I was trained as an artist by working artists at the Ontario College of Art in the vocational college system that dominated visual art studies during the late 70's and prior. Training is somewhat different than education. Training might be thought of as learning 'how to', whereas education seems to have more emphasis on learning 'about'. Obviously you also learn 'about' through training, but learning 'about' isn't the focus of study. In the videos on this site, as in the classroom, I hope the emphasis is generally on 'how to'. To create the videos I've made classroom slide shows that demonstrate concepts and their application into short 'explainer' films. Video 'hand-outs' if you will. As well I've also made live action 'demonstrator' films with demonstrations similar to what I do in the classroom. It is my hope that the combination of these two approaches enable a drawing student to learn 'how to'.
This website is primarily for local current, former and prospective students of my painting and drawing classes. Introductory courses are my preferred subject as basic visual concepts can be conveyed with greater confidence and utility. As well, the visual arts universe seems far more compressed, energetic, intense and interesting in the beginning when things might be the visual equivalent of the Planck Epoch. I personally see more complex, or 'advanced' drawing and painting applications not so much as new material to be learned but as more nuanced reiterations of these basic drawing concepts scaled up depending on how much an artist develops their visual facility.
As an occasional instructor over the years I have taught adults drawing fundamentals, life and figurative drawing, animation background painting and design, basic human and animal anatomy, fundamentals of design, watercolour painting of landscape and figure, and painting fundamentals using the transparent properties of watercolour paint to combine the discrete qualities of light and shade on form with local colour.
In my classes, as well as looking for applications of drawing and painting concepts in photos from the art historical record we look at examples of how they are applied in film, story boarding, comics, animation, advertising, product design, engineering design, architectural design, and print advertising. The applied examples of visual skills and craft we experience regularly in popular visual media from day to day can serve as observable, instructive and readily available examples of the concepts we are studying in class in addition to looking at fine art.
The little 'movies' and live action 'demos' that I'm putting here were originally created during the Covid-19 pandemic for online instruction. It is my hope that after the pandemic I can resume some actual teaching again, and that students will in future be able to preview concepts virtually prior to coming to class. This will mean that we can get straight to work drawing or painting in the studio and enjoy a class atmosphere that is more atelier-like. I hope this means I can draw or paint alongside students more frequently and for longer periods and also that I might spend more time orbiting and looking at what students are doing and providing feedback.
Over time I hope to add new movies from other courses and might re-make or edit some of the uploaded content all of which has been put together quite quickly and off-the-cuff.
I would be happy to have any mistakes or misconceptions pointed out in the material posted here. I have often been known get the wrong end of a stick.
June 2020
This website might also be a useful way for art education programmers to survey my instructional product. If you are interested in considering me for workshops, demonstrations, or course instruction please contact me at cpowsey@shaw.ca.
This website is primarily for local current, former and prospective students of my painting and drawing classes. Introductory courses are my preferred subject as basic visual concepts can be conveyed with greater confidence and utility. As well, the visual arts universe seems far more compressed, energetic, intense and interesting in the beginning when things might be the visual equivalent of the Planck Epoch. I personally see more complex, or 'advanced' drawing and painting applications not so much as new material to be learned but as more nuanced reiterations of these basic drawing concepts scaled up depending on how much an artist develops their visual facility.
As an occasional instructor over the years I have taught adults drawing fundamentals, life and figurative drawing, animation background painting and design, basic human and animal anatomy, fundamentals of design, watercolour painting of landscape and figure, and painting fundamentals using the transparent properties of watercolour paint to combine the discrete qualities of light and shade on form with local colour.
In my classes, as well as looking for applications of drawing and painting concepts in photos from the art historical record we look at examples of how they are applied in film, story boarding, comics, animation, advertising, product design, engineering design, architectural design, and print advertising. The applied examples of visual skills and craft we experience regularly in popular visual media from day to day can serve as observable, instructive and readily available examples of the concepts we are studying in class in addition to looking at fine art.
The little 'movies' and live action 'demos' that I'm putting here were originally created during the Covid-19 pandemic for online instruction. It is my hope that after the pandemic I can resume some actual teaching again, and that students will in future be able to preview concepts virtually prior to coming to class. This will mean that we can get straight to work drawing or painting in the studio and enjoy a class atmosphere that is more atelier-like. I hope this means I can draw or paint alongside students more frequently and for longer periods and also that I might spend more time orbiting and looking at what students are doing and providing feedback.
Over time I hope to add new movies from other courses and might re-make or edit some of the uploaded content all of which has been put together quite quickly and off-the-cuff.
I would be happy to have any mistakes or misconceptions pointed out in the material posted here. I have often been known get the wrong end of a stick.
June 2020
This website might also be a useful way for art education programmers to survey my instructional product. If you are interested in considering me for workshops, demonstrations, or course instruction please contact me at cpowsey@shaw.ca.
