Saturday, November 21, 2026 at 10:00 AM until 3:00 PMEastern Standard Time UTC -05:00
OCAD University100 Mccaul StreetToronto OnToronto, ON M5T 1W1Canada
Portfolio Clinic: Drawing and Painting the Figure Instructor: Par Nair
Drawing and painting skills can be applied to an extensive range of art and design disciplines. This workshop introduces you to skills and techniques for observational figurative drawing and painting from a live model. Through demos and timed exercises, you will explore a range of approaches to represent the human figure while developing their understanding of proportion, form, composition, colour, and observation.
Working with both wet (acrylic paint) and dry (soft pastels) mediums, you will use a viewfinder as a tool to understand perspective, cropping, scale and foreshortening.This workshop will encourage you to experiment with different approaches to representing the figure while developing confidence in both quick gestural studies and more sustained poses, through a variety of mediums.
This workshop is suitable for all levels and will be adjusted to accommodate student needs. Whether it's your first time trying, or you want to practice more observational drawing, all levels are welcome!
What you will learn:
Develop technical skills in observational figurative drawing and painting to incorporate in portfolios
Gain knowledge of working from a live model and work with short gestural poses as well as long sustained poses
Explore a combination of both dry and wet mediums
Develop understanding of colour mixing and colour theory
Use perspective, foreshortening, cropping and composition to effectively to render figures
Use a viewfinder to strengthen compositional decision making
Identify and develop visual language, style, and strengths while receiving feedback and guidance
Policies: Portfolio Clinic workshops may be subject to cancellation in the case of low enrolment. Participants are eligible for a full refund if a cancellation request is received at least 10 calendar days prior to their registered Portfolio Clinic date. This 10-day notice period allows us sufficient time to offer the spot to another student on the waitlist. All refund requests must be submitted directly via email to portfolioclinics@ocadu.ca. Package Deal: If you are interested in taking all 3 Portfolio Clinic workshops (Drawing and Painting the Figure, Window Packaging Design, & Fabricating a Metal Pencil Box), please see the Package Deal details here.