2214 SR

Dept: Art and Design

Course Description: This class is intended to provide the student of figure drawing with the technical information necessary to draw the single human figure convincingly in various positions. This is an essential course for those who seek to understand the role of the figure in traditional and contemporary art. This course will utilize live models in class and on-site visits to draw from sculpture, street life, and the ongoing pageant of urban life that is Florence. Materials include pencil, charcoal, Conte crayon, and wash drawing. Students can arrange open studio hours during other times during the week, including evenings and weekends.The exercises are primarily designed to stimulate seeing the figure in its’ entirety and apply methods of measurement that allow the student to manipulate the visual information with knowledge and confidence.

In this regard, drawing from observation with the live model is stressed, but certain theoretical concerns such as classical symmetry, proportion and anatomical annotations are addressed as well.
The class is conducted in a variety of media suitable to the character of the individual lesson.

Upon completion of the course the student should enjoy a firm grasp on the formal concerns of drawing the single human figure in its’ entirety. Realizing from observation a balanced and credible figure in a standing, seated and reclining position should be possible. As well, the student should be able to assemble constructs from memory that suggest the figure in the basic abstract relationships of its’ parts.

Prerequisite: Drawing I

Instructor: Stephen Samerjan

Schedule: Studio courses meet for a total of 80 contact hours for 3 optional credits. Studio, Art History, and Italian classes meet 4 days per week. On Fridays instructors may schedule field trips to surrounding cities and museums. Studio classes meet 4 hours per day alternating mornings and afternoons.
Note: Final schedule of class times will be available when students arrive in Florence.

General Outline and Class Meetings

- Introduction, course description, purpose and goals, grading and attendance policy, materials and   practical considerations.
- Open drawing. Observation and class discussion regarding the results. Explanation of methodology and   drawing as a form of language. Drawing a simple form: the circle and overlapping forms – figure ground    relationships.
– Seeing large forms: Outline and silhouette.
- Drawing In Line, Contour, Constructs and Visual Measurement.
- Contour, Rapid Contour, Rapid Contour with Brush
- Body Forms /The Figure as Construct of Smaller Units, Body Forms / Large Geometrical Overlaps
- Basis for Foreshortening / The Naked eye and the Drawing Machine
- Visual Measurement of Angles
- Overlapping and exaggerated measurement the basis for foreshortening.
- Drawing The Model From Memory
- Rotating Model – Rotating Students
- Simple Movement – Weight Shift and Double Pose
- Mixing Techniques – Outline, Contour and Constructs
- Classical Drawing Method, Proportion and Symmetry
- Modeling/ Relief, Shadow, Tone and Contour
- Final Portfolio Presentations

Download pdf version
Syllabus Summer 2006 (141 kb)