The Intensive Drawing Program is the first year of the painting curriculum, and a requirement for entry to the Painting Program. Drawing correctly from nature is a basic skill and the foundation to good painting and sculpture. The program is designed to strengthen the student's visual relationship with three-dimensional form, allowing him to confront the human figure, and eventually to paint in oil.

All students begin by copying 19th century academic drawings (produced by Charles Bargue upon request by Jean Leon Gèrome), then progress to copying plaster casts of antique and Renaissance statues. These exercises focus on outline, proportion, gesture and shadow shape. Students are taught the sight-size method in order to view the subject accurately, and translate three-dimensional form in two dimensions. They apply this method of measurement to casts, still lifes, the human figure and portraiture. Students work through specific exercises, on a step by step progression through the program's curriculum. As each requisite skill is acquired, a new more difficult task is assigned. Upon successful completion of the program, students will have acquired a very high practical ability, together with a deep insight into the theory and historical traditions of drawing. Continuation to the Painting Program is automatic upon successful assessment by the faculty during the End of Term Critique.

Weekly schedule:

Monday – Friday, 9:00 am – 12:00 pm, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Anatomy, Monday, 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm
Evening Figure Drawing, Tuesday or Wednesday, 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm
Humanities, four class meetings per trimester, Thursday, 5:00 pm – 6:30 pm
Art History, four class meetings per trimester, Friday, 5:00 pm – 6:30 pm
Ecorchet (optional), Tuesday and Thursday, 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm