Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

The course includes demonstrations, slides, lectures, video/films. The course utilizes professional nude models as the basis for student assignments. A minimum of 3 hours of homework per week in the form of private exploration of the concepts and processes introduced in class will be required.College level reading comprehension is necessary.This course fulfills Arts and Letters requirements for block transfer to other colleges and universitiesfor general education requirements, or for elective credits.

1. Implement creative ways to solve visualization problems in drawing the human form using a variety of perceptual and conceptual strategies. 2. Apply an introductory level of understanding of the proportions of the human figure and the relation of the figure to the compositional space through the processes, materials, and techniques associated with drawing. 3. Participate with others in a critical dialogue about figure drawings from the past, the present, and from other cultures. 4. Actualize personal expression and self-critical skills in figure drawing while recognizing the standards and definitions already established by both contemporary and historical works of art from different cultures. 5. Experience a heightened awareness of the physical world and the nature of the relationship of human beings to it via the experience of figure drawing

Students will:•Bring all human senses to the experience of Life Drawing. Examine aspects of the conceptual process; experiencing,•visualizing, symbolizing, playing, imagining, etc.•Discover various processes by which the artist sees nature, conceives ideas and executes a drawing.•Observe ways to process visual experience through a drawing; gesture, contour, massing, shading, expression, etc.•Participate in review of class drawings through application of vocabulary and aesthetic processes.•Experience the connection between sight and the other senses used to understand the figure as subject matter .

Develop use of materials for mark-making which may include graphite, charcoal, conte, pastels, ink, etc.•Become familiar with composition in the picture plane.•Gain sense of three-dimensional illusion through perspective, modeling in light, etc.•Experience various drawing surfaces: newsprint, bond, charcoal paper, butcher paper, etc.•Become familiar with compositional devices: active/passive, symmetry/asymmetry, rhythm, etc.•Observe interaction between figure and ground.•Discover an individual way of understanding and drawing the figure.•Understand the difference between illustration, representation, expression and their effects.•Become familiar with various historical approaches to figure drawing and their reflection of the human record.Assessment: Assessment is based on conceptual understanding, quality of work, participation in critiques, progress, effort, and attendance. A written examination, quizzes, written assignments, and a journal may be required.