Course Fee: $80, Gold Member Fee: $70, (non-member $90)

NOTE: Non-member students must register and pay for this class at the Art Club.

Description:  Classes are open to students of ALL skill levels and experiences

Maximum Capacity: 15    Minimum Capacity: 5
Medium: Graphite Pencils

Instructor: Dave Coutts

Dates: Mondays, May 4, 11, 18 and 23, 2026  1 - 4 PM
            Tuesday, May 26, 2026.  1 - 4 PM

Since drawing is fundamental to all of the visual arts, this class is STRONGLY recommended for students wanting to develop and/or improve their drawing and painting skills.

Each class consists of a lecture and demonstration by the instructor followed by in-class participation by the students in various studio projects.  Students will receive individual guidance as well as a professional critique of their work.  Students will produce one drawing per week, or in some instances students may spend two weeks on a single drawing, depending on the difficulty of the subject.

Materials Provided by Student:

  Drawing Pencils:  H, 2H, 4H, HB, B, 2B, 4B, 6B, 8B
       Blending Stumps (various sizes)
       Handheld Pencil sharpener
       9x12 inch Sketch pad
       Kneaded eraser
       Pink Pearl (block) eraser or Art Gum Eraser
       Clickable Pencil Eraser Various sizes (optional, but highly recommended)
       Electric Eraser
       Tracing Paper (I recommend buying a ROLL of tracing paper.  It is less expensive and works great.)
       Metal straight edge or ruler

Recommended places to buy art supplies:

Most of these materials are readily available at Blick's Art Supplies in Arrowhead Mall, Michael's or Hobby Lobby.  You may also wish to order materials online.

Recommended Online sources are:

dickblick.com
jerrysartarama.com
amazon.com

You may buy a beginning drawing kit from Amazon for about $16 that has most of the items on the list.

Objectives:

This four week class will focus on sketching versus rendering. Students will learn how to produce sketches from reference images.  Sketching is a loose form of drawing that allows artists to capture a scene or an object without as much detail so that they can use it to document an event or image or let it serve as a reference for a later more developed work in the studio.  Drawing materials and tools along with various sketching techniques will be demonstrated.  

Syllabus:

Week 1.  Introduction.  An overview of what sketching is and why it
               is important for artists.  Demonstration and practice with 
               drawing tools.  A simple sketch of an object.

Week 2.  Sketching water, buildings, trees, shrubbery and plants.

Week 3.  How to center your composition.  Beginning a complicated 
                sketch with buildings, rocks, trees, etc.

Week 4.   Completion of sketch and critique.