Painting Children’s Portraits Online Course

€150.00 – €300.00

Live-Streaming ONLINE COURSE in Two 6-Week Modules
Starting Saturday 14th & Thursday 19th September 2024

Book 2 Modules (12 Weeks) & GET 2 CLASSES FREE! Plus special rate for morning and afternoon classes!

This course comprises two 6-week modules, and there are two class time options, on Thursday evenings or Saturday mornings. Please see times and dates, and what’s covered in each module below.

Medium: Oil or Acrylic Paint (and Pencil / Charcoal)
Format: Live Streaming Zoom Class & Video Recording
Level: All levels

All online classes are recorded and saved for the duration of the course module, so you can replay and watch at any time from one week to the next!

Have you ever tried to paint one of your children, grandchildren, nieces or nephews?

If so, you’ve probably quickly realised how much more challenging this is, compared to say, painting an adult. Some artists would say that everything we know about portrait painting goes out the window once we try to paint a child’s portrait.

Everything is very subtle about a young face and the portrait painting is an unforgiving task. The slighest indelicacy – too strong a line here, a bold brushstroke there, a sudden change of value or colour – can have a catastrophic effect, and make the child look unnaturally old. In the case of an adult’s portrait, such treatment would add character and even enhance the portrait!

This course is specially designed to show you the main challenges and common pitfalls of painting children and how to overcome them, and create beautiful portraits using subtle colour, soft tones, and delicate line and edge work.

You will learn how the proportions of a child’s face and features differ from an adult’s, how to find structure in a child’s yet unformed features, and how to handle delicate colour mixing, blending and brushwork to reflect the delicate appearance of a child’s face.

See full description, what’s included, what’s required, and other important information in the tabbed sections below.

All class times listed are UTC/GMT+1. If you are joining from another country, please note the time difference.

MODULE 1 (September – October) Class Times:

Option 1: Saturdays 10am-12 noon from 14th September to 19th October 2024
Option 2: Thursdays 7-9pm from 19th September to 24th October 2024

MODULE 2 (November – December) Class Times:

Option 1: Thursdays 7-9pm from 14th November – 19th December 2024
Option 2: Saturdays 10am-12 noon from 16th November – 21st December 2024

Preferred Class Time

6-Week Module or Full 12-Week Course

Clear

SKU: N/A Category: Online Courses Tags: acrylic painting, acrylics, children, oil painting, oils, portrait, portrait painting

Drawing and painting portraits of children – aged between 3 and 13 years – presents a number of challenges:

The proportions of children’s faces don’t follow simple rules. The eyes are oversized, the nose is smaller, the brow is much larger, and so on.
Children don’t have anatomical cues like adults do. Baby fat covers and obscures the bone and muscle structures.
Children haven’t aged, so they have no wrinkles, smile lines, or creases and bags around the eyes, which usually provide useful landmarks when painting portraits.
Blending is very important with young skin

Modules 1 & 2

Each 6-week module covers different aspects of the child portrait. Please see tabs to the right for a breakdown of what’s covered in each.

Drawing & Edges

Drawing is the first stage of any painting, and developing good drawing and measuring skills is essential. Finding landmarks in a child’s face on which to build a scaffold for our painting is particularly difficult, and requires extra help and attention. You will be introduced to different ways of measuring and learning how the proportions of a child’s face differs from an adult’s.

Colour & Value

How we handle colour and value in a child’s portrait is of utmost importance. You will be shown how to render subtle three-dimensional form using different exercises and techniques, and to understand the nature of light and shadow, and its interplay with the forms of the face.

Colour theory will be explained as well as mixing delicate skin tones for children’s faces, and how to choose the right colour palette for your portrait.

Working from Photographs and from Life

One major stumbling block when painting children is that they rarely stay still for very long, and the younger they are, the bigger an issue this is. So naturally, the use of photographs comes into play. Using photographs as a reference for a painting is something that most artists do. However, we must be careful to use it as a reference only, and not try to copy it. Working from life introduces some new challenges and corresponding techniques to deal with them.

Painting Techniques & Studio Practices

As well as learning about portrait painting, many painting techniques and practices will be discussed, explained and demonstrated, including:

Dry brush technique
Paint handling and brushwork
Blending, handling transitions, and edge quality
Sfumato and impasto
Caring for brushes
Understanding and utilising solvents and mediums

Module 1

The first 6-week module focuses on drawing, value and edges. This value-priority system echoes the traditional approach of the Old Masters, and we will explore some of their work to understand how they solved common problems when painting children’s portraits.

Although a child’s face, features and head still remain in a state of early development, we must still learn the basic structure and anatomy of the skull and facial features. We will learn about the child’s face by comparing its differences with an adult’s.

Exercises will emphasise monochromatic value studies and subtle colour shifts:

Working within a narrow range of light values with careful use of dark accents.
Understanding the use of a light to medium value scheme
Considering how light and shadow is being use to convey atmosphere, mood and character

You will also learn three different ways of beginning (and finishing) a portrait:

Line and mass block-in
Transparent oil monochrome block in
Transparent monochrome as finished painting

Module 2

The second 6-week module pays greater attention to colour, mixing, and subtle blending and modulating of colour tones across the child’s face. You will learn more about skin tones and different colour palettes and harmonies.

You will be shown how to work in a more modern and impressionistic style.

Included

Included on this course:

Live demonstrations
Weekly recorded class (available for the duration of the course module)
Detailed study notes available to download from Google Drive
Digital reference images

What You'll Need

This course is suitable for artists at all levels. Please download materials list below.

Download Materials List

Terms & Conditions

Please read carefully before enrolling and paying for this course. By paying for this course you are agreeing to the terms and conditions below:

OIL PAINTS

Oil paints, solvents and mediums (such as mineral spirits, turpentine and linseed oil) will be used on this course, and these have a small and safe degree of toxicity but can emit strong fumes, which may cause headaches, drowsiness and skin irritations.

FEES, CANCELLATIONS & REFUNDS

Fees are non-refundable and non-transferrable. Adrian Cooke Artist reserves the right to cancel this course at any time if the minimum number of students required is not reached. In such cases, your fee will be fully refunded.

Reviews

Adrian is an inspirational and knowledgable teacher, the practicalities of equipment was explored along with emphasis on colour theory. I have done a few courses with Adrian online and I have found that he is always there to offer support and answer questions with detailed suggestions and practical advice. I look forward to more classes with Adrian.

– Anne

Terrific course. Great instructions and guidance. Strongly recommend.

– Ann

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