Drawing Essentials: Understanding the Human Form and Anatomy
Four-week practical course
5 September 2016 6 - 9pm12 September 2016 6 - 9pm19 September 2016 6 - 9pm26 September 2016 6 - 9pm
The Life Room, Royal Academy Schools
£80 per session. £290 for all four sessions. Includes all materials.
Learn the essentials to drawing and understanding the human form and anatomy in the Royal Academy’s historic Life Room, a space purpose-built for life drawing, with practising artists Adele Wagstaff and Andy Pankhurst.
Week 1 – The Male Form
Week 2 – The Female Form
Week 3 – The Interaction of Two Figures: Dancers (Male & Female)
Week 4 – The Interaction of Two Figures: ‘Wrestlers/Action poses’ (Male)
Explore the human form by studying the anatomy of the human figure through a series of poses from both individual figures and of two models working together. Working from different and varied life models, and using a range of poses and art materials, this course will introduce and explore the human anatomy in depth through a variety of resting and action poses under the guidance of practising artists Adele Wagstaff and Andy Pankhurst.
The representation of the human form has been a key subject of interest for artists since the earliest of times. The representation of the body was of primary concern for Early Cycladic art and culture dating from 3200 BC. The human face and body was portrayed in both symbolic and realistic ways in Egyptian art dating back to 3000 BC. Ancient Greek sculptors championed the idea that the human body was the ideal subject for sculpture, and Roman artists captured the idealised yet remarkably life-like forms in masterpieces like the Motya Charioteer (created between 480 and 470 B.C, Museo Giuseppe Whitaker in Sicily) and Aphrodite Crouching at Her Bath (a Roman copy of a Greek original from the 2nd century AD in the British Museum). In art schools across the world, classical works provide inspiration and continue to be copied by students today.
Tickets for the full four week course have now sold out, but we do have tickets available for individual weeks. For more information, please contact Mary Ealden, Academic Programmes Manager, on 0207 300 5641.
About the course
During this four-week course, participants will focus on the entire human figure, working under different light conditions, with different materials, in black and white as well as in colour, and using a variety of short as well as long poses.
The course will reference and make use of expertly selected items from the Royal Academy’s own Archives and Collection – a unique and exceptional scholarly reference and teaching tool which has informed artists and their practice since the Royal Academy’s foundation in 1768. As well as learning from carefully chosen archival material, participants will develop skills in observation, representation and rendition.
Each session will be clearly defined by how structure and anatomy influence a particular series of poses with male and female models, both independently and by working together:
Week 1 – The Male Form
Week 2 – The Female Form
Week 3 – The Interaction of Two Figures: Dancers (Male & Female)
Week 4 – The Interaction of Two Figures: Wrestlers/Action poses (Male)
Participants can attend individual evening sessions or all four. Each session is from 6 – 9pm.
This course is for you if:
• You have an intrinsic interest in drawing or some prior knowledge and would like to improve upon existing skills and learn new techniques and approaches.
• You would like a new perspective in your approach to life drawing and the anatomy.
• You would like the opportunity to develop your skills and ideas in a small group setting and in the historical setting of the Royal Academy’s Life Drawing room, with one-on-one teaching and expert led guidance.
• You have no prior experience of life drawing but have an interest in the theory, practice and history of art and drawing from life.
Minimum age 18
This course is suitable for all levels.
The number of participants is strictly limited to 24 per session to enable detailed feedback from the Course Tutor for each participant on the work that they create.
Price per session: £80
Price for all four sessions: £290
Monday 5 September:
Week one – The Male Form
Monday 12 September:
Week two – The Female Form
Monday 19 September:
Week three – The Interaction of Two Figures: Dancers (Male & Female)
Monday 26 September:
Week four – The Interaction of Two Figures: Wrestlers/Action poses (Male)
Each session is from 6 – 9pm
Includes:
• The opportunity to work from life models
• Special reference to works in the Academy library and archives on anatomy
• All practical materials
About the Tutor
Painter Adele Wagstaff trained at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne and the Slade School of Fine Art where her teachers included Andrew Maclaren, Myles Murphy, Patrick Symons, Norman Norris and Euan Uglow. Following her graduation from the Slade, where, in the Life Room Adele focussed her practice on working from the nude in sustained poses, Adele continues to focus on the human figure, portrait and still life.
About the Space
The Life Room
Set in the Academy’s historic Life Room, nestled deep in the heart of the RA Schools, this unique and significant space was designed in the 1860s when the galleries and schools were first constructed, purpose built to accommodate the study of the human form in art.
The semi-circular seating arrangement is based on an ancient design and can trace its British history back to the 1730s and Hogarth’s Academy in St Martin’s Lane. The directional light is also of ancient design and is used (then as now) to provide directional light to aid the delineation of the figure’s musculature – significantly enhance the use and study of colour and light in art.
Our courses and classes programme
Our programme of short courses and classes offers the opportunity to explore a range of subjects, led by expert tutors and practising artists.