THE RYDER STUDIO
SUMMER WORKSHOPS
2025
Back view of a seated woman, pencil on paper, 24x18, Anthony Ryder, 1995
THE RYDER STUDIO SUMMER WORKSHOPS:
These two-week workshops introduce new students to classes at The Ryder Studio, and provide returning students with opportunities to continue advancing their studies.
CLASS SCHEDULE:
Tony demonstrates each morning for two hours, and then works with the students individually for the rest of the day. Assistant instructors, depending on class size are Celeste Simon Ryder and John Reger.
9:30-11:30: Demonstration
11:30-11:45: Break
11:45-12:30: Drawing/Painting
12:30-1:30: Lunch
1:30-4:30: Drawing/Painting
DEMONSTRATIONS:
The demonstrations are accompanied by lectures on the procedures of drawing and painting, especially those being manifested on the day in particular, plus Ted's commentaries and instructions, along with responses to students' questions, and other subjects of drawing and painting. The combination of real-time narrative, watching the actual coming together of the drawing or painting, paying attention to the action of the pencil or the brush, and the constant remembrance of Ted's teaching is very helpful, weaving together a gestalt that transcends the boundaries of matter and meaning, connecting the material drawing with a true understanding of deep significance. The performance of Ted's principles of drawing and painting is shown to work in fact and to be worthy of emulation. The demonstrations provide students with a broad picture of the work of drawing and painting, and an in-depth examination of the interwoven fabric of methods and thought processes that constitute drawing and painting at The Ryder Studio.
Semi-reclining man with arm raised, pencil on paper, 24x18, Celeste Simon Ryder, 2011
FIGURE and PORTRAIT DRAWING
In the belief that the most effective learning tool for drawing is the multi-level experience of drawing itself, The Ryder Studio drawing workshops present students with an immersive life drawing experience. Six hours daily, for two weeks, of demonstrations and practice of drawing from life. The workshops offer an initiation into the manual, procedural, and analytical techniques of pencil drawing. Suitable for artists of all levels wishing to develop a deeper understanding of the classical tradition of realistic figure and portrait drawing. The focus is on patience, craft, observation, and understanding of drawing principles. Medium: Graphite pencil on white drawing paper.
FIGURE DRAWING COURSE DESCRIPTION:
An introduction to seeing. The information sent by the eyes to the brain, this already-seen reality, is in this course of study brought again to the light and re-cognized, made known again, except that this time it is made known to the conscious mind. The class begins with the movement and shape of the figure, and proceeds to the form and the light. Step by step, manual skills are broken down and demonstrated, from the simplest to the most complex. From the first, the use of the pencils and the many different marks they make are shown. The procedure of the drawing is laid out, from beginning to end. The two-week training reveals our given visual experience and teaches the particular abilities that belong to each stage of the drawing process. Fundamentals of academic ‘long-pose’ figure drawing.
Participants are introduced to a succession of linear and tonal stages:
1) ENVELOPE: a simple, foundational shape encompassing the whole figure
2) BLOCK-IN: the complex, abstract shape of the figure
3) CONTOUR: the specific, linear description of the silhouette of the figure
4) DRAWING ON THE INSIDE: the tonal description of the form of the body within the confines of the contour.
For a detailed schedule see:
2024 WORKSHOP SYLLABUS
To register for classes:
REGISTRATION & PAYMENT
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Homage to Vermeer, pencil on paper, 17x14, Anthony Ryder, 1995
PORTRAIT DRAWING CLASS DESCRIPTION
Like figure drawing, portrait drawing is an initiation into the science of seeing, and simultaneously an introduction to the manual art of creating a drawing with a series of pencil strokes. Instruction in portrait drawing begins as does figure drawing with the precepts of movement and shape, progressing to form and light. Each step of the way corresponds to certain of the teachings of Ted Jacobs by which we light our path in the making of the drawing. Adhering to the principles of drawing as we received them from our teacher, we gradually ascend stage by stage, from general to specific, to the fully realized portrait. The demonstrations of the first week revolve around the portrait drawing process as a whole, from beginning to end, while the daily demonstrations of the second week focus on the individual features.
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Blues Man, detail, oil on linen, 12x10, Celeste Simon Ryder, 2014
PORTRAIT PAINTING COURSE DESCRIPTION
This two-week workshop is an immersion in the fundamentals of form painting, a traditional oil painting method, and the manual, procedural, and analytical techniques of a refined, articulate, realistic approach to portrait painting in oil.
Students receive instruction in how to go about setting up their own studio practice. The organization of the studio (lighting, models, easels), set-up of the student’s easel (canvas, palette, brushes, etc.), and the step-by-step procedures of painting, are all presented to the student as important factors in a systematic approach to the work of painting from life. This structured method of painting the portrait in oil is taught in five stages:
1) Poster study
2) Vine charcoal drawing
3) Ink-in
4) Wash-in underpainting
5) Direct, dark-to-light, wet-into-wet, "Form Painting”
For a detailed schedule see:
2024 WORKSHOP SYLLABUS
To register for classes:
REGISTRATION & PAYMENT
​
Erika Demetriou, oil on linen, 12x9, Anthony Ryder, 2015