Do you get frustrated trying to accurately draw what you see? Join me to discuss and practice some of the essential perceptual skills needed to improve! 

WHO SHOULD TAKE THIS CLASS?
Kids who want to learn to render more skillfully from observation. This class would work for drawing beginners, as well as those who already have some experience but wish to increase their skill, but **the most important thing for all students is a desire to accurately draw what they are looking at!** PLEASE NOTE: we will not be doing *any* drawing from imagination - this is all about learning to draw from observation! Also note, this class is all about skill-building, and students will be doing a lot of sketching and exercises that won't all result in highly satisfying finished artworks, but will result in building the skills needed to create them! These skills will carry over to art they create outside the classroom. (Photos in the listing are from a 12-year-old in a prior class: on the left, a pre-instruction self-portrait, and on the right, her not-yet-finished-but still-clearly-wonderful self-potrait from the end of the class session.) I will be asking students to do a few pre-instructional drawings to gauge progress.

WHAT IS THIS CLASS ABOUT?
Anyone can learn to accurately draw what they are looking at! The most important skill you need to draw accurately from observation is a well-developed sense of perception - from that, all else follows. In this introductory class, students will hone their perceptual skills as they explore some of observational drawing's basic building blocks - contour, negative space, spatial relationships, and value - to greatly enhance their ability to draw what they see. We'll follow some of the basic principles from the book Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain as well as other exercises. 

HOW IS THE CLASS FORMATTED?
Each class will start with a discussion/presentation - especially the first class. I will be offering instruction via PowerPoint examples and also do demonstrations of class activities via a document camera, which will show my own hands working. I try to ensure class discussions are interactive - I ask questions and hope students will share their ideas! Each class will roughly break down as follows: intro 10-15 minutes, work time 30-40 minutes, wrap-up discussion/optional work share 5-10 minutes. (Although I never insist artists share their work with the other learners, i do ask for their feedback about the experience.) 

As far as the work time component of class: one drawback of working virtually is that I can't wander the classroom and easily watch students working/offer feedback! That said, since I cannot help students effectively without seeing their work at all, I request that each week, whether or not they have shared their work by holding it up to the camera during the live class session, students either post to the classroom or private message to me (through the teacher tab) an example of their work from that week - either what they did in class that week, or a piece of homework. That will be important for me to help gauge their progress since I can't otherwise clearly see their drawings. If they can easily point their cameras down towards their hands/artwork for me to see what they are doing during class, that's great too, but that might feel too self-conscious. 

In the week between sessions, I'll ask artists to post or message me a photo of work from that week, either classwork or homework*. 

*A NOTE ON HOMEWORK: the more you draw, the more you improve! In many weeks, we will be starting but not necessarily finishing a drawing exercise, so I will ask students to finish those drawings. In addition, I will ask students to sketch during the week in between class meetings to maximize their learning. I ask students to post/message me with a drawing each week so I can see how they are doing. Although I can't force anyone to practice, drawing is a skill like any other, and you learn by doing. Students who only try these techniques in one weekly class with me will show far less skill growth than students who complete assignments and practice in between sessions!

COURSE OUTLINE:
Week 1: Introduction to concepts and materials 

Week 2: Contour

Week 3: Contour, continued

Week 4: Negative space

Week 5: Proportion

Week 6: Practice all

Week 7: Value 

Weeks 8-11: Faces & self-portraits. We'll be working from photographs - for the final drawing, students will have to provide a close-up photo of themselves or someone else which will need to be cropped to a specific size (I can help edit in my photo editing software, or provide the specs for you can edit yourself).

WHAT ART SUPPLIES DO LEARNERS NEED?
*For the first two class periods of the series, a plain old #2 pencil and eraser, along with a few printouts from the classroom, are all learners will need, so don't worry about registering close to class time - learners really don't need more than that at first.*

I'm going to make  a rough outline of needed art materials in the "supply list" section below, that will serve students well for art-making in or out of class, since it's my hope that students will continue drawing long after we finish our time together! If you sign up for class, I'll post a much more detailed supply list in the classroom with specific suggestions. If you are starting from scratch, you will probably spend around $20-25 on materials including a sketchbook, possibly less. 

OUTSCHOOL POLICY REMINDERS: 
-if you are registering siblings, each learner must be enrolled separately. For this particular class it would be best if they each had their own space to work in because drawing takes a lot of table space and they might not both fit on camera!

-I require student cameras to be on for verification at the beginning of class, and prefer students keep them on at the very least through any discussion and review - I don't like having discussions with black boxes. I understand if students wish to turn cameras off during work time, but otherwise, I request they stay on - I request that they turn them back on after work time ends.


Please reach out to me with any questions....I hope you will join me for this exploration!