Visualizing and Drawing Anatomy Workshop

This four-week workshop utilizes live models as well as anatomical illustrations from the New York Academy of Medicine’s historical collections to teach participants to look beneath the skin of the human body and draw the structures and tissues giving the body its shape and character.

Each class starts with an exploration of body parts and systems in the Academy’s Drs. Barry and Bobbi Coller Rare Book Reading Room. Afterwards, Willberg will draw musculoskeletal structures on a live model so that students may practice visualizing and drawing the skeleton and muscles of a living body.

This is not a figure drawing workshop. Our focus will be on visually locating and rendering the anatomy of the body on the page in order to enhance (figure) drawing skills. All skill levels are welcome.

Participants should bring a sketchpad and drawing implements of their choice. Handouts are provided. Homework assignments will be given to participants wanting further practice of these skills.

About the Workshop Leader:

Kriota Willberg explores the intersection of body sciences with creative practice through drawing, writing, performance, and needlework. She has taught anatomy in a variety of institutions including the Center for Cartoon Studies, Marymount Manhattan College, NYU, and the Society of Illustrators. As a cartoonist she is best known for her mini comics about injury prevention for cartoonists and her comics series, Pathology Laffs. Her projects have received support from The American Antiquarian Society, the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC), Franklin Furnace, and others. Her blog, thecinematologist.blogspot.com examines medical themes through the lens of Hollywood film. Willberg is a massage therapist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (but they do not endorse any of her comics or other projects). You can see more of her work at http://kriotawelt.blogspot.com/.