New York Academy of Art

You’ve taken some classes in drawing, painting from the figure, perhaps anatomy or composition… now what? It’s time to express yourself as an artist! A time-honored way is through narrative: make that painting of your wonderful dysfunctional family Thanksgiving, your daughter’s crazy Santacon adventure, Daenerys Targaryen feeding White Walkers to her dragons… or any multi-figure narrative that’s been bouncing around in your head and would look great in your apartment - or a gallery wall. This class has two 6-week sessions which can be taken together or separately: in the first session we’ll use both drawing and painting to investigate several narratives with multiple models. We will consider the uses of metaphor and allegory. We’ll experiment with different backgrounds, and then add another figure through a diptych, resulting in a conceptually-complex painting. In the second session you’ll create a composition based on your own idea, emphasizing painting from your imagination over photo references. We will use a guided meditation technique to explore color, background and portraiture unique to your artistic vision. There will be brief lectures throughout exploring the ways in which contemporary and historical artists have tackled their narrative subject matter. At the end of 12 weeks you’ll have finished – or mostly finished! - 2 ambitious multi-figure paintings, along with drawn and painted studies.