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I'm excited to tell you about my new course: The Animated Figure: Drawing Gesture, Character and Life
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Richard Williams — the legendary animator behind The Pink Panther, and Who Framed Roger Rabbit, spent decades insisting that life drawing was the irreplaceable foundation of everything. Not just a warm-up.

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I spent years teaching figure drawing to third-year animation students at Sheridan College, and I watched that conviction prove itself over and over. Students who committed to drawing the figure — really drawing it, with weight and story and feeling — came back years later to tell me it was the training that changed everything. Especially the speed. Especially the ability to express a body in motion and bring it to life on the page.
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This new workshop brings everything I learned from those years to any drawer who wants to push their work further.
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​Dynamic Character Figure Drawing: The Influence of Animation
4 Wednesdays · May 22 – June 11, 2026 · 2–5 pm ET · Live online · $225 USD

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What you'll explore:

The course centres on gestural figure drawing, using both life and costumed figures in poses that tell stories and evoke feeling. Poses that express attitude, body language. We'll work across media: pencil, pen, conté, ink, markers: whatever gives you the pace, rhythm, and poetry to capture the figure on the page.

Anatomy is addressed practically and playfully. The goal is never anatomical accuracy for its own sake; it's understanding the body well enough to exaggerate it in exactly the right direction.

At the heart of it all is a productive paradox: drawing responsively and observationally while remaining open to invention and imagination.​

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The building blocks

These are the principles of character figure drawing — and they are also the principles of animation:

Pose and mood; Shade and form; Weight and solidity; Line and silhouette; Action and reaction; Anticipation and follow-through; Direction and tension; Planes; Arcs, straights, and curves; Squash and stretch; Rhythm and timing; Caricature; Simplification

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Every lesson will involve fast and loose sketching with intention and precision at the right moment. Including drawing thumbnail figures like these:​

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​We will work from a mix of curated reference models and live Zoom sessions.​
You don't need an animation background, or figure drawing experience, just a desire to make your figures breathe.
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​All sessions will be recorded. The course includes a separate one-on-one Zoom critique. ​
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Registration is open now. Reply to this email or reach me at [your email] to reserve your spot.
$300 CDN. It will be an intimate and bespoke class. Each student will receive significant individual attention.

To Join with a Canadian payment:

​Click here to sign up CAD​

To Join with a US Payment

​Join Here USD​

please pass the word along if you know someone who might be interested and let me know if you have any questions
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Tim

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