Academic Oil Painting Portrait Workshop

a workshop by Pablo Brandt

Spend a day learning the academic approach to painting the portrait, from first marks to finished oil painting.

We’ll begin with the fundamentals: the structural and anatomical landmarks of the head, and a patient way of sketching onto the canvas in willow charcoal, laying things in lightly before committing. Then we will move into painting.

Along the way you’ll learn to measure and see accurately, working from sight-size to comparative methods and using classic tools like the Van Dyck Z, the plumb line, and the mirror.

Once an umber underpainting is established, we will turn to establishing the palette: mixing colour and setting down a strong value statement. From there we will explore turning form through shifts in value and temperature, building a clear hierarchy of edges, and controlling chroma.

By the end, you will have had a real introduction to oil portraiture - and, hopefully also, an appetite for more!

Pablo will be guiding you through a theoretical part, will demonstrate his approach and is providing individual as well as group feedback throughout the workshop. You will be drawing from a life model. The workshop is suitable for oil painting beginners as well as everyone who is interested in learning the academic approach to portrait painting. You should have already have a basic understanding of drawing the human form and face.

Materials:

Drink and Draw will provide the following:

• one canvas per person (appr. 30cm × 40cm)

• Palettes

• Medium cups

• Mineral spirits or turpentine

• Willow charcoal for sketching on the canvas before starting to paint. 

• Abundance of paper towels

You will ned to bring:

• Paints: Ivory black, English red, vermillion red, yellow ochre, titanium white. Optional: cobalt blue, viridian. I recommend Michael Harding or old Holland - those are expensive though. For a mid price range you can go with Rembrandt paints. 

• Brushes (preferably Bristol, Filberts. Some smaller sabels and some rounds would be good as well.) 

• Palette knife