Just Getting Started

Fall – Foundation Drawing- Learning to See

By May 18, 2025March 26th, 2026No Comments

Wednesday, 10:00 – 12:30pm, September 23 – November 18, 2025

9-Week Art Clinic with J. Jordan Bruns


About Just Getting Started: Foundation Drawing Learning to See

Drawing is the foundation of all visual art and in this Art Clinic, we’ll learn to translate our 3D world onto a 2D surface with surprising accuracy. We will explore artist perception, drawing proportions, and using plumblines and intersections to build a composition. So, sharpen your pencils and join us! You’ll never see the world the same way. Class Level: beginner. Please note there is a $35materials/model fee paid in class. All materials provided.

Schedule of Classes

Class 1) September 10- Intro, Sighting and Measuring: Plumblines and Intersections: Finding the relationships between still life objects

pencils, 18×24” Strathmore 400 Series Drawing Pad, blending stump, and erasers

Slides Drawing, 01 Sighting

Class 2) September 17 – Sighting and Measuring- Diagonals and Tabel Tops: Finding the relationship between still life objects and the table surface using diagonals

pencils, 18×24” Strathmore 400 Series Drawing Pad, blending stump, and erasers

Slides Diagonals – Perspective

Class 3 September 24- Sighting and Measuring- Ellipses: Today we’re drawing still life objects in relationship to each other and the surface, basically applying the exercises from the first two classes into a complete drawing

pencils, 18×24” Strathmore 400 Series Drawing Pad, blending stump, and erasers

— NO CLASS OCTOBER 1 —

Class 4) October 8 Composition and The Thumbnail Sketch- A Line is a Dot that went for a Walk.

Exercise:  Draw an environment the “etch a sketch” way.  One continuous line that moves though spatial planes regardless of foreground, middle ground, or background.

Class 5) October 15 – Putting the skills to task

Exercise:  Working from the figure, build a drawing using perspective and relationships

Class 6) October 22 –Positive and negative spaces- In this class we will be drawing objects by NOT drawing the objects but by drawing the space around them

Vine charcoal, 18 X 24 Strathmore News Print Paper, and kneaded eraser

Class 7) October 29 – Value, egg drawing- This class takes a simple object (the egg) and allows us to practice creating a volumetric rendering of it’s likeness using graphite, erasers and blending stumps.

pencils, 18×24” Strathmore 400 Series Drawing Pad, blending stump, and erasers

Class 8) November 5 – Volume with Charcoal –We’re switching gears to see how we can create illusionistic volume using vine and willow charcoal.

Vine charcoal, 18 X 24 Strathmore News Print Paper, and kneaded eraser

Class 9) November 12– Working from the Model- We’ll do a series of drawings designed to combine sighting and measuring and creating volume.

Vine charcoal, 18 X 24 Strathmore News Print Paper, and kneaded eraser

Registration begins in August

Supply List:

ALL MATERIALS ARE PROVIDED FOR IN CLASS WORK, but if you would like to work outside of class these are recomended.

Pencils 6H, 4H, 2H, HB, 2B, 4B, 6B

vine charcoal sticks (https://www.dickblick.com/products/bobs-fine-vine-charcoal/?fromSearch=%2Fsearch%2F%3Fsearchword%3Dbobs)

White Plastic Eraser (I have Vanish erasers available for $3, they are the best)

Extra Large Kneaded Erasers

18×24” Strathmore 400 Series Drawing Pad

18 X 24 Strathmore Newsprint Paper