Portrait Drawing: From Sketches to Sustained Studies
- Number of classes: 8
- Total Course Hours: 32
- Discipline: Drawing
- Lecturer: Evan Salmon
- Age: 16 years and over
- Levels: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced
- Location: National Art School
Portrait Drawing: From Sketches to Sustained Studies





Course Details
Explore and learn to draw the forms and structures of the human head, facial features, and body dynamics and discover the connection between the ‘character’ and the ‘face’. Using a variety of drawing mediums from pencil, charcoal, ink and wash to collage, via quick sketches and sustained drawings, students will investigate a range of subjects starting with the skull and plaster casts, to the live model and self-portrait.
Evan Salmon challenges you to find out “What holds the key to a likeness?” He references historical and contemporary portraits to provide insight into artists’ approach their portrait subjects, their methodologies, and use of materials. He welcomes entry level students and caters to more experienced students to enable experimentation with new materials and techniques. Evan provides the scope to explore compositional possibilities that the sitter/model and surroundings may present, during the sustained and in-depth studies.
* Short courses are open to students of ages 16 years and over. The NAS Art Club is open to students between 15 - 17 years of age.
* Drawing and painting short courses may be held in upstairs studios. If access to stairs is not suitable, please contact us at short.courses@nas.edu.au
* What to bring? Please refer to the list of required materials in the Art Materials field below.
Art Materials
Students must supply their own art materials, please refer to the list below:
- 1 x 4B and 1 x 6B graphite pencils
- 4 x sticks willow charcoal 10mm
- 2 x sticks compressed charcoal
- 1 x medium and soft charcoal pencil
- 1 x sepia or sanguine Conte pencil
- 1 x white Conte pencil
- Block rubber
- Soft cloth
- 2 large bulldog clips
- 1 x Aquarelle graphite pencil
- 1 x Aquarelle black pencil
- 3 x sheets good quality drawing paper e.g. Stonehenge 150 gsm A2 size or bigger
- 10 x sheets of A2 cartridge paper
- 1 x sheet of A2 Canson paper mid tone grey
- Enclosed footwear is essential in all studios on campus.
Lecturer Profile
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Evan received a Diploma from the National Art School in 1991. He completed a Master of Fine Art (Research) at the College of Fine Arts, University of NSW in 2002. Evan worked as a studio assistant for the sculptor Robert Klippel between 1996 and 1998. He taught painting and drawing to Diploma students at various TAFE colleges between 2002 and 2016. He currently teaches observational drawing at the National Art School. Evan is represented by Watters Gallery and has held 26 solo exhibitions since 1993. He has also been included in many group exhibitions. Evan was selected as a finalist for the Sulman Prize in 2006 at the Art Gallery of NSW. He was winner of the NSW Parliament Plein Air Painting Prize in 2015. His work is held in private and public collections including the National Gallery of Australia, NSW Parliament, University of Technology Sydney, Art Bank and Wollongong Art Gallery.
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