Russian Drawing Course Part 24: Cast of the Cadaver

[New Masters Academy]

In this part of the Russian Academic Drawing Course, we take everything we’ve learned about light and shadow and apply it to an organic element, figuring out where to establish our major changes in plane. In this lesson, we will be using a cadaver cast to analyze and render the forms of the face.

Students are encouraged to work from the NMA reference images and 3D viewer included on this page*.

Join Ukrainian-born artist Iliya Mirochnik as he passes on a 250-year-old academic method preserved at the Repin Academy in Saint Petersburg, Russia and seldom taught outside of the Academy and never before on camera.

The Russian Academic drawing and painting approaches were uninterrupted by the modern art movements that transformed representational art in the West, and as a result, they provide a unique and clear lineage to the greater art traditions of the past. As a powerful approach that is both constructive and depictive, it combines the two methods that prevail in contemporary representational art.

In this series of drawing courses, we have set out to condense the entire program, spanning over eight years into a logical, step-by-step procedure. We have made improvements and added resources and exercises to explicitly drive home the concepts that are required to work in this approach.

We have also structured the course so that it is not only useful for professional and experienced artists but also artists with no drawing experience whatsoever.

In the last part of our Russian Academic Drawing Course, Iliya brought together the knowledge we learned about Anatomy in order to complete a fully rendered figure drawing. In this next part, Casts of the Face, you use your understanding of the technique to explore these important and organic forms.

The New Masters Academy Coaching Program directly supports this Course. If you enroll in the coaching program, you can request an artist trained in the Russian Academic Method including Iliya Mirochnik himself. Click here to enroll in the Coaching Program.

Materials

• Graphite pencils
• Kneaded and Hard Erasers
• Roll of Paper, Smooth Sketchbook paper
• Easel
• Light source

* Reference material is only available for premium subscriptions. If you don’t have premium access to the reference, you can pause the video when the reference is shown.

[Petr Bednarik]

I started to paint a year ago and have not taken any classes till now. This is my first course in drawing and my second drawing I have done in my life. I love the way Iliya is teaching, how he explains things as well as his sense of humor. Thank you!! I highly recommend this course. I tried to upload the drawing but was not able to figure it out….

 

[Daniel Daigle]

Hi Petr, I am glad to hear you are enjoying Iliya’s course 😀

to upload an image, click the icon that looks like two mountains and a sun, then click the icon that looks like a manila folder and a magnifying glass, then locate the files destination and click open. Its important to let the page finish loading before exiting or refreshing. If this doesn’t work, it might be because your file is too large, Id recommend uploading files no larger than 10mb, though you might be able to go up to 20mb

[Petr Bednarik]

Hi Daniel, 

Thank you for looking into it.  I did try all that. I clicked on the image symbol and the window opened up. Since the magnifying glass symbol didn’t do anything I could just simply drop the “image” into that window. I could see the green plus and the link in the window. I checked the link and it was correct. When I clicked OK a square with a question mark inside and a box for alignment, edit and remove appeared. However, the image was not in there. I read the note underneath stating the file limitation so I did scale it to 3.5 Mb. I tried jpg, PDF and even the iPhone file. I even tried to enlarge the square with the question mark inside and drop the image right into it. I could see the plus symbol showing it should be accepted but that didn’t work either.  I have an iMac but I don’t think it should matter. I am not sure where the problem is as I could see images of others in the forums.

I thank you anyway.

Petr

 

[Daniel Daigle]

Hmm, I’m stumped. I just did a test from my employee account and my personal account with success both times. I do know that drag and drop is not officially supported though. My wild card guess is that maybe you have something preventing popups?
Can you test in a different internet browser?

[Petr Bednarik]

Finally! I had to change the internet browser. My Safari didn’t do…. LOL  All is good as always… Thank you for your help and the suggestion Daniel!

So this is my second drawing in my life… I hope Iliya would be pleased with the impact of his teaching. I am… Thank you!

 

[Daniel Daigle]

Great work Petr!
May I comment that the crown of the head might be a little too high, considering this is your second drawing.. Fantastic. I look forward to seeing your progress

[Petr Bednarik]

The Pre-Renaissance Bust with Iliya Mirochnik…

This one was really difficult. I have always admired those who can draw but had no idea how difficult it actually is. Now I do and they have all my respect and admiration.

[Diana Rosero]

Really good for your first drawing course, Petr!!

I want to start my cast of the cadaver and uploaded it, do you know the exact measurement of the paper he recommends? A2  42 x 59,4 cm maybe?

Thank you, keep sharing your progress!

[Petr Bednarik]

Hi Diana, there is no recommendation for the paper size. I am using either cca 23x30cm or 46x61cm. Smaller for the nose, lips, eyes…. bigger for the head. Your paper size will be just fine. Good luck. It is fun and Iliya is a great teacher with a great sense of humor. You will like it. I am also taking classes by Joseph Todorovitch. Also very good.

Petr

[Nikola]

Hi Iliya,

Would it be possible to hear about who Andrea Appiani was?

Google says he was Neoclassical painter however wikipedia image is nothing like the reference mask used for the drawing, suppose he must be another Andrea…

It would be nice to meditate on who he was while drawing…

Thank you and Kind Regards

Nikola

[Daniel Daigle]

Hi Nikola, I was able to track down the original source of the cast to confirm that it is accredited to the death mask of Appiani Andrea the painter
https://www.gipsoteca.it/photo_11239539.html#photos_id=11239539

I hope this helps

[Robert Nawe]

Whats that blue pencil that is used in this drawing?

[Daniel Cairns]

I can confidently say that this is the best independent class I’ve ever taken on any subject. Please tell Iliya that he is simply a phenomenal teacher (and artist). I have a career in Marketing (mostly graphic design), and this has been the greatest and most demanding project of my life. (Part of the ear is from another reference model).

• This reply was modified 2 years ago by Daniel Cairns.
• This reply was modified 2 years ago by Daniel Cairns.

[Jose Diaz]

This is my first drawing I upload. What do think? 

[Author]

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