Week 1
Gesture, capturing the action of the figure, the soul of your drawing. This is the first step in your drawing and gives direction to everything that follows. This lesson will show several different approaches to starting your drawing and analyzing the action.
Week 2
Spherical forms, the basic containment of forms, and foundation of 3D drawing. This lesson explains and applies the use of the spherical forms with examples from the past to today.
Week 3
Box Forms, the clarification of the 3D gesture as well as placement of forms spatially. The box is the primary element of both analysis and description of forms in real space as well as a fundamental element of perspective.
Week 4
Combining Spheres and Boxes.In this lesson the focus is upon how forms react with each other to give a sense of the “real”, the bringing your drawing to life. The analysis of reality applied to drawing.
Week 5
Cylinders - cross rendering. The combining of forms and the contours going over and around the form as a traditional tool of description.
Week 6
Bringing the figures to life, squash and stretch, Continuing the analysis of interaction started in Week 4, we focus upon how forms function in showing the gesture, by focusing upon opposites as they help to clarify and describe the action.
Week 7
Basic anatomical landmarks and proportions. An in depth explanation of proportions and their us as landmarks in analyzing action as well in creating anatoomically correct drawings.
Week 8
The Modeling tone as the primary means of rendering form. The introduction of specific means of rendering form using the modeling tone, combing many of the elements discussed in earlier lessons.
Week 9
Furthering the development and use of the modeling tone in the description and analysis of form with examples both modern and historical.
Week 10
Direct light, this lecture is some times referred to as the laws of light. The fundamental elements of direct light are approached as tools that can be manipulated to not only describe form, but as tools of expression.
Figure Drawing 1
Starting July 21, 2025
This online course is developed from the Basic Figure Drawing course that I teach world wide and is the basis for the Vilppu Drawing Manual. This course consists not only of my video lectures, but also includes lectures using the tablet computer as I do in my regular classes. Figure Drawing 1 focuses on the gesture, using simple volumes consistent with traditional figure construction as a means of communicating and analyzing the gesture as well as the fundamentals of rendering form with tone and line.
This course is the best investment you can make in your life if you truly have a passion for drawing. You will not only learn the fundamentals of drawing the human figure, but if you listen and observe carefully, you will discover many hidden treasures.
I'm not going to thank Glenn for my career because I no longer care about it, and I'm glad I don't. Instead, I'm going to thank him forever for giving me back the joy of drawing, for letting me see what I wasn't seeing before, and for inspiring me to one day be good enough to teach others the joy of drawing and keep alive this passion that makes us human.
I'm forever grateful for your soul, your teachings, and your choice to dedicate your life to being a teacher. You are a Master.
A big hug from your student,
Gabriela.
I have taken this course twice. Both times have been two of the biggest leaps in quality for my artwork. The way Glenn teaches drawing is unmatched, and though this course is called Figure 1, it has forever changed my approach to drawing any subject. I cannot thank Glenn enough for all that he has taught me, and I will be coming back whenever I can to learn more from one of the best artists I’ve had the pleasure of learning under.
I took the live, in-person, Rome(Italy) 7-day Workshop, where Glenn taught a LOT of drawing topics. Part of the workshop was Figure 1, so here is my review.
Like all of education, the same is true in drawing: there is no match to a live, in-person, drawing study…and in this case, especially with Glenn as a teacher who is super inspirational and Also one who also knows when, where and how to provide direction.
I explain bellow, providing examples..
First of all I have to say this:
I went into the course as a beginner. At the end of the workshop, after being affected by the drawing energy and aura of the intensive drawing course that it was, I was able to at least draw 1 good gesture drawing in the Vilppu way. Basically, Glenn helped me reach a height in my drawing skill in such a small duration of time which I never could have achieved on my own. Of course, that skill faded away very soon after the course had finished 😆...as it happens with these things…but Glenn’s words stayed with me and over the years, as I kept practicing and as my drawing awareness was improving, I was able to understand his teachings...
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So, Glenn drew a few sketches on my sketchbook during the workshop.
He was SO playful with them...with the lines....and the way he was talking about the process!
and I was so lost!!
I was like a hoarder having all my stuff thrown into a very small closet!
In my brain, as well as my sketches, everything was crammed together in a tight space!!!
in my head: “what?!how does he just draw the lines like that?!?”
and Glenn was just smiling and being very playful with them...
then he must have seen my face and immediately realized I am not “there” yet 😄😄
..so he just moved on..
..but whenever he came back, he was the same!! Playful with the lines..with the process!
And because of the above, It was a while later when realized, one of Glenn’s most important teachings: ”Do not Copy. Analyse.”
That you can only be Playful in analysis and not in copying! And because of that, in drawing, analysis is not paralysis! copying is paralysis! And analysis is freedom!!
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At another point during the workshop, I couldn’t grasp some overlapping, going on, between the thorax and the pelvis, at the flank pad area. So, after a couple of days went by and because I wasn’t getting it, Glenn decided to help me by drawing, 1 simple small line, at the exact right second for me – which changed EVERYTHING about how I was looking at the figure.
He almost drew it hesitantly, but I wasn't going anywhere without it😂
Glenn realized it and I am so lucky and thankful of that.
Knowing myself, it would have taken me a few years to overcome that issue...
and there were many more moments like that…and many more answers Glenn gave us during the workshop, which are still maturing in my brain..
Hands down, best drawing experience in my life and Best way I could have taken Figure 1.
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Lastly, Glenn is a Great storyteller!!! He used storytelling combined with drawing, to help me understand a couple of concepts!
Bless you Both Glenn and Eleanor!
As a professional illustrator and passionate artist I highly recommend studying with Glenn. Choose the subject which is most interesting to you and start from there. Over the years I have attended Figure Drawing One and Two, Composition One and Two, Head Drawing, Head Painting and Anatomy. Some of these several times. All of Glenn’s lessons and critiques helped me to improve my drawing and painting skills with the tools he provides. His videocritiques with comments and recommendations are very important for me to improve my skills.
After almost ten years of studying with Glenn my toolbox of Vilppu drawing tools (which I use without rules) is still growing and I cherish every part of it. I use what I have learned every day and it is a pleasure to have it because I love to draw from imagination.
Glenn's courses have helped improve my drawing skills in many ways. I have achieved goals that I dreamed of and there are more on my list which I can tackle with my improved skills. Thank you Glenn.
This class concisely covers the fundamental steps to not only draw the figure, but how to look at and study everything in the visual arts with a new light.
