Workshops
3-5 Hour Mini Courses on specific details. Each has an assignment. Watch the feedback sessions to see what fellow students created and learn!
Interested in a FORCE Workshop? Sign up here and be the first to find out! Spaces fill fast, guarantee your spot!
Live Demos
Watching an artist work reveals their process and the physical actions they use to create. FORCE Drawing creator Michael Mattesi demonstrates and discusses his thoughts while drawing, revealing what it takes to draw with FORCE!
Individual Instruction
Every artist attends workshops with different skill levels and emotional challenges. Michael will work with individuals to inspire them to their next level, breaking through their current state.
Group Critiques
Learn from your peers through group art critiques. Michael will discuss the challenges each artist faces and how to solve them. Chances are good that many artists experience the same issues, and many can gain insight into how to address their own problems by witnessing the solutions demonstrated in these art critiques.
Classes and Workshops
Choose the workshop that works best for your company, class, or artist collective.
Contact Michael today to get started!
FORCE Basics- 12 Hour Workshop
This foundational workshop inspires you to see, analyze, and draw the model through an understanding of FORCEFUL function. Feel what it’s like to draw the figure as though you were driving a race car! Exciting demonstrations in addition to individual and class art critiques drive curiosity and learning of FORCE, form, and shape design in this intense two-day workshop. Discover FORCE in the world around you while also learning the secrets to shape design and tips and tricks to create depth on the page.
FORCE Anatomy- 12 Hour Workshop
A perfect compliment to the FORCE Basics Workshop, Michael’s FORCE Anatomy drawing class looks at how each region of the human body functions relative to the entire figure. Learn to see anatomy through a new understanding of how it works. During this two-day seminar, you will learn surface anatomy, how muscles relate to each other through FORCE, and how to efficiently draw the anatomy to express FORCE and energy.
FORCE Character Design from Life Drawing- 12 Hour Workshop
This provocative workshop pushes the Basics Workshop to the next level. Learn numerous methods that help you to develop your own opinions about what you see, and then use those methods to draw them. FORCE enables your ideas to stay functional and dynamic! Learn about the Bounding Box, abstract shape design, pushing drama, character, and storytelling. You will leave this workshop with the confidence to state your visual opinions with clarity and appeal!
FORCE Animal Drawing- 6 Hour Workshop at a Zoo or Museum
FORCE exists in all living things. This workshops shows you how to see and understand FORCE in animals. Hosted at your local zoo, Michael takes students on a FORCE journey through the different types of mammals, from plantigrade to ungulates, showing you how to efficiently draw them through the FORCE Animal Shape. Each locomotive mammal type will be discussed individually to comprehend their differences. This fun and exciting workshop will give you the ability to draw all mammals with FORCE and dynamism!
FORCE It!- 2.5 Hour Lecture
In this personal and motivational lecture, Michael shares his life experiences as an artist. You will learn how his numerous tools in FORCE drawing have supported his life while he discusses candid stories that will leave you ready to take charge of your life and see in newfound ways.
Discover the power of hierarchy and its numerous uses
Learn how to conquer fears you may have and move your life forward
Overcome perfectionism and metaphors that support creativity
Define your source of inspiration
Understand the power behind questions
And many more
"I want to give you a HUGE thanks to yesterday's lecture.. it was really wonderful & the animators received a lot of benefit from it. I feel like you really taught us a lot of great techniques, and personally I really got a sense of what I could do to help our poses read much stronger. I especially liked the discussions on force (AWESOME!) and watching you draw over our poses to see what your thought process was. It was incredibly inspiring to see your work, I found myself often glancing over at your quick drawing and going "oh crap!" and then working harder to discover the lines I wanted. I really feel like the animators progressed quite a bit yesterday, even those of us who aren't the best at illustration. :) Oh, and just so you know.. the animators were already asking when you'd be back for more. :)
Thanks so much for putting so much thought and energy into the class, I really appreciate it!"
Jason Schliefer
Lead Character Animator
"After you lectured we spoke and I said I appreciated you putting yourself out there for us and talking about things that are greater than drawing, but I wanted to stress again just how much I felt that was important. Lots of kids look up to great artists as having always been great, and your life story was very uplifting and humanizing. I know some people were only looking for drawing techniques, but what you told everyone was so much better. With any luck, at least one person in the audience felt like 'hey, I can do this' after you talked about believing in yourself and how far just believing has taken you. You're the first lecturer I've truly thanked for sharing, and I look forward to the book if you decide to publish one based on this lecture."
Nicole R
FORCE It! Lecture Attendee
"Today, I was expecting a demo of your methods. The information that you gave today, however, was as equally important as any instruction. I am still reeling from the mixture of personal anecdotes and candid real-world experiences. It was extremely informative and I feel as though it addressed many questions and fears that we as animation students face. I can't stop talking about it to my wife."
Carlos N
FORCE It! Lecture Attendee
"Thank you ever so much for coming and working with me in your drawing workshops this last week. I learned a lot and am already seeing a vast improvement in the movement of my drawings and how I see things in general. Your talk Wednesday night was eye opening and actually connected a lot of dots for me I've picked up from other people and a few books I've gone through, specifically in how my thinking can affect my reality (If you haven't heard of or looked into Dr. Caroline Leaf and/or "Latent Power of the Soul" by Watchman Nee I definitely recommend them). Again, thank you so much for taking the time to come work with us at Amarillo college and wish you the best in all your endeavors."
Paige G
FORCE Basics and FORCE It! Attendee
"Honestly I came into that first session thinking that I might learn a few things about drawing, not that I would understand myself much better, and have almost a world view change. It's pretty amazing to think about the past three days I spent learning from you and know that out of my whole college career, the person I learned the most from is you. I'm sure we'll meet again in the future, I will be near the top of the industry someday. I'll know that it's "your fault" I've rekindled my drive for my passion, animating and modeling. I'm the curly blonde hair guy that was at pretty much every session. You've helped me realize a lot of things in my life.Thank you so much."
Lucas H
FORCE Basics and FORCE It!
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes! He has hosted FORCE Drawing workshops across the United States, as well as in Italy, Poland, China, and Japan. Contact him today to discuss an international workshop.
For the drawing workshops, we recommend that the class is limited to 30 participants or fewer. For the FORCE It! lecture, there can be as many participates as the venue can hold.
Prices can vary per situation. There are typically two methods to figure out cost. Method #1: we discuss a rate for the entire workshop and the institution itself pays. Method #2: the artists pay a per-seat rate for the workshop or lecture. Email Michael Mattesi to further discuss pricing.
