A Study of the human form is a long held tradition in Western Art.

This essential practice presents the ultimate challenge to the artist and once mastered, opens up a world of possibilities.
Whether you aim to become the next great figurative artist or just find joy in the process of drawing, this course will set you on your path and will give you the tools you need to create a successful body of work!
This course emphasizes the academic approach to drawing the figure from life and the various techniques and mediums used for rendering three-dimensional form. Composed of two and three week poses, each student will be given ample time to study the shapes, values and edges of the figure and explore different techniques.

Each class will begin with one 20 minute pose where students warm up with a simplified block-in to gain speed and accuracy through practice. The class will then begin the long-pose drawing or continue working on the previous week's pose. Students may choose to work in charcoal, white chalk and graphite or a combination of both. Occasional brief lectures, handouts, assignments and demonstrations will be given, topics include:

• The Academic Method:
  -Plumb Line, Placement, Envelope Shape and Gesture
  -Measuring Proportions, establishing angles and refining shapes
  -Tone and finalize shadow shapes
  -Rendering forms and focus on values, edges
  Historical techniques for rendering
  -Hatching
  -Line weight for emphasis
  -Form emphasis
  -Mass emphasis
  Tools and tricks for helping you see shapes and values accurately
  Proportions of the Head and Figure
  Facial Features, Hands and Feet: Learning from Bridgeman and Vanderpoel
  (and MORE!)
  Drawing the figure is a genuine delight, I hope you will join me on this journey!

Brianna Lee attended the University of California, Santa Cruz and later moved to Los Angeles to study contemporary and traditional painting techniques through the Los Angeles Academy of Figurative Art, where she studied with many prominent artists such as Ignat Ignatov, Aaron Westerberg, Richard Morris, Michael Siegel and Ron Lemen, among many others. She later studied the techniques of Verdaccio under master painter Adrian Gottlieb in his Atelier.
Brianna continues to experiment with the techniques she has learned and fuels her love of portraiture and figurative painting by studying the works of master artists such as Rembrandt, Bouguereau and Ingres.