Portrait Block-in Drawing (Online Course)

Instructor(s):
Angela Cunningham

Saturdays 10 AM – 2 PM ET – please adjust for your time zone
January 11, 18, 25, February 1, 8, (no class February 15), 22, March 1, 8, 2025
OR
Tuesdays 5 PM – 9 PM ET – please adjust for your time zone
February 18, 25, March 4, 11, 18, 25, April 1, 8, 2025

8 weeks – Tuition: $475

Limit: approx. 10 students

Take this class:

• To apply an understanding of the block-in methods of the GCA to obtain a naturalistic likeness.
• To strengthen your abilities to measure, obtain accurate proportion, identify and conquer proportion.
• To understand the nature of features and how an ability to see past the features makes a more accurate drawing.
• If you’re a beginner or have drawing experience.

Is this class for me?

• This class is great for beginners
• Some drawing experience is always useful for classes at the GCA.

Online tech needs:

• The class will be conducted on the Zoom platform and is a live online experience.
• These classes are recorded and made available so students can review demos and critiques after each live session for the entirety of the class.
• This class also uses Google Classroom to distribute materials. Watch this video for more insight.
  Both of these services are free but require registration.
• It will be necessary for students to have access to a computer, tablet or smartphone. The recommended device is a laptop or desktop.

“Angela is incredibly helpful. She always explains the lesson and answers every question. You can tell she cares about her students with how much time she puts into critiques. By learning to be more accurate with where things actually go, I was able to put the pencil to paper without being afraid to erase and make corrections.” – Brittainy

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Course Description

Portrait drawing can be intimidating for both the draftsperson in the early stages of their artistic practice and for the advanced student with plenty of experience. In this eight-week online course students will focus on building foundational skills that translate to drawing a portrait from life.

This course consists of copying Bargue portrait block-ins as a means of learning comparative measurement, establishing correct gesture, and constructing a drawing using straight lines. A portion of this class will explore the structural elements and basic proportion of the skull and anatomical landmarks. Examples will be provided for students to copy which reinforce the information discussed in class. This class will also discuss the features—the eye, nose, mouth and ear, and how to get a likeness of the model.

Each week, sessions will begin with individualized feedback on student work, followed by a combination of lecture and demonstration by the instructor. The final session of this class will demonstrate how the techniques discussed throughout the class translate to drawing a portrait from life. This will include a discussion of lighting and how to set up the model in your own studio.

Students will come away from this course with the ability to organize a clear, straightforward approach to drawing the portrait, combining direct observation with well-understood principles of proportion and structure.