Just Getting Started

2027 Winter (Tuesday) – Foundation Drawing- Learning to See

By January 2, 2025August 3rd, 2026No Comments

Tuesdays, 1:30 – 4:00pm, January 12 – March 16, 2027

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 $35 materials/model fee paid in class. All in class materials provided.

Schedule of Classes

Class 1) January 12- 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) January 19 – 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) January 26- 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) February 2 – 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) February 9 – 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

-NO CLASS DATE – FEBRUARY 16-

Class 6) February 23 – 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.

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

Class 7) March 2 – 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) March 9 – 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) March 16– 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

Click Here to Register

Supply List: 

All Materials are provided for when you are working at the studio/classroom.  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

blending stump

willow charcoal

White Plastic Eraser (I have “Vanish” Erasers in class for $3, they are the best)

Extra Large Kneaded Erasers

18×24” Strathmore 400 Series Drawing Pad

18 X 24 Strathmore News Print Paper