With help from the teachers, a student beginning portrait drawing pays attention to the lighting, presentation and gesture of the model in order to achieve a convincing, representative portrait. Students will undertake several preparatory studies to develop their ideas before embarking upon more personal projects.

Types of portrait exercises in drawing and painting:

Long pose portrait (2 hours)

The long pose portrait course is a 2 hour exercise with the same model for 3 or 5 consecutive weeks. This class allows the student to closely study the model to understand their anatomy in order to obtain a more realistic representation of their features. With the help of the teachers, the student also works on lighting, presentation and gesture.

In this class the student will be allowed to represent the model via both drawing and painting. It is recommended to start by drawing with charcoal, and progressively pass to paint, first in grisaille (shades of gray) and then to different palettes of colors.

Academic Portrait

The academic portrait course is a 2 hour exercise with a natural model. In this class, the model changes each session. With the help of the teachers and through explanations of theory, the student also works on lighting, presentation and gesture. In this class, the student will be allowed to represent the model via both drawing and painting.

Portrait Sketching

In the portrait sketching course, the foundations will be laid to develop an efficient, fast working process based on the anatomy, structure and effects of chiaroscuro and volume that light creates in the human head and face. For this, dry techniques will be used, following a series of logical steps that allow us to produce fresh, expressive and realistic results.

Long pose portrait (3 hours)

The long pose portrait course is a 3-hour exercise with the same model for 5 and a half consecutive weeks. This class allows the student to closely study the model to understand their anatomy in order to obtain a more realistic representation of their features. With the help of the teachers, the student also works on lighting, presentation and gesture.

In this class the student will be allowed to represent the model via both drawing and painting.

In order to be able to access the Painting programme, it is essential that the student has passed all the exercises corresponding to the Drawing part.