BACAA/Tony Ryder Intensive Portrait Drawing Master Workshop - 2025
/Portrait Drawing in Pencil
Dates: July 17-24, 2025
July 17-18 Two days of Museum visits and lectures
July 19-24 Five days in studio with live model
Medium: Pencil on paper.
Course description: Fundamentals of academic portrait drawing. An introduction to the manual, procedural, and analytical techniques of drawing applied to the portrait.
Schedule:
The workshop is an immersion in portraiture, incorporating two days of study at the National Gallery London, UK and a five-day studio class.
In the museum, during the morning demonstration, Tony will show a method of studying the composition of paintings, especially portraits, using the block-in, a particular technique of drawing. The students will then practice the block-in, studying paintings of their choice, while Tony circulates among them, coaching and offering advice.
In the studio, Tony demonstrates the drawing process each day from the beginning of class until lunch break (2.25 hrs.) He works with students individually during the afternoon session (3 hrs.) This is a "long pose" drawing method. Students work on one drawing all week. After lunch the model resumes the demo pose and holds it for the rest of the day, with the usual breaks.
Form, Light, and the Portrait:
This drawing workshop is for students wishing to develop a deeper understanding of the classical tradition of portrait drawing. Participants in this five-day workshop will be introduced to a refined, articulate drawing style. The focus will be on patience, craft, observation, and understanding of drawing principles. Students will learn a practical drawing method that serves as a framework in which to study the elements of drawing. Drawings are built up methodically through a succession of linear and tonal stages. Each stage in particular embodies and exemplifies one or more universal aesthetic principle: shape, curve, form and light.
BIO:
Tony Ryder has forty years’ experience teaching drawing from life. His unique instructional style combines careful personal attention to each student with abundant class drawing demonstrations. He is generous with information and supportive of the students. He has a knack for drawing and explaining the process in real time. He studied for six years in New York and in France with the renowned oil painter Ted Seth Jacobs. He has taught at the Art Students’ League of New York, the New York Academy of Figurative Art, BACAA, the Gage Academy of Art, Studio Incaminati and other schools in the United States and France. He currently teaches at The Ryder Studio, in Santa Fe, NM. His book The Artist's Complete Guide to Figure Drawing, published by Watson-Guptill, was released in 2000 and has since sold over 75,000 copies. His paintings and drawings are in many private collections. If you wish to see his work on line, please visit www.tonyryder.com and www.theryderstudio.com/about-1
