Information for first class

We begin by looking at how artists approach portraiture. By looking at other's work we start to define ideas, what it can mean to do a portrait. We will talk about points of view, head-on, classic 3/4 view, side profile. We will ask about what other elements are included in the portrait. Who better to start with than Hans Holbein, Master portrait artist to King Henry the 8th? Throughout the class we will look at other artist's portraiture and self-portrait work.

Though every face is unique, there are some proportions that hold true. We start by looking at the shape of the head, feeling our own anatomy, talking about basic bone structure. We look for the vertical centerline, and then make horizontal divisions to place the eye line, locate the base of the nose, and mouth. We will draw from the model in quick gestural unfussy shapes, getting a feel of the shape of the head, and marking in some basic proportions. As the tilt of the head changes, We see how these proportions alter.

Check back to follow class online

The January session for portrait drawing is full for Sunday morning, start date Jan. 6th.

I am planning on putting information on-line on this blog and posting student work week by week. We have a great range of artists, from complete beginner to professional and from young to old. Stay tuned, should be fun to see people's work.

Drawing is great for many reason. It gives artists a chance to see shapes and values and not have to deal with the complexity of color. When doing a direct portrait study in paint there are a lot of things to keep track of, values, shapes, temperature, edges, placement, composition, shifts of color.....
Here is a quick 6 x 8" oil study, side profile in oils.

2 Portraits with pencil

Here are 2 portraits done with stabilio pencil. It's a pencil that liquefies with water and brush, yet easy to draw with. I like the punchy dark values that are possible with stabilio pencils as well. Deb Dawson and Diedre Morris each sat for a 10 minute pose this morning and both had a try at portrait drawing too.

Week One Placement of the head, inital gesture

Starting Week One

This portrait class will be starting on January 6th.
During the first week, we will take a look at historic and contemporary portraiture.
How have artists placed the portrait within the picture? How much is included?
What is the view point? Is it frontal, 3/4, side view? Symmetrical or asymmetrical?
What is the gesture of the head? What is the lighting? What is the background?
These will be some consideration we will think about as we start with portraiture.

Start with composing several possibilities, do 5 quick compositional ideas.

What is a gesture? Start with the central axis. We will work from a model doing multiple quick gestures determining the central axis.
Placement of the features, classic proportional rules of thumb.
If you are interested in signing up for this class, please contact me at 378 2638.
I hope to post some class work on this blog as we draw.