Figure Drawing
Adult Summer Class | Registration opens Monday, May 4, 2026 8:00 AM EDT
Learn the fundamentals of figure drawing with charcoals. We will concentrate on proportions, shading and the process of creating form with gestural shape and light and shadow focus. We will especially develop our visual measurement with emphasis on relativity of features and limbs, likeliness, scale, and how to establish a figure in space with models as references to encourage the student’s ability to draw from life.
What you will learn:
- Fitting the whole figure on the page
- Comfort with the drawing medium at hand
- A basic grasp of proportions and knowledge of bodily landmarks
For the first class bring these supplies:
Drawing Pad, 18” x 24”
Alphacolor Compressed Charcoal, pack of 4
Studio Vine Charcoal - Extra Soft, box of 12
White Plastic/Rubber Eraser
Kneaded Eraser
Masking Tape
You are free to use any drawing materials you choose. The supply list is composed of suggested materials that reflect the instructor’s demonstrated techniques.
Patricia Thomas
Patricia Renee Thomas is a Philadelphia-based painter, and art educator, with a BFA from Tyler School of Art and Architecture, a MFA from University of Pennsylvania's Weitzman School of Design with a certificate in University Education. She has exhibited in both solo and group exhibitions with the DuSable Black History Museum in Chicago, the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit, The Colored Girls Museum in Philadelphia, PA, The Delaware Contemporary in Wilmington, DE as well as Kravets-Wehby Gallery in Chelsea, New York, Kapp Kapp Gallery in Philadelphia, Gaa Gallery in Cologne, Germany. She was a 2025 McMillian Stewart Chair of Painting Fellow at Maryland Institute College of Art, a 2021 recipient of the Meyer Family Award for Contemporary Art, and a 2021 recipient of the Toby Devan Lewis Fellowship. Thomas teaches Painting and Drawing at University of Pennsylvania.
https://patriciarthomas.com/