Graduate Life Drawing Begins

Starting out this semester, Spring 2026, has been a dream come true! The chance to be an art student and gather around with other artists to draw live models has been a dream of mine for years, and here I am! A graduate life drawing class!!

Our lovely volunteer models come in and sit for us, while we as the artists gather our easels and sketchpads and break out the charcoal! The models sit for 20 minutes at a time, with a 5-7 minute break to move and walk around before returning to their position. I am so incredibly grateful to dive in as an art student, learning the classical methods that the masters used. The moment that charcoal

stick first hit my newsprint I felt so happy I could cry, haha! (I kept myself together though lol)

At the end of our first 20 minute session, it was so fun to be able to walk around and see all the different points of view from the classmates, to see everyone’s styles shining through, and to encourage one another as fellow artists. The model also really enjoyed getting to see what we were working on! Such a sweet Atmosphere!

We continued our sessions, 4 in total, while our professor gave us valuable insights into this process and the overview of the class. Moving forward through the semester we will be going through charcoal portraits, then wildlife drawings, followed by urban sketching, and finishing with plein air painting. I am so excited about this class, and I will be doing my best to completely soak it all in every moment I can!

This class got off to a bumpy start given the winter weather that was humorously named the “snowpocalypse” so our first 2 class periods we didn’t meet in our normal meeting time. We had impromptu meetings where we’d get together when the school was open. These spontaneous classes have been getting us ready with hands-on experience, which has been so helpful already!

Well, I couldn’t be happier to be here, and I look forward to all the training to come! I haven’t touched charcoal much since high school so this has been very fun to begin learning! As always, I hope you are inspired to go get creative!

Jesus Bless You Abundantly,

Christina