The Gauntlet Capstone: ÀNI Artists Celebrate their Completion of the Drawing Program

At ÀNI Art Academies, the journey from fundamental marks to proficiency is paved with structure, hard work, and perceptual discipline. One of the most anticipated milestones in this journey is the completion of “The Gauntlet”—a rigorous culminating exercise in the Language of Drawing (LOD) curriculum that tests a student’s control over value, form, and replication.

What Is the Gauntlet?

“The Gauntlet is a final drawing project in the Waichulis Language of Drawing (LOD) curriculum, intended as a celebratory culmination of the perceptual and procedural skills acquired throughout the program. While its name pays homage to an earlier tradition in which peers would design the project to challenge the artist’s capabilities, modern iterations impose no prescriptive rules or structural constraints.

Rather than a test, the Gauntlet is positioned as a creative celebration—an opportunity for the artist to explore any stylistic or methodological avenues that best reflect their current abilities and artistic interests. Artists are encouraged to apply their full range of learned skills, but they are free to determine subject matter, composition, and approach. Whether drawing from life, reference, or imagination, the emphasis is on autonomy, expression, and the personal realization of artistic competence.

This project marks the transition from structured training to independent exploration, reinforcing the core curriculum value: achieving creative freedom through logic and discipline​​.”

The name “Gauntlet” in the ÀNI Art Academies program originates from an early studio practice found within the original Waichulis Studio (TWS) in which students would prepare a complex drawing arrangement—referred to as the Gauntlet composition—for another student who was ready to be challenged. Much like the traditional metaphor of “running the gauntlet,” this exercise symbolized a trial of accumulated skill, designed and set by peers to test the practitioner’s control over all foundational drawing components. Over time, the name came to represent the culminating exercise in the Language of Drawing curriculum—a comprehensive test of perceptual accuracy, edge resolution, value calibration, and spatial structure that marks a student’s transition to more advanced work.

Looking Ahead

The Gauntlet is a true celebration of arrival for a developing artist—a moment of culmination that brings together the full arc of a student’s drawing experience into a single, cohesive expression. It is a reflection of accumulated effort, patient refinement, and the growing ability to construct with clarity and intent. Within the ÀNI community, completing The Gauntlet is both a personal achievement and a shared moment of recognition—an affirmation of how far one has come in developing perceptual command and representational fluency.

From here, students step confidently into the Language of Painting (LOP), carrying forward the visual logic, discipline, and sensitivity developed through drawing. The Gauntlet doesn’t close a chapter—it opens a new one, built on the strength of what has been carefully, deliberately constructed.