Head in the clouds

‘Head in the clouds’ is a comprehensive class of over 3 hours, in which you will learn how to paint a unique dark skinned portrait looking down and create a starry cloudy hair style.

(It was originally created for the year-long course Paint Your Heart and Soul 2022)

In this lesson I will guide you through the process of creating a realistic portrait using a reference photo, in  oil paint. We will be painting in the fat over lean technique, the wet on wet technique and the wet on dry technique.

We will start with drawing the portrait and I will show you how you can use a scaling tool for the correct proportions of the portrait.

Then the first layer of transparant oils in three colours, will be added to block in the values we see in the reference photo. After the values are blocked in, we will use the subtraction technique to create form of the portrait.

Because this is an oil painting class, I will explain to you the warm and cool properties of oil paint, and what materials to use and how.

Then I will guide you through mixing all kinds of realistic skin tones, and  how to lay down your paint on the palette to work most efficiently.

Now it’s time to start painting the portrait. We will build up the values, working from dark to light using the cool and warm properties of the oil paint to create depth. You will learn how to use oil paints and different brushes to create realistic skin tones, and facial features.

Once the hair is dry you will learn how to paint clouds and stars in the hair using different techniques and effects.

This online painting class is suitable for both beginners and advanced painters.

You can take the class at your own pace and in your own time.