This virtual life drawing class presents us with unique and interesting challenges, which can enhance our ability to gain insight in constructing the human figure convincingly in three-dimensional space. Through geometric, perspective and anatomical principles we will analyze the figure’s construction by using old master drawings and photographs designed specifically for life drawing.
The class will be comprised of critiques, lectures and demonstrations. Students can work on assignments relevant to class topics and submit them for critiques for each class. Assignments include self-portrait drawings, hand studies from life and old master copies with a strong emphasis on the conceptual. Good construction is the foundation for good modeling with values.
This class will offer both a practical, and an historical perspective on the use of materials and techniques employed by artists from the Renaissance to contemporary classical drawing.
Jon deMartin’s work centers on the human figure within an environment with an emphasis on 16– 18th century drawing techniques, but applied to contemporary subject matter. He stresses the importance of drawing from both life and the imagination as the ultimate goal in composition and picture making.
Jon’s work has been reproduced in publications such as ‘The Classicist’, Classical Drawing Atelier’, ‘Lessons in Classical Drawing’, Watson-Guptil Publications. ‘Star Wars Art: Visions’, (Abrams Publication), and the ‘Classical Life Studio: Lessons & Teachings in the Art of Figure Drawing’, Sterling Publications. He has written and illustrated over twenty-five articles on classical figure drawing technique for ‘Drawing Magazine’. His work has been featured in magazines such as Art Connoisseur and American Art Collector.
He has exhibited at Hirschl & Adler Galleries, the John Pence gallery (including a solo show), the Arnot Museum, the Butler Institute of American Art, the Florence Griswald Museum, the Beijing World Art Museum, and the exhibit ‘Contemporary American Realism’.
DeMartin has taught life drawing and painting for more than twenty-years at schools including the Arts Students League, the Grand Central Academy of Art, the Janus Collaborative School of Art and Studio Incamminati. He is the author of Drawing Atelier THE FIGURE: how to draw in the classical style, which has been translated into Chinese and French.
You can follow Jon on Instagram– jondemartin and website–www.jondemartin.com
