Back to the Basics of Drawing

Materials list here.

This two-day workshop is designed for both intermediate-level artists to revisit and firm up their drawing foundations and for raw beginners to get off on the right foot toward sketching and drawing independence. Through demonstrations, hands-on practicals, and PowerPoint examples, participants with a few basic drawing tools will (re) discover the drawing process, value, line, shapes, light and shadow, negative space, and proportion. Emphasis will be on the reasons behind the basics, the problems of converting a three-dimensional world into a two dimensional medium, the interplay of the organics of graphite and paper texture, and pencil control to achieve highly defined details and effects that enhance the appearance of depth.

The goal is for each participant to add skills and knowledge to their personal resources that will help them not only produce satisfying drawings, but also achieve a greater confidence in their own artistic expression.

A few words about the required workshop art materials. Henderson says he put the materials list together not only because it is a reasonable drawing kit containing the common items he uses most, but also because the workshop is designed to show the use and the effects possible with each of these specific items. To make the most of the workshop, he asks that students please come prepared.

About the instructor

Artist Michael Henderson (left), a Mendocino coast resident since 1977, finds artistic expression through a wide range of art media. He began sketching in his early teens and is mostly self-taught. Along with a few high school and college art courses, he has developed a working familiarity with such media as sculpture, ceramics, block printing, and photography. He has painted in acrylics and watercolor and drawn in graphite, charcoal, carbon, Conté crayon, India ink, and colored pencil. A former construction worker and now a full-time hardware store salesman, he produces several pieces each year in his spare time.

“Drawing is more about the artist’s relationship with the subject and mastery of the media used to render it than it is about documenting reality. It is a personal journey into the essence of seeing, and while there may be a drawing to be had at the end of it, the artist is changed in profound ways.”