Experimental Drawing

Whether you've never picked up a pencil with any intention or you've drawn for years and feel your work has plateaued, this workshop will help you experiment with new materials, push past the limits of what you believe drawing can be for you, get more expressive marks on the page, and challenge the way you see.

Each session uses structured exercises drawn from Robert Kaupelis' experimental approach to drawing — working with line, contour, texture, and form in ways that deliberately challenge how you see before you draw. Some exercises will feel unusual, which is entirely the point. Over four weeks, you will develop your own graphic vocabulary through sustained experimentation. You will watch your drawings become more accurate, more alive, and unmistakably yours. You will sharpen your capacity to observe and explore new materials and techniques.

Drawing is fundamentally an act of attention. The exercises in this workshop are designed to train exactly that — to slow down perception and direct it toward what is genuinely in front of you: edges, weight, negative space, the relationships between things. For beginners and advanced, this is a productive place to start because it builds the foundations of seeing before anything else. There is no "correct result" to reproduce, but a quality of observation to deepen. That freedom, combined with clear structure, creates the conditions for real and rapid growth — often surprising to participants themselves.

SUPPLIES: The following supplies or their equivalent are recommended for this class. If you have questions or concerns about purchasing supplies, please let us know prior to the class start.

Paper
- 18” x 24” Newsprint Pad
- Good drawing paper/Charcoal sheets 18” x 24” or larger (Recommended brands: Arches, Fabriano, Strathmore, Stonehenge)
- Sketchbook–small portable 9” x 12” tracing paper pad

Materials
- Compressed charcoal sticks and charcoal pencils, 4B & 6B (Black & White)
- Pencils–Staedtler Mars 3B, 4B, 6B,H5, H3
- 1-2 white soft pastels Rembrandt, Sennilier or similar brands
- Ball point pen & or Marker Black India ink-permanent
- Pen points and pen holders (larger holder, larger points round and flat)
- #6 Japanese bamboo brush (or similar size)
- 1 bottle Black India or Black writing fluid
- Eraser

NOTE: For local sourcing, we recommend Bloomington Fine Art Supply, an independent art store located at 207 S. Rogers Street near the corner of 4^th and Rogers Streets. Bloomington Fine Art Supply’s website is bfasupply.com, their phone number is 812-369-4013, and their email is bfa.supply@gmail.com.