Level: Int-Adv
Saturday
Mar 22
10:00 am - 3:30 pm
Instructor: Eric March
Fee: $175 (incl model fee)
Learn how to use light and shadow to make your figure drawings come alive! This class will cover the basic concepts of light, shadow and form modeling and apply it to drawing the human form. We’ll discuss the importance of having a light concept when drawing and how to use simplification to prevent common value drawing mistakes.
This workshop is 5.5hrs long. We’ll have a live model the entire time. There will be 1/2 break for lunch.
SUGGESTED SUPPLIES: Students can work in pencil, charcoal, or other drawing media. I have listed my recommended materials for reference here. I will be demonstrating in charcoal.
Charcoal Supplies:
- Medium or soft vine charcoal sticks (4 – 12 sticks)
- General’s Charcoal Pencils: HB, 2B, 4B (1 or 2 of each)
- If you work on toned paper: General’s White Charcoal Pencil or White Pastel Pencil (not a white colored pencil which is too waxy to work with charcoal).
- Sanding pad (for sharpening charcoal pencils and vine charcoal.) I highly recommend the Nitram Sanding Block over the regular small “tear off” sandpaper block. Fine sandpaper can also be used. (http://www.dickblick.com/products/nitram-sharpening-bloc/)
- Straight Razor blade (for sharpening charcoal pencils-can be purchased at a hardware store. Sold in packs of 5 or more, usually used for paint scrapers. A box cutter can work as well but Irecommend a straight razor blade.)
- Large sheets of regular drawing paper (like a Strathmore Drawing Paper pad) as it is more durable and has a slightly toothier drawing surface that catches charcoal better than the slick surface of newsprint.
- Canson Mi-Teinte Pastel Paper is also recommended for charcoal and conte crayon. (It comes in a variety of colors of 25.5″ x 19.5″ sheets. Get 2-3 sheets of light grey, tan or medium blue. Charcoal papers have a tooth to them that catches and holds the charcoal.)
- Fabriano charcoal paper is also good. Toned paper allows you to work both with white and black to quickly set up light and dark values.
Pencil Supplies:
- Pencils: 2H, HB, 2B, 4B (1 of each).
- Pencil Sharpener or straight razor blade for sharpening pencils.
- Strathmore 400 Series 18” x 24” “Drawing” Pad or loose sheets of quality drawing paper.
General Supplies:
- Drawing Board- I recommend you bring your own drawing board to ensure you have a rigid,smooth, clean drawing surface. You drawing board needs to be larger than your paper size. I recommend a simple piece of masonite, gator board, or 1/2” foam core.
- Large paper clamps for attaching your paper to your drawing board.
- Straight, thin knitting needle or stick (for measuring and finding angles)
- Kneaded eraser and/or vinyl “pencil” eraser
Other Supplies:
- Krylon Crystal Clear Acrylic Coating or similar (for fixing charcoal drawings at home)
- Glasseine (for covering drawings in storage, especially charcoal – Glasseine is like tracing paper and can be bought in rolls. You can also buy a pad of tracing paper and use that as longas it’s acid-free.)
- Portfolio for storing and transporting paper and drawings (do not roll your drawings!)
- Sketchbook – for your own sketches and for taking notes
Recommended Books (for reference):
- Stephen Rogers Peck “Atlas of Human Anatomy for Artists”
- Andrew Loomis “Figure Drawing”
- Robert Beverly Hale “Drawing Lessons from the Great Masters”
About the Instructor:
Eric March is a painter and draftsman whose work explores the formal possibilities of realism with themes of urban life, urban environments, and narrative-often through dense multi-figural compositions.
Eric earned his BFA at Indiana University and continued his studies in New York City with Andy Reiss and at the Art Students League. He has had solo shows in New York City and New Haven, CT. His paintings are featured in a permanent exhibitions at Indiana University, Yale New Haven Hospital at 150 Sargent Drive and at Cornell Scott Hill Health Center in New Haven, CT.
Honors include a New Haven Arts Council Grant, Queens Council on the Arts Individual Artist Grant, the Provincetown Dune Shack Residency, and the Hudson River Fellowship. Eric served as the Department Head of the Painting and Drawing Department at the National Academy School in NY in 2014-15. He currently teaches at the Art Students League (NYC) and Creative Arts Workshop (New Haven). He lives in New Haven, CT with his wife and two boys and has a studio in Erector Square.
image above: Self Portrait with Queensboro Bridge, 2011
Articles on my work:
LINEA Magazine “Artist Snapshot”, 2020
New Haven Independent “Artists Have 2020 Vision”, 2019
New Haven Independent “Artists Find a Place for Rage”, 2018
QCA Blog Post on “Portraits of LIC” show interview by Sam Dalsheimer, 2013
Epoch Times “Eric March Paints a Sense of Place” by Christine Lin, 2012
EXHIBITIONS
Solo Shows
New Haven Lawn Club – Coney Island: Myth and Memory, New Haven, CT, 2017
Greater Astoria Historical Society – Portraits of Long Island City, LIC, NY, 2013
Park Slope Gallery – Moments in Time, Brooklyn, NY, 2009
Park Slope Gallery – A Brooklyn Year, Brooklyn, NY, 2006
Group Shows
Mattatuck Museum – Mixmaster, Waterbury, CT 2024
Creative Arts Workshop – Common, New Haven, CT, 2023
Allied Artists of America – 109th Annual Exhibition, online, 2022
Art Students League – Instructors Exhibition, New York, NY, 2020, 2021, 2022
Allied Artists of America – 106th Annual Exhibition, New York, NY, 2019
Kehler Liddell Gallery – 2 0 2 0, New Haven, CT 2019
Creative Arts Workshop – Faculty Spotlight, New Haven, CT 2019
Kehler Liddell Gallery – How with this Rage Shall Beauty Hold a Plea?, New Haven, CT 2018
Milton J. Weill Art Gallery – 92nd Street Y Art Center Faculty Exhibtion, New York, NY 2017-2019
Westbeth Gallery – The Portrait Project: Artists Portraying Artists, New York, NY 2017
Art Space – City Wide Open Studios, New Haven, CT 2016-2019
National Academy Museum – Creative Mischief, New York, NY 2016
Coney Island USA – Sodom by the Sea Salon, Brooklyn, NY, 2015
Central Park Fine Arts – Works by Dan Gheno, Yuka Imata, Yee Mee Lee, Eric March, Robert Lenz, and Annie Patt, New York, NY, 2015
Art Space – City Wide Open Studios, New Haven, CT 2015
Kehler Liddell Gallery – Artist As Curator 2; New Haven, CT, 2015
National Academy Museum – Creative Mischief; New York, NY, 2015
National Academy School – Outdoor Visions; New York, NY, 2015
The George Billis Gallery–Between the Boroughs; New York, NY, 2014
National Academy School– Projects in Contemporary Art & Architecture; New York, NY, 2013
National Academy – Faculty Show, New York, NY 2013
Park Slope Gallery – Spring Into Summer 2013, Brooklyn, NY 2013
Studio 34 – Beach Elements II, Long Island City, NY 2013
National Academy – Faculty Show, New York, NY 2012
Park Slope Gallery – Summer Show, Brooklyn, NY 2012
studio21south – Black and White (More or Less), North Adams, MA 2012
Westmont Museum of Art – 5 x 5, Santa Barbara, CA 2011
Art Students League – 30 Artists/30 Years, New York, NY 2011
National Academy – Faculty Exhibition, New York, NY 2011
Going Coastal – studio21south, North Adams, MA 2011
Park Slope Gallery – Summer Show, Brooklyn, NY 2011
Purimé Gallery – Summer in the City, New York, NY, 2011
studio21south – Re/Imaging New York, North Adams, MA, 2010
studio21south – Snow Show, North Adams, MA, 2010
Park Slope Gallery – Moments in Time, Solo show of N.Y. Cityscapes, Brooklyn, NY, 2009
Manhattan Borough President’s Office – Dance on Canvas; New York, NY, 2009
Washington Square East Galleries – Small Works Show; New York, NY, 2009-Juror Award Winner
Park Slope Gallery – The Brooklyn Bridge at 125; Brooklyn, NY 2008
Gensler Architecture Firm / Ogilvy – Portraits; New York, NY, 2007-2008
World Culture Open Center – Expo; New York, NY, 2007
Park Slope Gallery – A Brooklyn Year; Solo show of Brooklyn cityscapes, Brooklyn, NY, 2006
Washington Square East Galleries – Small Works Show; New York, NY, 2006
Cork Gallery, Avery Fisher Hall – Art Students League Merit Scholars; New York, NY 2005
Washington Square East Galleries – Small Works Show; New York, NY, 2005-Juror Award Winner
Park Slope Gallery – Anti-War Show; Brooklyn, NY, 2003
Zia Gallery at the Cutting Room – Free For All #1; New York, NY, 2002
Park Slope Gallery – Outside In; Brooklyn, NY, 2002
Washington Square East Galleries – Small Works Show; New York, NY, 2002
Gallery Onetwentyeight – SX Group Show; New York, NY, 2001
TEACHING
Instructor – Art Students League, New York, NY 2012, 2014, 2018-present
Instructor – 92nd Street Y, New York, NY, 2018-2020
Instructor – Creative Arts Workshop, New Haven, CT 2017-present
Professor – Southern Connecticut State University, New Haven, CT 2018-2019
Painting, Drawing and Anatomy Instructor – National Academy School, New York, NY 2011-2017
Department Head, Drawing and Painting Department – National Academy School, 2014-2015
Guest Lecturer – NYU Conservation Center at the the Institute of Fine Arts – 2016
Guest Lecturer – John Jay College, NYC – 2013
Oil Painting & Watercolor Instructor – Jackson Heights Arts Club, Queens, NY 2009 – 2011
Drawing Instructor, Demonstrator, Guest Judge – National Art League, Queens, NY 2007 – 2011
Workshop Instructor – Central Queens YM & YWHA, 2009
COLLECTIONS & COMMISSIONS
Cornell Scott Hill Health Center – “8 Portraits”, oil, each 11” x 14”, New Haven CT, 2023
Cornell Scott Hill Health Center – “Neighborhood Rhythm”, oil, 24” x 92”, New Haven CT, 2021
Yale New Haven Hospital – 3 Figurative Paintings for 150 Sargent Drive, New Haven, CT, 2020
Medical Illustrations, Dr. Ashutosh Tewari & Mt. Sinai Department of Urology, 2018-19
Cover Illustration for “Best of McSweeney’s”, 2013
Portrait painting for the set of the Broadway musical Old Acquaintance, 2007
Portrait painting for the set of the Broadway musical Grey Gardens, 2006
Indiana University Undergraduate Painting Collection
Park Slope Gallery and other private collections
EDUCATION
Art Students League (Vavagiakis, Porcu, Sherr, Dinnerstein), 2004-2007
Copyist Program, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2004, 2007
Private Study with Andy Reiss, 2003-2006
Indiana University, BFA 1999
Indiana University Study Abroad Program in Florence, Italy, 1999
Vermont Studio Center, 1998
GRANTS AND HONORS
New Haven Arts Council Sponsorship Grant, 2023
Jenny Lin Art Studio Pastel Award at the Allied Artists of America Annual Exhibition, NYC, 2019
Queens Council on the Arts Individual Artist Grant, 2013
Provincetown Dune Shack Residency, 2011
Artist of the Month, National Art League, 2010
Hudson River Fellowship, 2010
NYU Small Works Show Juror Award Winner, 2005, 2009
Merit Scholarship, Art Students League, 2004-2005
Indiana University Undergraduate Research Grant for study in Florence, 1999
Indiana University Honors Division Creative Activity Grant, 1999
Clara Abbott Foundation Grant, 1998
Work Study at Vermont Studio Center, 1998