Course description
Foundation Drawing
Get started with drawing even if you have never picked up a pencil.
This Open Foundations drawing course will give you the best starting point to develop basic drawing skills, explore different ways of using materials and tools, and discover drawing as a pleasurable and inventive activity.
You will also gain a good understanding of what drawing is and might be, and be aware of contemporary drawing practice. On completion of the five parts of the course you should have gained sufficient skills and enough confidence to go on to further study with the Open College of the Arts, and be able to decide on the nature and direction of your future studies and art practice.
Do you work at this organisation and want to update this page?
Is there out-of-date information about your organisation or courses published here? Fill out this form to get in touch with us.
Upcoming start dates
Outcome / Qualification etc.
Course Outcomes
Through the course, you will:
- Gain a developing ability in drawing.
- Show increased inventiveness in your approach to materials and tools.
- Have an improved visual memory.
- Have a greater understanding of what drawing is and might be.
- Be more aware of the performative and material aspects of drawing and their use within contemporary art practice.
- Have more confidence in your potential as an artist and a growing sense of self reliance.
- Be able to decide on the nature and direction of your future studies and art practice.
Training Course Content
The course is split into five parts and you’ll complete a number of projects and exercises for each. At the end of each part of the course you’ll gather together your practical work for these projects to make up your assignment submission. You’ll then send this to your tutor for review. The course comprises:
Introduction: About drawing
Here you’ll be introduced to the focus of the course and this will prepare you for the first warm-up exercises. The purpose of these is to help you become more aware of the relationship between your perceptual and physical self when drawing.
Part One: Marks and lines
Drawing is all about making marks and lines. There are many ways to do this, and many tools and materials you can use. Part One explores just some of these. If you haven’t done any drawing before, or not for a long time, these exercises will help you relax into drawing.
Part Two: Tone
Using tone means you are able to produce contrasts of light and dark in your work. This can make the difference between an ordinary image and a dramatic one – or between realistic and ‘flat’.
Part Three: Form
Similarly, learning to use form in drawing means you’re able to offer the illusion of threedimensional objects, thickness or depth.
Part Four: Negative and positive spaces, shapes and forms
This part of the course involves close observation and a different way of looking. You’ll concentrate less on the object itself and more on the spaces between and around it. The final exercise asks you to use all the experience you’ve gained and lessons you’ve learned to produce a self-portrait.
Part Five: Options
Here you have four very different choices for the final part of the course. Trying these out will give you the opportunity to think about your next step as an artist and student. Choose at least two of these to develop.
Course delivery details
You’ll need to spend between 5 and 10 hours a week on your studies if you wish to complete them in under a year. Most of your time will be spent on practical work.
Expenses
- Fees for UK students: £900 per course
- Fees for students outside of the UK: £1,050 per course