Fridays, September 25 – November 20, 2026
10:00 – 12:30pm
9-week Art Clinic with J. Jordan Bruns
This class explores drawing from the ground up, using charcoal and graphite powder as the foundation our drawings. Rather than beginning with line alone, we’ll build form through tone, atmosphere, lifting, and erasure, allowing each material’s unique character to guide the process. Charcoal brings depth and velvety darkness, while graphite powder offers softness, subtlety, and light. This class is an invitation to experiment, get a little messy, and discover new ways of building a drawing. Please note: There is a $45 model fee, payable in class. Class Level: Intermediate to Advanced
Schedule of Classes
Class 1) September 25 – Graphite Powder – Imagination
Exercise: Typically, our class focuses on observational skills and drawing from life. For the next three weeks, we’ll blend those skills with abstract concepts and use our imagination to create imagery. I want us to explore vast spaces, much like my hero, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, did in his paintings.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegory_of_the_Planets_and_Continents
To achieve this sense of grandeur, we’ll focus on overlapping forms, atmospheric perspective, and repetition. You certainly do not have to use figures or clouds to build your space. Personally, I’ve had great success using bricks, leaves, and flowers to create depth and dimension.
Start collecting reference materials for this project. Look for subjects that can be repeated to show changes in scale. These can come from your own photographs, images from the internet, or even AI-generated content.
Class 2) October 2 – Graphite Powder – Imagination
Exercise: Continue working on your vast space drawing.
Class 3) October 9 – Graphite Powder – Imagination
Exercise: Continue working on your vast space drawing.
Class 4) October 16 – Graphite Powder – Model
Exercise: Using some of the techniques developed in the previous drawing(s), we’ll aim to draw the figure a little differently. We have two weeks with the live model, and I would like to use graphite powder to draw the figure while using the material to place focus in certain areas of the form, where there will be more detail and pencil work, and less focus in other areas, where the powder will remain more raw and expressive.
Class 5) October 23 – Graphite Powder – Model
Exercise: Continue with the in-and-out-of-focus exercises.
Class 6) October 30 – Charcoal Powder – Still life
Exercise: Switching mediums this week! With the remaining classes, we’ll spend time exploring charcoal powder. It is similar in many ways, and different in even more. While graphite powder has the strength of subtle details and value shifts, charcoal powder has a far more expressive quality. It is also much darker. This week we will work with a simple still life to try out the new medium.
Class 7) November 6 – Charcoal Powder – Model
Exercise: Charcoal powder and compressed charcoal. This week, we will add compressed charcoal to the mix. This gives us a much darker version of charcoal than vine, willow, or powder alone. We will work from the live model.
Class 8) November 13 – Charcoal Powder – Model
Exercise: Charcoal powder and hard charcoal. Guess what? Charcoal also comes in a compressed, harder version. Let’s try out the medium using hard charcoal to add more detail and create a tighter drawing.
Class 9) November 20 – Charcoal Powder – Model
Exercise: All together now! Let’s use all the versions of charcoal and charcoal-related drawing tools to see what we can create.
The “Materials Pass” is an optional fee that covers all the materials you’ll need for this Art Clinic class. For the “Experimental Drawing Art Clinic,” the Materials Pass is $30. With it, you can simply show up—everything will be ready for you to dive in and make work. Even better, there’s no need to clean up at the end of class. Just take your artwork and go. Easy!
Supply List (for those NOT doing the Materials Pass)
Pencils 6H, 4H, 2H, HB, 2B, 4B, 6B
Bob’s Willow Charcoal Pack
Compressed Charcoal
Create a Color Brand Graphite Powder
Create a Color Brand Charcoal Powder
2 Extra Large kneaded erasers
“Vanish Eraser” – $3 in class
18×24” Strathmore 500 Series Charcoal
x4 – BKF Rives paper 22×30 (white)
Blending Stumps
Artists Tape 3/4in
Nitrate Gloves (optional but strongly suggested)
Scott Shop Original Paper Towel roll