Anatomy for Life Drawing: Structure and Action

Learn basic anatomical concepts that will enable you to grasp the essential structure and action of the figure in a few lines, leaving you free to focus on the individual character and expressive effect of your drawing, instead of struggling just to make it look like a figure! A life model poses in each session, alternating with group and individual instruction and demonstrations referring to the model, skeleton, anatomical diagrams and master drawings.

For beginning anatomists the focus is on the skeletal construction and major muscle masses, but individual instruction in greater depth is provided for those with prior knowledge. Beginning with establishing the action of the figure as a whole, the course progressively adds the constructional foundation of head, rib cage and pelvis masses, followed by the limbs and a closer look at the head and facial features. A life model poses in each session, alternating with group and individual instruction and demonstrations referring to the model, skeleton, anatomical diagrams and master drawings.

In this workshop you'll see visible improvement in your life drawing skills over the course of the week and gain a foundation for further study.

* Short courses and weekend workshops are open to students of ages 16 years and over. The NAS Art Club is open to students from ages 15 years and over.

* Drawing and painting short courses may be held in upstairs studios. If access to stairs is not suitable, please contact us at short.courses@nas.edu.au

* What to bring? Please refer to the list of required materials in the Art Materials field below.

Dr David Briggs is a classically trained artist, art educator and researcher who studied at the Julian Ashton Art School, Sydney.  He taught life drawing, artistic anatomy, painting and colour courses at Ashton's for 25 years and for National Art School Short Courses continuously since 2011, and he has also taught life drawing programs for trainee animators at Disney's Sydney studio from 2000 to 2006 and for the Animation course at UTS from 2018 to the present. 

Students must supply their own art materials, please refer to the list below.

• Pen and notebook to jot down notes and ideas
• Cartridge paper A2 size - 50 sheets or pad
• 2 bulldog clips
• Progresso (solid woodless graphite) pencils - 2B, 4B
• Kneadable eraser e.g. Faber-Castel Knetgummi art eraser
• Firm white eraser e.g. Staedtler Tradition or Mars plastic
• Stanley knife or similar (for sharpening) or pencil sharpener
• Sheet of fine sandpaper (for sharpening)
• Enclosed footwear is essential in all studios on campus.

If you already own a book covering artistic anatomy, then please bring it along; otherwise, you might like to wait until David discusses some of the better ones in class before buying one. A particularly good one is the 'Atlas of Human Anatomy for the Artist' by Stephen Rogers Peck.