One Day Workshop: Anatomy Drawing with Keith Dewell
Commencing November 1st 2026
10am-4:15pm
This workshop is a great opportunity to focus on understanding the human anatomy relevant to the artist. Following Leonardo's advice in order to understand form, study it from 8 viewpoints around the form.We will start with a construction figure then describe the skeleton in a simplified way. Next describe the muscle patterns from those viewpoints. We will be working in the round from the Lantieri cast.
This method of learning human anatomy takes a complex subject and gives you a simple process to build your knowledge and understanding of the human form...vital for quality figure drawing.
MATERIALS
Below is our general list of materials. If you’d like to paint but you’re entirely new to it, don’t feel like you have to rush out and buy everything. It might be a good idea to just bring drawing equipment on your first day and we can discuss materials as we go.
For drawing:
- A2 size cartridge paper
- Pencil (H, HB or 2B are fine)
- Kneadable eraser
For painting:
- Brushes – we recommend bringing brushes in a range of shapes and sizes. We tend to use primarily hog-hair filbert brushes. We also recommend bringing a few softer brushes for softening edges. It is also useful to have a few flat brushes, as well as some small round brushes for details. A soft fan brush can also be useful for softening edges.
*Brushes must be in good condition. In terms of brand, for the hog-hair brushes we like the Isabey Hog Series (https://www.thesydneyartstore.com.au/product-group/949-isabey-6088-hog-series-brushes/category/273-acrylic-oil-brushes) though this is not essential.
- Boards/canvases – students need to bring a new surface to paint on each week. Canvases can be stretched but loose pieces of canvas are also fine (they can be pinned to boards that are available at the studio). Some art stores sell canvas off-cuts and you can also buy pads of canvas paper.
*We recommend toning your surface with a mid-tone neutral grey colour (raw umber with white for instance). It must be dry prior to the class. This can be -done with oil paint or, if you’re using an acrylic-primed canvas, acrylic paint. Acrylic paints are not to be used in class though.
- Palette Knife – Metal, not plastic
- Wooden Palette (the studio is also able to supply palettes for use during class)
- Paper towel
- Rags (old T-shirts etc. are good)
Pigments:
The colours we use are the following–
- White (Cremnitz/Lead/Flake OR Titanium)
- A bright yellow (e.g.Cadmium Yellow, Cad Yellow Pale or Cad Yellow Lemon)
- Yellow Ochre
- Cadmium Red Light (or Vermilion)
- An earth red (e.g. Transparent Red Oxide, Burnt Sienna, Venetian Red, English Red)
- Alizarin Crimson or Alizarin Claret
- Raw Umber
- Ultramarine Blue
- Ivory Black
*We mostly use Michael Harding and Old Holland paints but they are expensive because they have higher levels of pigment than student quality paints. Any artist quality paints are acceptable -Windsor & Newton, Gamblin, Rembrandt etc - do not buy oil paint sets.