Costumed Figure Drawing and Characterization with Bill Perkins

This workshop is now over. You will have access to the video recordings and reference photos, but you cannot submit your work for critique from the instructor. 

Bill Perkins has been working in animation for 30 years as a Layout Artist and Art Director. His work has influenced many memorable animated films such as: The Little Mermaid, Rescuers Down Under, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Space Jam, Shrek, Bolt, Winnie the Pooh, Tangled, and Frozen.

The Artist’s strength comes in their ability to direct the viewers eye at will through the subject and subtext of their visual message with clarity, simplicity and directness.

Whether you are a figurative painter, illustrator, story board artist, or animator, this is a great class for any artist who wants to get more feeling and expression in their figures.Capturing the expression of the pose will be at the core of this class, but we you explore quick sketch, dynamic and subtle action, weighting, rhythm, stress and folds, designing shapes, and the impact of drawing techniques.

You will analyze master drawings through history, and Bill will demonstrate how we can use these concepts to improve the clarity of our drawings’ feeling and expressions.

Since we will be working from live models in various costumes and roles, there will be a lot of improvisational adaptation concentrating our focus on the immediate expression and needs of our drawings.

Full Access Participants will be working alongside Bill from weekly rotating models. Bill’s work will be recorded live, as well as broadcast to large displays so you can follow along no matter where you’re positioned in the studio. The recordings from each class will be published within 48 hours of class ending so that you can review all material, including material you may have missed. Participants will benefit from Bill’s generous teaching style with one-on-one critiques of your classwork.

Participants attending the class with the Online Streaming Only pass will also get access to the full video recordings from class as well as critiques. Online participants will work from high quality model photos that will be provided on the class page each week. You can upload photos of your weekly work into the class chatroom and get a full critique from Bill during the following week’s class. You can watch the recordings on your own time, and you do not have to participate in the critiques if you don’t want to.

All students will receive online access to the class recording and reference images for one year. This is helpful to reinforce the principles of each week, and to catch any concepts you may have missed the first time around.