Wednesdays, 10:00 – 12:30pm, April 22 – June 17, 2026
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 in class materials provided.
Schedule of Classes
Class 1) April 22 Intro, Sighting and Measuring: Plumblines and Intersections: Finding the relationships between still life objects
Materials – pencils, 18×24” Strathmore 400 Series Drawing Pad, blending stump, and erasers
Slides Drawing, 01 Sighting
Class 2) April 29 – Sighting and Measuring- Diagonals and Table Tops: Finding the relationship between still life objects and the table surface using diagonals
Materials – pencils, 18×24” Strathmore 400 Series Drawing Pad, blending stump, and erasers
Slides Diagonals – Perspective
Class 3) May 6- 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
Materials – pencils, 18×24” Strathmore 400 Series Drawing Pad, blending stump, and erasers
Class 4) May 13– 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.
Materials – pencils, 18×24” Strathmore 400 Series Drawing Pad, blending stump, and erasers
Class 5) May 20 – Composition and The Thumbnail Sketch- This week we will create a series of small thumbnail sketches using three values, white paper, mid gray, and dark black. These studies will help us understand how composition functions and how value structure guides the overall success of a drawing.
Class 6) May 27 – Volume with Graphite – We will take a few objects and render them so they have volume and accurate proportion.
Materials – pencils, 18×24” Strathmore 400 Series Drawing Pad, blending stump, and erasers
Materials – Vine charcoal, 18 X 24 Strathmore News Print Paper, and kneaded eraser
Class 7) June 3 – Positive and negative spaces- In this class we will be drawing objects by NOT drawing the objects but by drawing the space around them
Materials – Vine charcoal, 18 X 24 Strathmore News Print Paper, and kneaded eraser
Class 8) June 10 – Volume with Charcoal – We’re switching gears to see how we can create illusionistic volume using vine and willow charcoal.
Materials – Vine charcoal, 18 X 24 Strathmore News Print Paper, and kneaded eraser
Class 9) June 17– Working from the Model- Working from the figure, build a drawing using perspective and relationships
Materials – Vine charcoal, 18 X 24 Strathmore News Print Paper, and kneaded eraser
Supply List:
All Materials are provided for when you are working at the studio/classroom. You do not need to bring any drawing materials to class. If you would like to purchase them regardless (to practice at home) these are what we are working with.
Pencils 6H, 4H, 2H, HB, 2B, 4B, 6B
vine, willow charcoal sticks
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