Expressive Life Drawing

Learn to trust your eye and hand with charcoal, to capture the energy of the model’s poses through gestural mark making as you draw the figure from life. Stephanie Eather guides you to explore the fundamental techniques for life drawing and the different ways charcoal and ink can be applied to the picture plane, including the creative use of erasers, paintbrushes and sticks.

Stephanie demonstrates and teaches traditional drawing exercises, designed to train your eye and hand to create a close representation of the model. These include how to measure proportions of the body, focus on hands, feet and portraiture, the management of scale, foreshortening, problem-solving through drawing, and the use of rendering techniques to ground the figure in the observed environment. Using these technical skills and experimenting with the materials, Stephanie directs the models with short and long poses, so you can explore your own gestural movements, abstract the figure on the page, and capture the dynamic movements and poses from life.

* NAS Short Courses 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. 

Observational and life drawing have been the essence of Stephanie Eather’s practice for over fifteen years. Her work encompasses expressive, gestural mark-making through the connection of the body, the eye and hand. Eather teaches at National Art School where she completed a Master of Fine Art in 2023. She holds a Graduate Certificate in Art History from the University of Melbourne in 2013, and a Bachelor of Fine Art (Drawing) obtained from RMIT in 2009. Eather’s artwork has been showcased in group and solo exhibitions across Australia, and has been selected for prizes including the Dobell Drawing Prize #21 and #22. In 2022, Eather was awarded the Bonner and Tonkin Drawing Award and runner-up for the Vincent Prize in 2024. She is currently represented by Nanda\Hobbs in Chippendale, NSW.

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

• 1 box (approx.10 sticks) willow charcoal
• 3 x sticks compressed charcoal
• 3 x woodless graphite crayons
• 2 x hard erasers
• 1 roll Masking tape
• 2 x bulldog clips
• 1 Stanley knife
• A1 butchers paper pad (approx. 60 x sheets)
• A1 cartridge paper pad (approx 20 x cartridge)
• Can of fixative spray
• 1 small bottle black ink (approx. 60mL)
• 3 x ink containers
• 8 sheets of 160+GSM high quality drawing paper 56cmx76cm (optional)

Note: High quality paper is recommended, but not mandatory, please bring as desired throughout the course.

• Soft hair paintbrushes for using ink on paper - flat or round: 1 small (approx. size 6), 1 medium (approx. size 14), 1 large (approx. size 20 or larger).

Note: These are examples of brush sizes according to Renoir paint brushes, however you can also bring any other paintbrushes you have already.

Enclosed footwear is essential in all studios on campus.