Authors’ Note
Cover art: Upside Down Reductive Drawing Test Example, Briana Miyoko Stanley, charcoal on drawing paper, License: CC BY NC 4.0. Digitally edited by Elaine Wilson. License: CC BY NC 4.0
Foundations of Drawing was created with funding from the Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) Degree Program from the California Community College Chancellor’s Office (CA Educ Code § 78050). This grant was managed at Palomar College by the Comets Affordable Learning Materials Committee (CALM). The CALM Committee supported the making of this Open Educational Material (OER) textbook for Introduction to Drawing. With this OER, introductory drawing classes can now be compatible with the Associate in Studio Arts for Transfer ZTC pathway at California Community Colleges.
However, the true motivation for the creation of this textbook is our sincere love of the material and care for our students. Year after year, we are confronted with hundreds of students whose immense creative drive is unfortunately hindered by financial strain. The “starving artist” cliché expresses the classic artistic compulsion to choose art materials over basic necessities, and we want to ease that burden.
In a time of AI slop and misinformation taking over the internet, we‘ve endeavored to create a trusted source of information crafted by art and art history experts with a combined 85+ years of experience. The text is licensed CC BY, not only to comply with the ZTC grant parameters but also to ensure that educators can use it to practice the 5 R’s of OER: retain, reuse, revise, remix, and redistribute as needed. Each chapter was primarily written by one author (as credited) and then edited by the rest of the team. As you use the text, please contact the authors at the emails listed below with comments and suggestions. The authors are studio artists, art historians, and educators who seek to treat this OER as an ongoing project to update and improve. Correction requests for broken links or typos and suggestions for future editions are welcome. We hope this OER is useful for instructors, students, and all who wish to learn the foundations of drawing.
Author Bios
Briana Miyoko Stanley
Briana Miyoko Stanley led this project. She graduated from Westmont College with a Bachelor of Arts in Art (2011), from California State University, Long Beach with a Master of Fine Arts (2020), and from California State University, Fullerton with a Master of Science in Educational Technology (2025).
Briana Miyoko started teaching at Westmont College in 2018 and at CSU Long Beach in 2019. After graduating with her MFA in 2020, she continued to teach at CSU Long Beach and worked as a part-time faculty member at Grossmont College, Golden West College, and Palomar College. In addition, she served as the Interim School of Art Graduate Advisor for CSU Long Beach’s MFA, MA Art History, MA Art Education, and Certification Program in Museum Studies at CSU Long Beach in 2021. In 2022, Briana Miyoko was hired in her current role as an Assistant Professor of Art, Drawing & Painting, at Palomar College, where she serves as the Co-Chair for the Educators for Equity, Diversity, and Cultural Consciousness Committee.
Briana Miyoko is a California-based visual artist of Ryukyuan descent who specializes in suspended drawing installations. Her art practice is rooted in the study of ecology and natural disasters. She completed a Sitka Center for Art & Ecology residency in 2025 and was the summer resident artist at Peace Lily Press & MicroFarm in 2022. Briana Miyoko is the recipient of the CSU Long Beach Distinguished Achievement in Creative Activity Award, the first-place awardee in the Research Competition for Creative Arts and Design, and the recipient of the CSU Long Beach Graduate Research Fellowship (2019). Notable exhibitions include her 2025 exhibition, Get Back, at the Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art in Santa Barbara, CA, 2019 cumulative Kaikoura Earthquake project, AOTEAROA, at the Werby Gallery in Long Beach, CA; and her 2018 scrapped & scarred exhibition at the Merlino Gallery in Long Beach, CA.
Contact: bstanley@palomar.edu | Art Practice: brianamiyoko.com
Stephen P. Curry
Stephen P. Curry has worked and exhibited extensively as a professional artist from San Diego, CA, for the past 35 years. His painting, drawing, and installation work is an exploration of the perception of nature as it relates to the nature of perception. He graduated from the San Francisco Art Institute with a BFA in 1990. He is currently an adjunct professor at Palomar College and has taught at the Art Academy of San Diego, the Athenaeum Art and Music Library, and privately.
Stephen has exhibited nationally and internationally, including exhibitions at MCASD, The California Center for the Arts Museum, Escondido, CA, Oceanside Museum of Art, Athenaeum Arts and Music Library, Yokohama Citizens’ Gallery, Yokohama, Japan, the Cannon Art Gallery, Carlsbad, Grossmont College Hyde Gallery, City Gallery, San Diego City College, Saddleback College Art Gallery, and Claremont Graduate University Gallery. He has been represented commercially by Quint Contemporary Arts, La Jolla; Koplin Del Rio, Los Angeles; Stephen Wirtz Gallery, San Francisco; and Thomas Babeor & Co., La Jolla. Stephen is currently represented by the R. B. Stevenson Gallery, La Jolla, CA.
Contact: scurry@palomar.edu | Art studio: stephenpcurry@icloud.com
Chelsea Wright
Chelsea Wright graduated from Scripps College in Claremont, California with a Bachelor’s Degree in Art History and Religious Studies (2006). Chelsea then worked for the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (MCASD) as a Curatorial Assistant and Research Assistant. At MCASD, her work included curating an exhibit titled Close to Home, collaborating with contemporary artists and curators to produce exhibitions, and researching for the Phenomenal: California Light, Space, Surface exhibit as part of the Getty Initiative Pacific Standard Time. In 2012, Chelsea graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a Master’s Degree in Art History specializing in Modern and Contemporary Art. Since 2013, Chelsea has been a college-level adjunct instructor teaching at Palomar College, California Baptist University, and the University of Saint Katherine. Chelsea has taught both lower division and upper division art history and studio art courses. As an educator, Chelsea has earned the distinction of the Adjunct Faculty of the Year award.
Contact: cwright@palomar.edu
Elaine Wilson
Elaine graduated summa cum laude from UC Santa Barbara, majoring in Art History with a minor in History. She then moved to Washington, D.C. to work for the National Portrait Gallery. Then, Elaine attended UC Riverside’s Art History Master’s Program while teaching at the University. During graduate school, she also worked at the Mission Inn Museum while teaching at local middle schools and high schools. Since 2018, she has taught Art History at the Community College level at Fullerton College, Santa Ana College, and Palomar College, where she is currently a full-time tenured professor of Art History. She earned her doctorate in Educational Leadership at CSU Fullerton in 2023. Her previous published works include her Master’s thesis on the art of the California Missions and her Doctoral dissertation on Open Educational Resources.
Contact: ewilson@palomar.edu
