Overview

Cast drawing: This is the first step and is the most essential academic form of the learning process. Working from a plaster cast, one learns the importance of light and shade in creating form. The cast is white, so colours and temperature don’t distract. The cast is static, so it means there is little room for interpretation. The student learns accuracy of drawing, value patterns and treatment of edges.

Figure & Portrait drawing: Once the artist has honed the skills from the cast drawing class, they can transfer them to portrait and figure, always drawing from life. The same principles of shadow patterns and shapes apply, but we learn how the transitions between light and dark are subtler on the human form. 

The student moves on to using a toned ground, with the paper itself as the mid-tone and uses charcoal, sanguine and ink to darken, and chalk to lighten. This process is similar to painting on a toned canvas ground. With pastel drawing, the artist introduces more colour. 

Understanding proportion, values and edges in charcoal before adding the extra dimension of paints is crucial. 

The craft of charcoal drawing is covered in most of the courses available. For further details, please refer to the detailed section for each course.