Figure Drawing Inspired by the Pictograms of Ancient Egypt

Saturday classes train you to portray the human figure in a lot of ways, help you experience a variety of pictorial means, and at the same time learn from the rich heritage of Art History. 

We will take a look at Ancient Egypt. Their artists were versatile and observant: they knew how to depict faces and bodies realistically, but were also fluent at expressing stylized characters engaged in meaningful activities. This is a completely different skill from just painting or drawing from observation. To create those graceful flat figures that we are so familiar with requires a different skill - the ability to extract the essence of the pose and convey the expressive gesture in a clear, succinct, minimalist manner. This is not an easy task for an artist: you will be looking at an actual person (a nude female or male model) and draw the two-dimensional, decorative version of him or her, cultivating a firm confident outline, communicating the message of intent: “powerful”, “victorious”, “hurried”, “scared”, “defeated”, “deceitful”, “doubtful”, “joyous”, etc. 

Using a live model in a contemporary environment, you’ll render them in this refined manner striving for the simplicity and elegance of the Ancient Egyptian silhouettes. 

This project will benefit animators, illustrators, fine artists, logotype designers, architects, portfolio students, stage designers, cartoonists, tattoo artists, textile artists, costume / fashion designers.

Appropriate for levels intermediate to advanced. Essential Drawing Course graduates welcome.