Studio Art: Study of the Human Body

(Spring semester, Maymester, July 2021) This course aims at developing fundamental skills and draftmanship, familiarization with different materials, and experimentation with increasing attention on the perceptual as well as the conceptual. We will be working with an assortment of traditional media and exploring fundamental techniques such as line, contour analysis and value to illustrate form and space. Anatomy is the study of the structure of the human body. We will approach the study of the human body systematically, beginning with the skeleton. By studying the skeleton, we will visualize the frame of the body, its proportions, and range of motion. We will then study the muscle forms as they relate to the skeleton. Muscles pull on the joints and allow the body to move. This will help you understand how these muscles affect the surface form of the body as it moves through various poses and actions. Ultimately, your drawings should illustrate your understanding of the structures and actions of the skeleton and musculature. All these anatomical elements interact and form a functional unit. We will study the face, hands, and feet separately in order to understand proportions, depth, and application of muscles and skin on smaller surfaces. Subsequently, we will draw the body as a whole and focus on overall proportions, musculature, lighting, and perspective. The final stage in rendering the human body is translating observation into interpretation. Everyone around us has a different aura to them. Interpretation of one’s aura consists of multiple variables such as clothing, glance, facial expression, body language, etc. To draw someone anatomically correct is based on the accuracy of details and proportions, but to capture who they are on paper relies on the perception of their nature.  This course will improve your technical skills, stimulate your ability to perceive and conceptualize, develop critical thinking, and inspire creativity and imagination. Offered also as online course.

 

Instructor: 
Chrysanthe Maggidis
Course Code: 
ARTS 102