Combining technical insights from Russian Academic Drawing with a Western conception of psyche, this drawing course will explore the complexities of both constructing a portrait drawing and truly distinguishing one’s subject and their emotional appearance. Over eight weeks, students will complete a series of exercises and short portraits that will prepare them for a final long-term, psychological portrait of a model.

Objectives:

• Working with light and shadow simplification as a key method of portrait construction
• Utilizing simple shape placement to establish a solid foundation for achieving likeness
• Developing compositional sketches and detailed notes before beginning each portrait to focus attention on key characteristics of a model
• Attending to the qualities of drawn edges as an important strategy for relating the subject to their environment and lighting scenario
• Learning ways to deal with all parts of the drawn portrait simultaneously

Taught by Manifest Drawing Center’s Resident Instructor Ellina Chetverikova.

Tuition: $325 (fees also cover free admission to all Wednesday Open Figure sessions at the Drawing Center during the duration of the course)