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Life Drawing 2: Light, Shadow and Expression

  • Intermediate
  • Drawing

Ranging from dramatic to subtle, the interplay of light and shadow is a key expressive element in drawing. In this 6-week course, we will focus on the role value in communicating mood and information within drawings.of the human form  Making use of long and short poses, we will explore a variety of drawing media - conte crayon, graphite, charcoal among others - on a variety of different drawing surfaces  Different drawing/shading approaches will be tried, with an eye to seeing how these affect the mood or character of the work. Composition will also be an area of focus.  Course instruction will consist of demonstrations, short lectures, some handouts and lots of hands-on drawing time. This course makes an excellent complement to Figure Drawing 2: Drawing Better Bodies. It is intended for any students with prior life drawing experience.

Tuition: $290 | Model fee: $45 | Total: $335


* This course is not currently open for registration

What you will learn

  • Approaches to shading and mark-making
  • Value control (light and shadow)
  • Composition
  • Proportion/measurement
  • Mood and expression through lighting

Materials to Bring

For the first class, please have the following materials:

  • 1 pad of newsprint – 18 x 24 inches is adequate, but if you like to work more expansively, 24 x 36” may suit you better
  • a couple of sticks of black nupastel chalk or compressed charcoal
  • a couple of sticks of willow or vine charcoal – ¼” diameter, medium or soft grade
  • one stick of “B” or “HB” conté crayon (“Conte à Paris” brand preferable to “Gallery” or others)
  • One white drawing stick *
  • optional: brown or other earth-tone drawing sticks *
  • optional: one charcoal pencil – 4B (for more definite line drawings) and fine details.)
  • large size kneadable eraser
  • white vinyl eraser
  • bulldog or fold-back clips- at least two
  • x-acto knife or snap-type knife
  • White, red and  and brown drawing sticks are available in sets from a variety of companies. I don’t recommend getting the General’s brand coloured chalks as they are a bit too hard to easily use. Conte or Gallery brand are fine.

Materials will be discussed more fully during the first class - if you wish to work on better-quality paper, you can expect to spend approx. $3 - 10 per class, depending on the size you work.