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Professional Art Academy Program in Austin

Dojo Academy offers classical training with a contemporary perspective — rigorous training in drawing and painting from observation with an emphasis on the figure and portrait as we work from a live model. At Atelier Dojo, we believe that all forms of realism are fundamentally based in the drawing of abstract shapes and patterns. Thus, we embrace the wide spectrum of realist art. We provide the student with training in traditional techniques, working from direct observation so that with time and practice, they will ultimately find their own voice. 

  • All Terms: 12 Weeks Long, 1 to 8 Classes Per Week (Depending On Your Personal Schedule)

    • Fall Term: September 11 - December 8, 2023 (No Classes Thanksgiving Week)

    • Winter Term: January 2 - March 29, 2024 (No Classes the Week of Spring Break)

    • Spring Term: April 9 - June 28, 2024

  • Tuition for 12-week term (2024 Rates)

    • 5 sessions/week $2100

    • 4 sessions/week $1800

    • 3 sessions/week $1500

    • 2 sessions/week $1100

    • 1 session/week $660

    4 or 5 sessions includes unlimited studio time and any Mon afternoon or Fri night open studios with model.

  • We are currently full for our Winter 2024 term, but are accepting applications for Spring 2024.

    To Apply: please email info@atelierdojo.com

    Describe what you hope to get out of our program & submit samples of your work (drawings & paintings). Please know that no previous experience is required — we welcome those of you completely new to this!

Program OVERVIEW

Students begin the program working with Bargue plates. These are instructional plates developed by Charles Bargue and were widely used in the French Academy in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Students copy these plates with the goal to improve their observational skills, by breaking down the visual information into shapes of shadow and light. When they finish two successful drawings in graphite and charcoal, they graduate to Cast Drawing.

Cast Drawing/Painting is an excellent exercise for learning to take three dimensional visual information and transfer it to a two dimensional surface. Working from plaster casts of classical sculptures teaches the student how to measure and block in information efficiently, how to understand the effect of light on form, learn to recognize shapes translate them into a pattern of value or light and dark and consequently draw and paint this cast realistically. This method has been used historically in academies going back to the 1600s. Pablo Picasso and Jackson Pollack even studied this method. It is a great way to develop one’s eye and learn the skills necessary when encountering more complicated settings with the figure or the portrait.

Another significant component of the academy program is drawing and painting from a live model. Students learn methods of measurement: sight-size, triangulation, comparative, and utilizing a plumb line; basic figure drawing, how to simplify shapes and values, how to get accurate proportions, blocking and achieving the perspective of the figure and ultimately how to apply accurate color in the Painting program.

 

Program Outline

  • Trimester 1

    • Bargue Drawing — one beginner pencil and one intermediate/advanced charcoal

    • Figure Drawing (Long Pose)— 20 session pose charcoal on white paper plus 4 session preparatory pencil study OR Figure Drawing (Multiple Poses)*

    • Portrait Drawing (Long Pose) — 12 session pose charcoal on white paper OR Portrait Drawing (Multiple Poses)*

    Trimester 2

    • Cast Drawing — one beginner feature in charcoal on white paper / one beginner feature in charcoal and white chalk on toned paper

    • Figure Drawing (Long Pose) — 20 session pose charcoal on white paper plus 4 session preparatory pencil study OR Figure Drawing (Multiple Poses)*

    • Portrait Drawing (Long Pose) — 12 session pose charcoal on white paper OR Portrait Drawing (Multiple Poses)*

    Trimester 3

    • Cast Drawing — one mask in charcoal on white paper

    • Figure Drawing (Long Pose) — 20 session pose charcoal and chalk on toned paper plus 4 session preparatory pencil study on toned paper OR Figure Drawing (Multiple Poses)*

    • Portrait Drawing (Long Pose) — 12 session pose charcoal or graphite and chalk on toned paper OR Portrait Drawing (Multiple Poses)*

    *NOTE: The Figure and Portrait Classes include both long pose format and shorter (multiple) pose format. For the drawing curriculum and for beginning painting, students are required to take equal number of long and multiple pose classes to satisfy curriculum.

  • Trimester 4

    • Cast Drawing — mask in charcoal and white chalk on toned paper.

    • Figure Drawing (Long Pose) — 20 session pose charcoal and chalk on toned paper plus 4 session preparatory pencil study on toned paper OR Figure Drawing (Multiple Poses)*

    • Portrait Drawing (Long Pose) — 12 session pose charcoal or graphite and chalk on toned paper OR Portrait Drawing (Multiple Poses)*

    Trimester 5

    • Cast Painting — full cast in grisaille. NOTE: may need to supplement class hours with additional hours to finish cast.

    • Figure Painting — 20 session pose in grisaille plus 4 session preparatory pencil study on toned paper OR Figure Painting (Multiple Poses)*

    • Portrait Painting— 12 session pose in grisaille OR Portrait Painting (Multiple Poses)

    Trimester 6

    • Cast Painting — full cast in limited palette. NOTE: may need to supplement class hours with additional hours to finish cast.

    • Figure Painting — 20 session pose in limited palette plus 4 session preparatory pencil study on toned paper and color study OR Figure Painting (Multiple Poses)*

    • Portrait Painting—12 session pose in grisaille or limited palette OR Portrait Painting (Multiple Poses)

    *NOTE: The Figure and Portrait Classes include both long pose format and shorter (multiple) pose format. For the drawing curriculum and for beginning painting, students are required to take equal number of long and multiple pose classes to satisfy curriculum.

  • Trimester 7

    • Independent Full Size Portrait with hands Project or Still Life — limited palette.

    • Figure Painting — 24 session pose in limited palette (includes preparatory study and color study) OR Figure Painting (Multiple Poses)

    • Portrait Painting— 12 session pose in limited palette OR Portrait Painting (Multiple Poses)

    Trimester 8

    • Independent Full Size Portrait with hands Project or Still Life— full color.

    • Figure Painting — 24 session pose in full color (includes preparatory study and color study) OR Figure Painting

    • Portrait Painting — 12 session pose in full color OR Portrait Painting (Multiple Poses)

    Trimester 9

    • Independent Full Size Portrait with hands Project or Still Life — full color.

    • Figure Painting — 24 session pose in full color (includes preparatory study and color study) OR Figure Painting

    • Portrait Painting —12 session pose in full color OR Portrait Painting (Multiple Poses)

    *NOTE: The Figure and Portrait Classes include both long pose format and shorter (multiple) pose format. For the drawing curriculum and for beginning painting, students are required to take equal number of long and multiple pose classes to satisfy curriculum.

 

Requirements

To receive a Dojo Academy Drawing Certificate & Dojo Academy Painting Certificate, student must complete successful passing projects below (satisfactory to rubric)

DRAWING PROGRAM:

  • 2 Bargue Plate Drawings

  • 2 Cast Drawings on white paper

  • 2 Cast Drawings on toned paper

  • 2 long pose figure project (one white/ one toned)

  • 2 multiple pose figure projects (one white/ one toned)

  • 2 long pose portrait projects (one white/ one toned)

  • 2 multiple pose portrait projects (one white/ one toned)

PAINTING PROGRAM:

  • 1 full cast painting in grisaille

  • 1 full cast painting in limited palette

  • 1 long pose figure painting in grisaille

  • 1 multiple pose figure painting in color

  • 1 long pose figure painting in color

  • 2 figure painting projects in full color (long pose or multiple poses)

  • 1 long pose portrait painting in grisaille

  • 1 long pose portrait painting in limited palette

  • 1 multiple pose portrait painting in limited palette

  • 2 portrait painting projects in full color (long pose or multiple poses)

  • 3 Independent portrait projects or still lives — full color

 

sample SCHEDULEs

For students with time and ambition who are ready to immerse themselves and would like a full academy experience, we recommend taking a full week (5 classes). Students have the option of enrolling in 2, 4 or 5 sessions per week, to accentuate flexibility for individuals. All students must begin with Bargue/Cast. A student can only enroll in figure if they are taking or have taken Intro; a student can only enroll in Portrait if they are taking or have taken Intro and Figure.

A student can take a set of morning Bargues/Cast OR afternoon; a set of morning Figure OR afternoon.  One set of classes (a Bargue/Cast class or the figure) cannot be split into a morning and afternoon.  However a student can take the afternoon Bargue/Cast and the morning Figure, for example.

Morning classes meet 9:30am - 12:30pm
Afternoon classes meet 1:30pm - 4:30pm

For Students who can commit 5 days:

  • Mon am Bargue/Cast OR Mon pm Bargue/Cast

  • Tues am Long Pose Figure OR Tues pm Multiple Pose Figure

  • Wed am Bargue/Cast OR Wed pm Bargue/Cast

  • Thurs am Long Pose Figure OR Thurs pm Multiple Pose Figure

  • Fri am Portrait

For students who can commit 4 days:

  • Mon am Bargue/Cast OR Mon pm Bargue/Cast

  • Tues am Long Pose Figure OR Tues pm Multiple Pose Figure

  • Wed am Bargue/Cast OR Wed pm Bargue/Cast

  • Thurs am Long Pose Figure OR Thurs pm Multiple Pose Figure

For students who would like to have a taste of Academy life but can only commit to 2 sessions per week:

  • Mon am Bargue/Cast OR Mon pm Bargue/Cast

  • Wed am Bargue/Cast OR Wed pm Bargue/Cast

Ready to take your art to the next level? Contact us to learn more about enrollment and start advancing your skills today!

 

Instructors

Jennifer Balkan

Dojo Academy Director

Jennifer grew up in New Jersey and began to draw at a very young age. She studied neuroscience at Lehigh University and later attained her Ph.D. from UT Austin in Sociology in 2001 after conducting anthropological fieldwork in Mexico. Although her experience in Mexico was rich, Jennifer longed for artistic creativity. In August of 2001, Jennifer spent a month in Spain, France, and Italy where she saw masterworks that would become her inspiration. Upon returning, she began studying panting and drawing from observation, taking classes at Laguna Gloria Art School and the Austin Fine Arts School leading to further study at the Art Students League in Denver and through various painting workshops. She’s been teaching figure and portrait painting in oils to small groups of students since 2006. In 2018, Jennifer cofounded Atelier Dojo with Denise Fulton and Karen Offutt; and in 2021, she applied her training to study classical academic methods at our very own Dojo Academy. Her work has been exhibited across the United States and in Europe and has been featured in a number of national and international art publications. Her portraits have received awards by the Portrait Society of America; she was awarded “Best Visual Artist” by the Austin Chronicle’s Readers’ Poll and nominated by the Austin Critics Table for Austin’s Best Visual Artist and has had her work juried into “New American Paintings.”  She has had numerous solo shows in the U.S. and a solo exhibition in Ireland.   With her love for teaching and her commitment to the growth of our young Academy, Jennifer became Dojo Academy’s director this year.

For more about Jennifer and her work, visit www.jenniferbalkan.net.

Jeff Markowsky

Jeff Markowsky was born in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, Canada. When he wasn’t playing hockey as a child, he was drawing, painting or sculpting figures with leftover clay found in his mother’s pottery studio. His formal education as a painter began in graduate school with Gregory Crane and then with Frank Mason at the Art Students League in New York City.

Markowsky taught Drawing and Painting at The School of Visual Arts in Savannah and then at the Savannah College of Art and Design before stepping away from  full time academia to travel across North America painting en plein air and living a nomadic life.

Markowsky was honored to win the Museum Purchase Award at 2022 Plein Air Texas in San Angelo Texas. He won the Grand Prize at the 3rd Annual Saint Augustine Plein Air Festival in 2019. He was the 2018 Grand Prize winner of the Lighthouse Art Center 5th Annual Plein Air Festival in Tequesta Florida and returned in 2019 as judge.

He is a member of both The American Impressionist Society and The Oil Painters of America. He was juried in to the 2023 AIS National and Small Works Exhibitions and was juried in to the 2023 OPA Eastern Regional Exhibition in Beverly McNeil Gallery in Birmingham, Alabama.

For more about Jeff and his work, visit www.jeffmarkowsky.com.


Nate Seay

Nathan Seay was born in Englewood, Colorado in 1989. After studying in an atelier setting with Internationally recognized portrait painter Vilas Tonape for 4 years, he then proceeded to the University of South Florida where he graduated in 2014. Following graduation, Nathan continued his training abroad with a stint at the Repin Academy in St. Petersburg and a one year artist residency at Muamsa Temple in South Korea.

Nathan has participated in exhibitions across the United States and in South Korea, and his work has been published in The Artist Magazine. In 2018 Nathan was commissioned to complete the official portrait for the Dean of the University of Portland. Nathan is a recipient of the John F and Anna Lee Stacey Scholarship, and a grant from the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation. He currently lives and works in Austin, Texas.

For more about Nate and his work, visit www.nathanseay.com