Drawing with Traditional Mixed Media

What you'll learn

Learn to draw using mixed media with our drawing short courses in Sydney!

Unlock your creative potential with our Drawing with Traditional Mixed Media course in Sydney. Discover how to use an exciting range of materials to create dynamic and expressive drawings. You’ll work with black, sanguine red, and white chalk pastel pencils, pen and ink, ink wash, gouache, and a variety of coloured papers. Through this hands-on course, you’ll explore various techniques to convey form, tone, atmosphere, and texture. Whether you’re a beginner or already have some drawing experience, this course offers the perfect opportunity to build your skills and confidence in a fun, supportive environment.

Each week, you’ll experiment with new mediums and artistic approaches, from creating rock studies with charcoal and gouache to learning how to capture fabric with drapery studies. You’ll also draw inspiration from the techniques of master artists like Benjamin Robert Haydon and George Seurat, and experience an exciting excursion to Hyde Park to apply your new skills on location. The course culminates in a study of The Kiss by Theodore Gericault, combining all you’ve learned to create a striking final piece. With each class, you’ll refine your drawing abilities while exploring your creative voice in a relaxed, inspiring setting.

Learning outcomes

By the end of this course, students should be able to:

• Confidently use a variety of drawing materials, both individually and in creative combinations.
• Refine essential drawing skills, including accurate proportion, form, and tonal rendering.
• Understand and apply the techniques of historical artists, bringing their influences into your own contemporary practice.
• Strengthen your ability to convey light, texture, and depth through different mediums and styles.
• Create more expressive and technically refined drawings, from still life to landscape to figure studies.

Course content

What will be covered in this drawing course?

• Week 1: Rock Studies
  Create rock studies using charcoal, black chalk, pen and ink, ink wash, and white gouache on coloured paper to explore different materials and textures.
• Week 2: Drapery Studies
  Learn to draw drapery in pencil, pen and ink, and ink wash, focusing on capturing folds and the play of light and shadow.
• Week 3: Benjamin Robert Haydon – Skull Drawing
  Draw and shade a skull using black and white chalk on coloured paper, applying classical techniques for depth and dimension.
• Week 4: Trois Crayon
  Use three chalk pencils on buff paper to convey warm and cool values, with the option to add water for bolder accents.
• Week 4: George Seurat – Tonality and Light
  Recreate a Seurat drawing using black chalk to understand his approach to light, tone, and shading.
• Week 5: Excursion to Hyde Park – Tonality and Light
  Apply Seurat’s tonal techniques to a live landscape in Hyde Park, practicing light and shade in real-world settings.
• Week 6: Giovanni Francesco Castiglione Monotype
  Copy a Castiglione monotype using white gouache on black or inked watercolour paper, exploring both transparent and opaque gouache techniques.
• Week 7: Theodore Gericault’s The Kiss
  Combine black chalk, ink wash, and gouache to recreate Gericault’s The Kiss, bringing together skills learned throughout the course.

Intended audience

Who is this drawing course for?

This course is suitable for both beginners and students with some drawing experience who want to explore and expand their skills with different mediums.

Course venue

Rozelle Campus

2A Gordon Street, Rozelle NSW 2039 (corner of Gordon St & Victoria Rd on the grounds of St. Joseph's Church)

Course materials

What to bring to class

Option 1: Purchase a full materials kit at enrolment checkout. This will be supplied at your first class.

Option 2: Uncheck the materials kit at enrolment checkout and bring your own - Materials List

*Materials kits are ordered from our supplier and can take up to a week to arrive. If you enrol close to the start date, you may receive your kit at the second session instead of the first.

Additional information

Please note the following:

• Closed-in shoes required
• Please wear old clothes and/or bring an apron
• Long hair must be tied back