Know Your Values

Only $77.00

WHAT IS STUDIOWORKS CREATIVE ACADEMY?

When creating a portrait, we want to feel a connection and a sense of harmony.

I feel that response comes from being able to create a portrait that feels well-balanced and truthful. The key is creating from an empowered place. In order to do this, it is crucial to learn the skills of how to create the illusion of form. The main foundation for creating the illusion of form is values. You have to know your values! How dark or light is a color? How do the values relate to one another in order to tell a visual story? How do we create the structure to place our values on? These are topics that we will explore in this class. We will begin with a sketch learning how to see shapes and break down the form into a kind of puzzle while simultaneously learning to understand and see in three dimensions even when working with a flat surface. After our sketch, we will learn to create an underpainting that I see as a scaffold for our final portrait. The opaque layer comes next and we will be painting in monochrome with a variety of darks and lights better known as values. I will be adding in a few other colors in the scheme we will be using, but you are free to use just one color with white if you choose to. I would also like to say that you can use acrylics if that is a medium you prefer because these principles apply to any medium.

This course is for anyone who is curious about learning how to see the portrait in a new light and learn to create the illusion of form. You just have to be open and willing.

Class Is Open

Only $77.00

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Here's a description of each of our special projects:

Warmup lesson - Sketching the Portrait

In the warmup lesson, we will learn how to sketch the portrait. We will begin by loosely sketching lines on the paper to map out where our shapes and features will go. We will then create a sort of puzzle or map using spacial relationships and learning to see the bigger picture rather than getting stuck on details too early on. Once we have our shapes and features in place we will begin to refine adding feature details and shadow shapes. I see this as a camera that starts out soft and blurry and slowly comes into focus. Once our shapes and features are placed, refined, and checked, we will add layers of shadow to create the illusion of form. I really love how magical sketching is. It is such an important practice for deep learning.

Lesson 1 - Creating the Underpainting

In lesson 1, we will learn how to transfer our sketch that we put so much attention into onto our canvas. Once our image is transferred we will be adding a transparent layer of color mixed over our line drawing. Using a subtraction and addition method we will be creating form by wiping away paint to bring out our light areas and adding in more paint to push the darks. When we have gotten to a place that feels that enough information has been given we will stop and allow this layer to completely dry before moving on to the opaque layer. I see the underpainting as the foundational layer creating a scaffolding to build our opaque painting upon.

Lesson 2 - Opaque Layer, Painting the Portrait in Pink and Red

In lesson 2, we will first be mixing colors to use for our portrait. I feel that pre-mixing is another great tool to learn and practice in order to truly learn how to see color and value. Our eyes often play tricks on us especially when we see a color as too dark or too light. Color mixing helps to open our eyes to the truth of the value and the color. Once our colors are mixed will be painting our opaque layer and creating our full opaque portrait. We will place our values onto the surface and move from light to dark slowly across the surface to create the illusion of form. It is such a beautiful and present process. One step at a time, one brush stroke at a time.

lesson 3 - Opaque Layer, Portrait 2 in Blue

For lesson 3, I will be taking you through the opaque painting process of another portrait this time in blue. We will be mixing colors in this new color scheme and then applying on the surface creating an underpainting. I think that repetition is very important to learning. The more you see the principles that you are learning in action, the more they click. That is what I am hoping for, that you start to have those moments where the light bulb goes off and you understand at a deeper level. That is empowerment!

Bonus lesson - Color Mixing

In our bonus lesson, I will be showing you how to pre-mix color for a full-color portrait. This is a process that takes patience and focus but one that I feel is wonderful in order to learn the truth of the colors that we see. It is an excellent exercise and will increase your color mixing confidence - key to any painter!

Class Is Open

Only $77.00

watch inside studioworks - free trial

{ LIFETIME ACCESS & DOWNLOADABLE VIDEOS }

What Will You Learn In This Class?

You will learn how to create a portrait sketch using a variety of pencils building from the light softest layers to the refined illusion of form that comes from learning to understand how to see shapes and the illusion of three dimensions using value.
You will learn how to create an underpainting that simplifies the process of creating a full spectrum of values by learning to wipe away lights and add in darks.
You will learn how to mix colors in a value range from lightest light to darkest dark and to create bridges from one value to the next and then transfer with a brush that movement on the palette onto the canvas.
You will learn how to use your paint in a range of values to create the 3-dimensional illusion (form). We will learn to feel confident with our brush strokes and be very patient in making decisions and placing our paint one brushstroke at a time.
You will learn how to mix colors for a full-color portrait and break them up into simple organized categories to create a successful workflow and to empower your color knowledge and painting process.