Online Drawing Course

Head in Three-Quarter View

Structural Studies: February 11, - May 13, 2027
Icon Studies: June 3 - September 2, 2027

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What Is This Course About

This course is the final stage in our series of classes dedicated to drawing the head. It brings together and deepens the knowledge acquired in the previous courses, helping you develop a comprehensive understanding of the anatomy and structural principles of the head in icon painting.

We will study the skull in detail from frontal, profile, and three-quarter views. This will help you understand how to construct the head in a three-quarter view and give you greater confidence when working with different positions of the head.

Particular attention will be given to the differences between classical and iconographic drawing. We will learn how to apply our knowledge of anatomy to iconographic practice while clearly understanding which departures from anatomical structure are possible and which are not.

The course consists of several thematic sections. Beginning with the study of the skull and the structural schemes of the head, we will then move on to iconographic references and gradually observe how these principles function in a specific icon. You will see why a particular line on an iconographic face is curved in a particular way and discover how profoundly the ancient masters understood anatomy.

By the end of the course, you will have a clear understanding of the structure of the head and the tools to draw it confidently in a three-quarter view and other rotations. This course is open to students who have completed “Frontal Face” and “Asymmetrical Faces .”

Details

FOR WHOM

This course is open to students who have completed “Frontal Face” and “Asymmetrical Faces.”

PRICE

The course consists of two sections, each comprising 10 lessons. You can enroll in and pay for each section separately.
Structural Studies — $460 USD /
€405 EUR
Icon Studies — $460 USD /
€405 EUR
All lessons include assignments with personalised mentoring and comprehensive feedback.

DURATION

Structural Studies:
Feb 11 - May 13, 2027

13 weeks / 10 assignments.
Assignments are published weekly, with the schedule adjusted to accommodate the Easter holidays.
Icon Studies:
Jun 3 - Sep 2, 2027

14 weeks / 10 assignments
Four assignments per month in June and July, and two assignments in August. Three extra weeks are given to finish all the assignments.

RESOURCES PROVIDED

Links to practical Full HD video tutorials, reference images, and a pre-recorded lecture per each of the 5 assignments. All materials are shared with students through Google Classroom. All the videos remain available to the students after the end of the Course

LEARNING SUPPORT

Learners are expected to share photographs of their drawings in Google Classroom Stream. Personal feedback from the instructors with their corrections / comments / recommendations is given within 48 hour (weekends excluded). Feedback is guaranteed for the whole period of the course either written in words or/and drawn directly on the uploaded image.

NECESSARY SUPPLIES

Learners only need the most basic materials, such as paper, pencils, eraser, ruler, and a compass with two needles.

WILL I HAVE ENOUGH TIME

We made this program as extensive as possible. Complex tasks are split into manageable parts, making the assignments squeezable between routine work and family duties. We hope it will allow everybody to study at their own pace. Please put about 40 - 60 minutes for watching the video tutorials & at least 3 hours for drawing practice per assignment.

Practical Matters

This course consists of two main sections: Structural Studies and Icon Studies.

The first section, Structural Studies, will run from February 11 to May 13, 2027. New lectures will be published weekly, with breaks during the weeks of Easter in both the Western and Eastern calendars. To ensure that the holidays do not interfere with your progress, we have added three additional weeks at the end of the section for completing your work.

The second section, Icon Studies, will run from June 3 to September 2, 2027. Lectures will be published weekly, with a one-week break after the 4th and 8th lessons. At the end of the section, you will have two additional weeks to complete all assignments.

Access to the Google Classroom and all course videos is for online course participants only and must not be shared with anyone else in any form.

Learning Process

This course is built around a gradual development of understanding rather than simply completing a series of assignments. Throughout the course, we will repeatedly return to the same structural principles from different points of view, allowing you to see how they work in different positions of the head.

The first part of the course is intentionally based on independent construction without references. This gives you the opportunity to test your understanding and identify difficulties before introducing the visual complexity of iconographic examples.

The second part changes the nature of the work. Instead of learning from a reference by observation alone, you will learn to analyse it through the structural knowledge developed in the first part. Each new reference becomes an opportunity to test, apply, and deepen that knowledge.

Your drawings and the feedback you receive are an essential part of this process. We encourage you to share your work throughout the course, including unfinished studies, so that questions and difficulties can be addressed as they arise.

The course is therefore not intended simply to teach you how to reproduce a three-quarter head. Its purpose is to help you develop a way of seeing and analysing the head that you can continue to use independently in your iconographic practice.

Structural Studies. Assignments

Part 1. Head Anatomy and Structure

  • Drawing Method. Asymmetrical Faces. Revision
  • Skull. Frontal and Profile View
  • Skull. Three Quarter View
  • Drawing the Houdon Head
  • Face Muscles. Facial Expression

  • Part 2. Iconographic Heads – Constructing Faces

  • Difference between Realistic and Iconographic Face
  • Straight Head Position. Straight Nose
  • Straight Head Position. Protruding Nose
  • Bowed Head Position. Straight Nose
  • Bowed Head Position. Protruding Nose
  • Structural Studies consists of two blocks: drawing the skull and drawing iconographic heads in different rotations. During these first ten lessons, we will work without references. This is an essential foundation for the subsequent work with references.
    A reference is often so compelling in its expressiveness that, when following it, we can become absorbed by its particular character and set aside the anatomical knowledge we already have. Instead of applying what we know, we simply begin to copy the reference. This is why it is very important to us that, in this section, we work through all the technical difficulties you may encounter before moving on to the references.
    This block will give you all the knowledge necessary to work confidently with the face in a three-quarter view. If you wish, you can then continue working directly from references independently, using the method of working with references that we developed in the previous courses.

    Icon Studies. Assignments

    Part 3. Iconographic Heads –
    From Historical References

  • Different Ways of Working with the Same Model
  • Straight Head Position. Straight Nose
  • Straight Head Position. Protruding Nose
  • Bowed Head Position. Straight Nose
  • Bowed Head Position. Protruding Nose
  • Raised Head Position. Adult and Child Faces
  • Dynamic Turn of the Face
  • How to Use Frescoes and Miniatures as Reference Models
  • How to Use Mosaics as Reference Models
  • How to Work with a Partially Damaged Model: Reconstruction
  • For those who decide to continue with the course, we have created a practical section in which we have selected a series of specific references for each type of head rotation. In this way, we will connect our understanding of anatomy with what we actually see in the reference.
    Some of the most interesting assignments will focus on how to use frescoes and mosaics as references for icon painting, as well as how to work from a damaged or incomplete reference.
    By working in this way, we hope to bring together our understanding of anatomy and the visual language of iconography, allowing you to see how anatomical knowledge underlies the forms of the iconographic face while understanding where and why the iconographic tradition departs from naturalistic anatomy.
    By the end of the course, you will be able to approach an iconographic reference not simply as an image to copy, but as a structured form that you can understand, analyze, and reconstruct.

    Schedule

    STRUCTURAL STUDIES

  • Assignment 1: February 11
  • Assignment 2: February 18
  • Assignment 3: February 25
  • Assignment 4: March 4
  • Assignment 5: March 11
  • Assignment 6: March 18
  • Assignment 7: April 1
  • Assignment 8: April 8
  • Assignment 9: April 15
  • Assignment 10: April 22

  • Homework due: May 13

    ICON STUDIES

  • Assignment 1: June 3
  • Assignment 2: June 10
  • Assignment 3: June 17
  • Assignment 4: June 24
  • Assignment 5: July 8
  • Assignment 6: July 15
  • Assignment 7: July 22
  • Assignment 8: July 29
  • Assignment 9: August 12
  • Assignment 10: August 19

  • Homework due: September 2

    Ready to Enroll?

    The course consists of two sections, each comprising 10 lessons. You can enroll in and pay for each section separately.

    Structural Studies starts on February 11, 2027 and ends on May 13, 2027 (in total - 10 assignments / 13 weeks) - $460 USD / €405 EUR. Assignments are published weekly, with the schedule adjusted to accommodate the Easter holidays.

    Icon Studies Starts on June 3, 2027 and ends on September 2, 2027 (in total - 10 assignments / 14 weeks) - $460 USD / €405 EUR. Assignments are published weekly, with breaks built into the schedule. Three additional weeks are provided at the end to complete all assignments.

    This course is open to students who have completed “Frontal Face” and “Asymmetrical Faces.”

    Making your registration payment, please provide a valid email address, - it will also be used to send you a personal invitation to Google Classroom and all the further communications.

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    If within 80 days from the purchase date you experience health issues forbidding you to participate in the chosen course, we will fully refund the cost of your order.

    The Assignments will be emailed on Thursdays at 00:00 AM Tbilisi time (GMT+4). Please, let us know if you have any questions.
    If you wish to be informed about our future courses and other events, get in touch with us (top-right of this page) or subscribe to our regular Newsletter at the bottom of this page.