Beginning Portraits in Charcoal, Pastel and Watercolor
w/ Joe Mac Kechnie

All Levels Welcome, Including Beginners!

Online classes / 5 Thursdays: September 17, 24, October 1, 7, & 15 / 10am-1pm
with live instruction, demos, Q&A sessions and downloadable instruction sheets. Scroll to the bottom of this page to see a video preview of the class by Joe.

Cost: $250

Registration: online

Location: This will be an online class which can be seen through Zoom.us. A link to the Zoom meeting, along with instructions on how to use Zoom will be sent in an email after you register.

Description:
Here’s a great class for beginners at portraits who want to take their drawing and painting to the next level, and a refresher for students who’ve had previous experience.

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During these 5 weeks, you will receive a well-grounded understanding of what drawing and painting a portrait is all about. The first two classes will cover portrait-drawing basics such as: proportions, measurement and perspective, gesture, shadows and texture. The last classes will cover the use of watercolor and/or pastel to paint the portrait. We’ll discuss techniques for developing highly creative and interesting portraits, including Joe’s acclaimed method for creating “portraits without models.” The results will get your creative juices fired up for sure!

Supply List:

Drawing Supplies:

Erasers:

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  • Kneaded eraser

  • Vinyl/plastic white eraser (regular block type)

  • Gum Eraser

  • Stick Eraser (General Pencil’s Factis eraser pen stick)

  • Expo dry erasers for white board

Charcoals:

  • Soft compressed black charcoal or pastel sticks (e.g. Alphacolor Char-Kole)

  • Soft compressed White charcoal

  • General’s Peel and Sketch charcoal pencils,
    OR Pentalic woodless charcoal set “soft”

  • 1 bag Bob’s Soft Vine Charcoal, 1/2” and other varied of sizes

Drawing Paper

  • Standard sketch pad paper, 18x24in (such as Canson’s XL or equivalent)

  • Or, Borden & Riley #20 recycled Sketch 17x14

Other drawing items :

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  • Accurasee proportional divider (available at Amazon), see photo

  • Perfect Picture 3 in 1 View Finder Value scale

  • Drawing board with clips, large - 23" x 26"

  • ArtBin drawing materials storage

  • Golden Archival Varnish Aerosol, matte or gloss finish spray fro charcoals, pastels, graphite

  • Art Guard Barrier cream (Amazon)

  • Soft make-up type brush

  • Soft paper towels (Bounty extra soft, Viva or Kleenex)

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Pastel Supplies:

  • Strathmore 400 Series Toned Gray paper 18x24, 24 sheets

  • Pastels: Soft pastel set of 15 - 20 assorted colors, such as this expensive high quality set: https://www.dickblick.com/items/00378-0189/

    OR this inexpensive mid-quality set: https://www.dickblick.com/items/00378-0189/

Watercolor Supplies:

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  • Palette: A plastic or resin watercolor palette with lid.

  • Inexpensive assorted brush set of 12 brushes, such as https://www.dickblick.com/items/00378-0189/

  • Watercolor paper: Fluid 100, cold press, 140lb., 16x20, Easy-Block

  • Watercolor paint set, such as https://www.dickblick.com/items/00378-0189/

A complete list with shoppable links is available. Click here to view this list, or contact ColeArtStudioWorkshops@gmail.com to request the Beginning Portrait supply list as an email attachment.