Human Figure Drawing

This Human Figure Drawing course will provide students with hands-on experience with specific drawing media to develop basic perceptual skills in drawing the human figure. Students will alternate gesture drawings with long methodical studies. 

There will be demos and exercises to practice and review the basic elements of art: line, value, shape/volume, texture, and color, leading to their deliberate manipulation for different types of spatial illusion, compositions, and expressive meaning. Drawing will be done spontaneously, energetically, and accurately from life.

The human body is marvelously complex and expressive. Excellent figure drawings can be either highly detailed or simple, yet always convey a sense that the represented form is alive. A nude model will be present. 

The instructor will work with each student, giving constructive criticism and doing individual demonstrations. Class will collectively discuss and critique at the end of each session.

This course is designed to provide students with a structured approach to drawing the human figure, serving as a foundation for their personal interpretive style.

Open to teens with written parental permission. Please request the form from Melissa Gabriel [email protected]. 

Class breakdown: 

Part 1: Gesture Drawings: A series of short, dynamic poses to warm up and capture the energy and movement. 10 poses, 1 minute each, and 5 poses, 3 minutes each.

Part 2: Medium-length studies: Longer poses allow more time to focus on proportion, structure, and anatomy. 2 poses, 30 minutes each; or 3 poses, 20 minutes each. 

Part 3: Extended Pose Study: One extended pose allows artists to practice refining details, rendering value and form, establishing a focal point, and generally developing a fully developed drawing.

About the instructor

Born in NOLA and raised in the Dominican Republic, Raul Perdomo has been an exhibiting artist working in Miami since 1990. He holds a BFA degree in painting and drawing from Florida State University with minors in printmaking and art history. His work has been included in multiple group and solo exhibitions and is a part of many national and international art collections.

Raul has been a South Florida Art Center/now Oolite Arts resident artist between 1990-1993. His experiences as an exhibiting artist in the contemporary art world evolved into the art education field, where he worked for M-DCPS between 2006-2008. Between 2008-2012 taught advanced painting, drawing, and portfolio development workshops both private and at Oolite Arts. Perdomo served as visual arts program director and has worked as an instructor at Miami Arts Charter School Wynwood campus since 2011.