djcbriggs - Anatomy for Life Drawing

Anatomy for Life Drawing (NAS, on campus)

Anatomy for Life Drawing is my five-day workshop held in the magnificent top floor studio in the Chapel at the National Art School's Summer and Winter Schools for the last ten years. Open to students 16 years of age and over.

The course presents anatomical understanding in the context of a gestural-constructional approach to life drawing, integrating threads derived from Hale, Bridgman, Nicolaides, Vilppu, Loomis, Hatton and many others with my experience teaching life drawing and artistic anatomy at the Julian Ashton Art School (1996-2020), at Disney's Sydney studio (2000-2006), for National Art School Public Programs (2012-present), and for UTS Animation (2018-present). For beginning anatomists the focus is on the skeleton, but the content is flexible for those with prior knowledge. Beginning with establishing the action of the figure as a whole, the course progressively adds a constructional foundation of head, rib cage and pelvis masses, followed by the limbs and a closer look at the head and facial features. A life model poses throughout, and each morning and afternoon session consists of demonstrations referring to the model, skeleton, anatomical diagrams and master drawings, regularly alternating with drawing sessions

Next session;

July 7-11, 2025

https://shop.nas.edu.au/collections/on-campus?filter.p.m.custom.course_lecturer=Dr+David+Briggs

Life drawings by David Briggs

Handouts (password protected)

NASAnatomy2024pw.zip

FigureDrawings.zip

Public life drawing sessions in Sydney

I've compiled a list of public life drawing venues ("sketch clubs") that I believe are running as of late 2024.

Public life drawing sessions in Sydney

Useful reference books:

The set of about seventeen handouts contain all of the information needed for the workshop, but keen students may like to look at the books by Peck, Hale and Loomis at the top of the following list, either online or in class during breaks. Serious students will find it useful to eventually work their way through many more of the texts on the list, and elsewhere; each one will yield insights not found in the others.

Atlas of Human Anatomy for the Artist (Stephen Rogers Peck)
https://archive.org/details/stephen-rogers-peck-atlas-of-human-anatomy-fo (read online)

Artistic Anatomy (Paul Richer, translated by (Robert Beverly Hale)
https://archive.org/details/artisticanatomy0000rich_j8y0 (read online)

Drawing Lessons from the Great Masters (Robert Beverly Hale)
https://www.booktopia.com.au/drawing-lessons-from-the-great-masters-robert-beverly-hale/book/9780823014019.html

Figure Drawing for All it's Worth (Andrew Loomis)
https://archive.org/details/Andrew_Loomis_Figure_Draw (read online/pdf)

Drawing the Head and Hands (Andrew Loomis)
https://archive.org/details/Andrew_Loomis_Drawing_the_Head_and_Hands (read online/pdf)

Constructive Anatomy (George B. Bridgman)
http://www.archive.org/details/constructiveanat00briduoft (read online/ pdf)

Bridgman's Complete Guide to Drawing from Life (George B. Bridgman)
https://archive.org/details/bridgmanscomplet0000brid (read online/pdf)

Figure Drawing for Artists (Steve Huston)
https://archive.org/details/figuredrawingfor0000hust (read online)

Anatomy for Sculptors (Uldis Zarins):
https://anatomy4sculptors.com/

Vilppu Drawing Manual (Glenn Vilppu)
https://store.nma.art/product/vilppu-drawing-manual/

Human Anatomy for Artists (Eliot Goldfinger)
https://www.booktopia.com.au/human-anatomy-for-artists-eliot-goldfinger/book/9780195052060.html

Figure Drawing: Design and Invention (Michael Hampton)
https://archive.org/details/michael-hampton-figure-drawing-design-an (read online)

Morpho series (Michel Lauricella)
https://www.booktopia.com.au/search.ep?author=Michel+Lauricella

The Complete Guide to Anatomy for Artists & Illustrators (Gottfried Bammes)
https://www.booktopia.com.au/the-complete-guide-to-anatomy-for-artists-illustrators-gottfried-bammes/book/9781782213581.html

The Artist's Complete Guide to Facial Expression (Gary Faigin)
https://www.booktopia.com.au/the-artist-s-complete-guide-to-facial-expression-gary-faigin/book/9780823004324.html

The Human Figure (John H. Vanderpoel)
https://archive.org/details/humanfigure00vanduoft (read online/ pdf)

Figure Drawing (Richard Hatton), 1904.
http://figure-drawings.com/figuredrawing.html (pdf, $4.95)
https://archive.org/details/figuredrawing00hatt (read online)
https://archive.org/details/figuredrawingcom00hatt (pdf, 1895 edition)

Albinus, Bernhard Siegfried, 1749. Tabulae Sceleti et Musculorum Corporis Humani.
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/historicalanatomies/albinus_home.html (jpgs)

Fau, J, 1849. The Anatomy of the External Forms of Man, Intended for the Use of Artists, Painters, and Sculptors.
https://sites.google.com/site/djcbriggs/fau (jpgs)

Richer, Paul, 1906. Nouvelle anatomie artistique du corps humain
https://archive.org/details/nouvelleanatomie01rich
https://archive.org/details/nouvelleanatomie02rich

Apps

Essential Anatomy (Windows)
https://www.microsoft.com/en-au/p/essential-anatomy-3/9wzdncrdsl7j (not currently available)

Essential Anatomy 5 (iPhone/iPad)
https://apps.apple.com/au/app/essential-anatomy-5/id596684220

VOKA Anatomy app (Web/iPhone/iPad/Android)
https://voka.io/

Skelly - Poseable Anatomy Model for Artists, Stan Prokopenko
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.Proko.Skelly&hl=en
https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/skelly-poseable-anatomy-model/id976920216?mt=8

Artnatomy (Victoria Flores, online facial anatomy app).
http://www.artnatomia.net/uk/index.html

Anatomy.app
The actual app is expensive and also at the time of writing has some complaints about ads on the paid version. But the images and short videos and their explanations on the Instagram channel are great.
https://www.instagram.com/anatomy.app/?g=5

Videos

Anatomy lectures by Robert Beverly Hale

Recordings from a series of ten lectures on artistic anatomy by highly regarded teacher Robert Beverly Hale

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLSODTPSc5LZNAX0GPXaCF40ADylswEQ3B

My other classes at NAS

Understanding and Applying Colour (online, alternately 10 am - 1 pm and 6 pm - 9 pm)

This is my unique, in-depth online course on a wide range of aspects of colour, and especially those relevant to painters. The course consists primarily of copiously illustrated lectures, complemented with descriptions and demonstrations of practical exercises that progress from basic exercises illustrating colour theory to painting studies. The course attracts students from all over the world and is offered in a choice of times each term to suit all time zones.

Oil Painting with Colour and Light (on campus, Thursday evenings and some Summer Schools)

This is my on-campus, practical oil painting class at NAS. It is often done by students who have previously done the Understanding and Applying Colour online course (or vice versa, the classes can be done in any order). New students work through a structured series of painting exercises progressing from tonal painting to full colour, but previous students (of either course) can choose among the exercises and work at their own pace.

Drawing for Beginners (on campus, Saturdays 10 am - 2 pm)

In this course I cover the fundamentals of seeing and drawing your subject in an integrated way. We cover the use of different materials (pencil, chalk, and pen), proportions, perspective, composition, light and shade, and the expressive effects of the abstract visual elements of a drawing. Subjects include the still life, the life model and the historic NAS campus.

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