Beautiful Bodies Life Drawing
Course Overview
The human body is so fascinating and an endless source of inspiration for creative expression!
Join Pina Bartolo practising artist and your tutor who guides you in developing your drawing skills through the practice of life drawing. Each week a professional art model offers long and short poses. You will explore contemporary and classical approaches to observational drawing of the nude. Each participant receives individual and group tuition as well as demonstrations from Pina.
During the course, you receive handouts on techniques and images of artists’ work to inspire and broaden your skills. This is a dynamic, fun and challenging course suitable for all levels, and will suit drawers with some experience or enthusiastic beginners.
Course Breakdown
This is an outline of what is covered in the course but may be in a different sequence depending on model bookings and class needs.
Week 1: Basic principles of life drawing, gesture and proportion. Setting up your easel, getting in the flow
Week 2: The language of marks and shapes as applied to the body and as a method for construction
Week 3: Landmarks in anatomy, understanding the portions and parts, bones and muscles
Week 4: Light and tone and the science of form through direct observation
Week 5: Colour and the ways to use it tonally, understanding the impacts of hue and saturation, as well as identifying the relationships in temperature and how to use them
Week 6: Colour and contemporary uses through the study of drawings by a variety of artists’ work
Week 7: Perspective and foreshortening and how to create the illusion of depth, reading 3D space and placing the figure in the composition
Week 8: Expressive drawing, how to interpret and capture body language
Week 9: Mixed media, pastels, charcoals, coloured paper, pens, collages, inks and prepared paper
Please Note: A $70 model fee for the 9-week course is to be paid in cash to the tutor at the first class of the term.
Term Dates
Term 4 runs from Thursday 17 October to Thursday 12 December
2025 Term Dates
Term 1 runs from Wednesday 12 February to Wednesday 9 April
Term 2 runs from Wednesday 14 May to Wednesday 2 July
Term 3 runs from Wednesday 23 July to Wednesday 17 September
Term 4 runs from Wednesday 15 October to Wednesday 10 December
Outcomes
By the end of this course, you will have an understanding of the structure and form of the human body and the various methods for interpretation, strategies for using a variety of media and technical approaches to solve your figure drawing challenges.
To see more of Pina’s work, visit her Website & Instagram Account. All images used in this class listing are done by Pina with charcoal and pastel.
Material List
- 2x Bulldog clips
- A2 Paper pads or loose (we use about 5-10 sheets a session, choose from cartridge, economical sketch paper, brown paper or a combo of both)
- Willow charcoal (a box per term – medium size)
- Compressed charcoal sticks (hard and soft)
- Charcoal pencil (preferable woodless or ‘unwrappable’ as they are easier to sharpen, wood cases if you are good with a blade for sharpening)
- 3b Pencil (graphite or woodless or similar)
- Soft white pastel, peach pastel, rust pastel and navy pastel/dark brown
- Gum rubber
- Paper stump
- Soft cloth
Extra Materials (optional)
- Roller ball pen
- Graphite wedge/stick
- Coloured pastels (buy 3 cool colours in light medium and dark, 3 warm colours in light medium and dark)
- Pastel paper in darker richer colours
- Fixative
- A4 Sketch book
- Carbon pencil
- Sharper or stanley knife
- Pan pastels
Receive 10% Discount
If you join any of our creative courses, you will receive a 10% discount off full-priced items at Eckersley’s Art & Craft. Discount applies on presentation of course receipt. Stores included are Eckersley’s Chatswood & St. Leonards.
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About the tutor
Pina Bartolo
Pina Bartolo's approach to her Life Drawing classes is that absolutely everyone can draw. ‘The human body, young or old, is fascinating in all its wonderful shapes. It has inspired artists for centuries' she said. Pina's classes offer the opportunity to connect with the mystery of the human condition, as well as produce expressive contemporary drawings. As Pina says ‘Life Drawing shows you how beautiful everyone is with their clothes off! Our skin fits us perfectly'.
Pina is a practising artist and popular teacher. A passion for the human form is obvious in her own work. In her classes, Pina's aim is to inspire, stimulate and support students in the development of their own potential. She guides beginners and challenges those with more experience. She has developed a range of resource materials with images of art works and descriptions of techniques that she shares with students. I want to offer students a multitude of approaches, not just my own, but those of other artists as well. I like to think my classes offer students the tools to navigate and interpret the landscape of the human body.' To see some of Pina's work visit Instagram: pinabartoloart.
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