Join award-winning portrait artist Mathew Lynn as he introduces you to the fundamentals of portraiture. This will be a workshop designed to give you a very strong grounding in what you need to make portrait drawing and painting not just completely comprehensible, but also fun!, with step-by-step processes to help you build your understanding and your confidence at a pace that suites you.
Mathew always starts his workshops with a little overview of portraits in history and great portrait artists, that can provide inspiration for approaches, and discovering what appeals to you.
He will give you a thorough grounding in the materials needed and how to use them (drawing and painting). He will then go on to discuss the importance of spending time on composition, and understanding the structure of the face.
Please bring in a number of A4 prints of faces and people that appeal to you, and Mathew will help you choose the best to work from, you can also bring your images on a tablet. Make sure the images are on your phone as well, in case we need to print them again, or make crops for optimal compositions!
Next, Mathew will take you through a step-by-step process of drawing techniques to help you understand your portrait composition, including proportions and features, starting with basic line drawing and shapes, and then adding shading, and the use of rubbing out for adjustments. He will also discuss the use of grids, and other techniques to help you transfer information from your images to your drawing.
Finally, Mathew will carefully take you through a process of transferring all the work you’ve done with your drawing onto your canvas or painting surface. He will then demonstrate the basics of understanding colour and colour mixing, how to apply and manipulate paint and in what order relative to your composition.
This workshop will be a great chance for you to establish a strong set of basic portrait skills that can give you confidence when you feel like trying something more challenging, and Mathew’s workshops are always a place for lively conversation and encouragement from fellow students!
• An A4 Sketchbook and some Cartridge Paper
• Range of pencils (H, B, 2B, 6B)
• Staedtler type rubber
• Small knife for sharpening
• A 30cm ruler
• A4 prints of a range of faces and people or on tablet, and on your phone
Follow the list below for general guidance on painting materials. Mathew would suggest using Oil, Acrylic or Gouache for this workshop, but you can also use Watercolour.
Note: you must use an odourless system for oil mediums and solvents!
Colours: (essential for rendering basic skin tones, but also most things)
• Titanium White
• Ivory Black
• Ultramarine Blue (make sure you have standard Ultramarine)
• Yellow Ochre (Yellow Oxide)
• Indian Red (Red Oxide that has a purple hue, Red Oxide is also fine)
• Burnt Umber
• Alizarin Crimson (or cheaper equivalent)
• Cadmium Red (or cheaper equivalent)
• Cadmium Yellow Light (or cheaper equivalent – if in doubt bring Lemon Yellow)
• Phthalo Blue
• Phthalo Green
Also, these additions can be very useful (or any other colours you like):
• Cadmium Orange (or cheaper equivalent)
• Cobalt Blue (or cheaper equivalent)
• Magenta
Art Spectrum is a good basic artist quality range.
You don’t need to buy the expensive version of a particular colour, but you will notice the difference because there is more pure pigment ground into the oil and packed into the tube, so each tube will go further.
Oil Brushes:
• #10 x 1
• #8 x 2
• #6 x 2
• #4 x 2
• #2 x 2
• #1 x 2
As a simple guide, the big brushes (#10 & #8) can be Cheap Hog Bristle ROUND, and the remainder can be a mixture of better quality Hog Bristle ROUND and Hog Bristle FILBERT.
Brushes are a big investment - you will probably do most of your general to detailed painting with #6, #4 and #2. Hog Bristle FILBERTS will give you more control and variety than anything else for this ‘detail’ range.
The other thing to remember with oil painting is that you need to keep colours separate on each brush, so as long as you have enough brushes to keep colours separate in the detail range above (#6, #4, #2), washing the other brushes as you go in class can work, and you can keep your costs down.
Quick-drying odourless medium and artist quality odourless solvent is often the easiest option, my personal favourite being Galkyd medium and Gamsol solvent by Gamblin.
• Palette - could be disposable, but it’s better and far less frustrating if it’s a modern rectangular board shape (roughly A3).
• Double Dipper - for separate medium and solvent. Get the open style with the widest openings so you can get your brushes easily in and out.
• Rags, paper towels - plenty of these
• Cotton buds - extremely helpful for subtle removal of paint in tight spots
• Spare containers or jars
• Palette knife
• A canvas or canvas board (or a few of them just in case). Start at around 12x15” as a minimum portrait size, and you can have a larger one if you’d like to try it.
• It is always a good idea to wear disposable Nitrile gloves (non-latex and tougher) when painting and handling oil paint and mediums.
• Use your GAMSOL or odourless solvent for clean-up in class.
• You may also want to buy and bring in a stainless steel style oil brush washer with a sealable lid. They can be found at a reasonable price, and it means if necessary you can wash some of your brushes on the go properly, and also carry it without spills.
• I recommend taking your brushes home wrapped in glad wrap to clean and wash.
Colours - same advice as the oil colours above, but be aware that Acrylics sometimes don’t come in exactly the same colour names, such as the earth oxides. Matisse (Flow or Structure) are good artist quality options. Bring in your normal range and your favourites also!
Brushes – follow the basic range and advice above, but you’ll only need one of each size because you are constantly washing your brush. Stiffer bristle brushes are good with acrylics, but you may prefer to have predominantly synthetic brushes for more control (in long handle), at least for the brushes you use most.
Watercolour style brushes can work well for certain types of acrylic painting, for finer details, but you will still want brushes that have a certain stiffness so you can push your paint around and work with freedom and flow.
Medium – can be a basic Acrylic Painting Medium, Gel Medium, Impasto Medium etc. I personally like to use just water.
• Acrylic palette/s with a flat surface, or just an A3 piece of Perspex (and perhaps a second one), plenty of mixing space is always better.
• Spare containers and a water container
• Rags, sponges, paper towels, cotton buds, scraper, or anything else you like to use.
• A canvas or canvas board (or a few of them, same size recommendation as above in Oil materials), you can also use heavy water medium paper.
• Also, a cheaper water media pad (at least 210gsm) can be useful for quick colour studies and problem solving.
Important! In class we need to discard the bulk of unwanted acrylic paint by scraping onto paper towel, not washing everything down the sink.
• Gouache may have some different colour names but refer to the oil colour above for reference.
• Watercolour colours follow a different system and can be quite specific, favouring particular transparent pigments, but you can use any that you have, and Mathew can give you advice on this, or simply use a basic watercolour set and you should be covered.
• Appropriate palettes for colours and mixing
• Water container and extra containers for mixing
• Rags, paper towels, cotton buds
• Synthetic watercolour brushes in a range of sizes: fine, medium and a large.
Also a Mop type brush can be wonderful, other water media brushes such as a wide flat brush.
• Watercolour paper or watercolour pad for your main painting, similar size as recommended in Oil materials above, but you may want to work a little smaller too.
• Also a cheaper water media pad (at least 210gsm) can be useful for quick colour studies and problem solving.
Please choose carefully as fees are non-refundable. Refunds of course fees will only be given if the course is cancelled or a place is not available in the course.
Payment of course fees implies that you have read and agree to the WAC Terms & Conditions.
