4-Day Online Workshop: "The Hand Self-Portrait: Life Cast Drawing"

The Hand Self-Portrait: Life Cast Drawing
This intensive online drawing workshop presents a special opportunity to build real knowledge about the human hand through an inspired series of lessons. Our primary source, your hand, will be created via life casting and then positioned by each artist for long-term study. Students will create at least three drawings which can support tonal (value) development, detailed description and a clarity of the hand from direct observation of a “frozen” life study.

We will achieve a profound understanding of hand forms through optical block-in drawings, a constructive, “see-through” analysis, and the implementation of chisel-like marks for capturing surface nuance. Our focus includes historical conventions of hand and finger interpretation, comparative studies, and the palm of the hand – which has traditionally been under-represented in artistic education. This course will unearth structures not covered previously and prove invaluable, no matter which medium the hand is to be represented in.

• Day 1 - July 1st
  AM: The Block-In, fundamentals of anatomy and foreshortening
  PM: Life cast drawing, practical application (linear studies)

• Day 2 - July 2nd
  AM: Comparative Studies: Idealizing your hands, how to use cross sections
  PM: Life cast drawing, practical application (NOTAN drawing)

• Day 3 - July 3rd
  AM: The palmar hand: an underappreciated artist's construction
  PM: Life Drawing, practical application (constructive drawing)

• Day 4 - July 4th
  AM: Dorsal planar hand drawing; learning its vessels and sub-forms
  PM: Life Drawing, practical application (long pose topographical analyses)

All skill levels are welcome.
4-Day Online Workshop:
July 1st thru July 4th 2026, 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM EST

See Materials List