Foundations of Observational and Expressive Drawing (Formerly "Discover Drawing", NAS, on campus)
Foundations of Observational and Expressive Drawing (Formerly "Discover Drawing", NAS, on campus)
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Do you want to learn to draw in a way that’s both responsive to the unique qualities of your subject, and at the same time sensitive to the expressive effect of your drawing’s abstract elements, such as line, rhythm, shape, tone, and mass?
In this course for beginners on the crucial but often overlooked fundamentals of drawing, you'll learn to see and record your subject in a unified way, through increasing awareness of proportion, alignment, structure, perspective, and light and shade, while at the same time increasing your awareness of the expressive effects of your drawing’s abstract elements. You'll draw from subjects including plaster casts, still life objects, the historic National Art School campus and the life model, and also closely study artists’ drawings from many eras that are outstanding for their responsive and expressive qualities.
In your first term you'll mainly use graphite pencils or sticks, black and white chalk, and pen and ink, but returning students can choose to explore one of these media more deeply, or additional media or techniques such as coloured chalks, ink and wash, layered techniques, mixed media, and/or more sustained studies.
Weekly schedule
1. Cast drawing 1: seeing your subject whole
2. Cast drawing 2: portrait casts and the structure of the head
3. Perspective: logic and application to objects and exteriors
4. Form and shading: rationale, techniques and expressive effect
5-6. Life drawing : introducing gesture, contour and anatomical construction
7. Exploring media 1: drawing in black and white chalk on toned paper
8. Exploring media 2: pen drawing
Student drawings, Discover Drawing
Bookings
Bookings
Offered regularly as eight Saturday classes, on campus at the National Art School, Sydney, with "Early bird" and concession discounts available (see the NAS website for cost and enrollment details). Next sessions:
July 18- September 12, 2026, 10:00am - 2:00pm (bookings open now)
October 10 - November 26, 2026, 10:00am - 2:00pm (cancelled unfortunately due to lack of available studio space)
https://nas.edu.au/study-art/short-courses?course_lecturer=dr-david-briggs
Class handout, Session 8
Some classic drawing references
Some classic drawing references
Speed, Harold, 1913. The practice and science of drawing
Goldstein, Nathan, 1984. The art of responsive drawing
Meder, Joseph, 1978. The mastery of drawing
Charles Bargue Drawing Course
Norling, Ernest. R., 1939. Perspective made easy
White, Gwen, 1968. Perspective A Guide For Artists, Architects And Designers
Chelsea, David, 2000. Perspective For Comic Book Artists
Amendola, Sal, 1983. Perspective for the artist
Cole, Rex Vicat, 1921. Perspective for artists
Loomis, Andrew, 1951. Successful Drawing
Loomis, Andrew, 1947. Creative Illustration
https://archive.org/details/creativeillustra0000loom_n7x6 (complete, read online only)
https://archive.org/details/andrew-loomis-creative-illustration (pdf with some missing pages)
Holme, Charles, 1901. Modern pen drawings: European and American.
Pennell, Joseph, 1894. Pen drawing and pen draughtsmen.
Guptill, Arthur, 1961. Drawing with pen and ink (revised edition; read online only)
Loomis, Andrew, 1943. Figure Drawing for All It's Worth.
For many more figure drawing references see my page for Anatomy for Life Drawing
Scans of drawings
Scans of drawings
Zip files of drawings from class:
Drawings1.zip (pencil/ black chalk/red chalk; click here, then click on download symbol on next page)
High Resolution Drawings from Old Masters
National Gallery of Art, Washington
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Getty Museum
Archive.org
Wikimedia
Public life drawing sessions in Sydney
Public life drawing sessions in Sydney
Light and shade
Light and shade
My other classes at NAS
My other classes at NAS
Understanding and Applying Colour (online, alternately 10 am - 1 pm and 6 pm - 9 pm)
This is my completely 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.
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.
Anatomy for Life Drawing (Summer and Winter Schools)
Anatomy for Life Drawing is a five-day workshop held in the magnificent top floor studio in the Chapel at the National Art School in the Summer and Winter School for the last ten years. For beginning anatomists the focus is on the skeleton, but content is flexible for those with prior knowledge.
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