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On a recent evening at the Pacific Art League, the drawing studio was warm and quiet as students set up their easels and gathered their supplies while, in the middle of the room, a nude model prepared to take her first pose. The occasion? Darren Kerr’s figure drawing class, one of the most popular and enduring courses offered by the venerable art school, located in downtown Palo Alto.
Life drawing is considered one of the most fundamental skills for any artist and the study of the human form has been a subject for artists since prehistoric times. During the Renaissance in Italy, artists were expected to master figure drawing before going anywhere near a canvas with paints. Historically available just to male artists, drawing the nude model only became possible for women in the 19th century. It is famously one of the reasons art historian Linda Nochlin put forth in her iconic essay “Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?” (Because women artists did not have access to this critical instruction).
Kerr, who pivoted to art after a career in computer science and who earned an MFA from Academy of Art University in San Francisco in 2012, agrees with the idea that a proficiency in drawing the human body is essential.
“While drawing the human figure from life is very challenging, it is a good challenge and helps all of us improve our drawing skills,” he said. “If you can draw the human figure well with good form, dynamic gesture, good taste and grace, and with a compelling composition, you can draw anything.”
Kerr credits drawing the figure from life as a way to “reinvigorate my vision and motivation and keep my drawings real.” He has developed a successful business painting landscapes, still lifes and portraits of sports figures but it is clear that teaching holds a special place in his heart.
On this evening, Kerr arranged for his longtime model, Sierra, to pose for students. As class began, she stood before a set-up of props such as blocks, blankets and a climbing rope. For the next 30 minutes, she posed for three 10-minute warm-up sessions, moving her arms and twisting her torso so that students could capture different vantage points. Kerr told students that these preliminary postures were intended to “warm up your shoulders.”
SLIDESHOW: Instructor Darren Kerr demonstrates how to do a portrait of a live model during a life drawing class at the Pacific Art League. Photo by Magali Gauthier. 
SLIDESHOW: Michael Campbell works on a quick drawing of a model. Photo by Magali Gauthier. 
SLIDESHOW: Students work on portraits of a model in a life drawing class taught by Darren Kerr at the Pacific Art League. Photo by Magali Gauthier.
Kerr usually has a focus for each class and on this night wanted students to put down their charcoal sticks and try to add some color, via watercolor paints, to their drawings. After a short demonstration of the possible materials (which he had displayed on tables at the back of the room) students began mixing colors and taking them back to their easels. Kerr was a low-key presence in the room, spending some time creating his own drawings, which were shown on a large screen next to the model. He later walked around, looking at students’ work and offering suggestions and positive reinforcement such as “nice lines” or “that’s such a good color.”
Kerr acknowledged that life drawing is challenging. “I would say it is the most challenging of drawing subjects, not because a human being is inherently more difficult to draw than a vase of flowers, but because our expectations are higher — we are so much better at recognizing any minute discrepancies in a drawing of a person than of any other subject,” he said.
It was clear from the level of quiet intensity and focus on the faces of the students that this is not an easy undertaking. Student Lisa Norman shared that she is returning to art after a 20-year break but that, “for me drawing and painting hones and develops visual skills, problem solving and creative thinking.” She credited Kerr for his “open, generous and approachable style.” Another student, Mary Ida Compton, said, “Darren is open to helping students of all levels of artistic expression and provides meaningful feedback during and after my drawing. He is also able to select models who have the features he is trying to get us to understand and represent on paper. And the music is good!”
Sierra lives in Santa Cruz and is a rock climber — a perfect subject for a short session about the anatomy of the shoulder. Using an app called “Complete Anatomy,” Kerr pointed out the musculature of this part of the body and what it takes to make an arm move. He asked Sierra to hold the climbing ropes and move slowly so that he could point out the scapula, rhomboid, latissimus dorsi, etc. Actually identifying these body parts and seeing them move is more instructive than any diagram in a book.
Kerr said, with tongue in cheek, that drawing the body is a skill that takes time and practice to perfect. “For a beginning art student to have a chance to be really good at life drawing, maybe spend a couple hundred hours copying a variety of master figure drawings, another couple of hundred hours drawing from classical sculptures, 50 to 100 hours of anatomy study and drawings, another couple hundred hours drawing the figure from life and you should be pretty good.”
SLIDESHOW: Instructor Darren Kerr demonstrates how to do a quick sketch of a live model during a life drawing class at the Pacific Art League. Photo by Magali Gauthier. 
SLIDESHOW: Students work on quick drawings of a model in a life drawing class taught by Darren Kerr at the Pacific Art League. Photo by Magali Gauthier. 
SLIDESHOW: Art supplies in a box at a life drawing class at the Pacific Art League in Palo Alto. Photo by Magali Gauthier.
During a break, Sierra (who is, by profession, a mental health therapist) said that she has been modeling for many years and really enjoys working for Kerr. In fact, she only works for his classes because “it is a very respectful environment and Darren really cares about art.”
“The life drawing studio is a respectful and collaborative environment. Artists and models give each other space and encouragement and we are all there because we want to be there,” said Kerr. “Art is foremost. The participants come from all backgrounds and skill levels and there is no judgment.”
When asked why, in an age of technological advancements like artificial intelligence and computer-generated imagery, there is still a need to study from the human figure, Kerr was very forthright. “Back in the day, there used to be a saying in the software industry: ‘garbage in, garbage out.’ I am not a fan of AI in the artistic realm — it is inauthentic. You may be able to fool people some of the time, but you will not bring anything new to the table,” he said. “For art students doing character development, the ability to draw gesture and form with movement and balance can only help your growth.”
Darren Kerr teaches three-session life drawing classes at Pacific Art League, 668 Ramona St., Palo Alto, pacificartleague.org.
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