Certificate Program in Portraiture

This program comprises the training required for students to become professional portraitists. It covers an array of mediums, to develop proficiency in pencil, charcoal, sepia, sanguine, watercolour, grisaille and oil paint. The student will master quick sketches, long fully-rendered drawings, colour studies and completed oil paintings, as well as composition, expression, narrative and painting for competitions and commissions.

The Certificate Program in Portraiture consists of six parts, each corresponding to a term. The program is expected to take about two years to complete. However, this depends on the time and the effort that the student applies to assignments and outside the classroom.

Students also complete work with the live model in class, and these poses will progress in levels of complexity and in the medium being used. Assignments are done in tandem with live model work, and can be done in class or at home.

Part 1 – Pencil, Introduction, The Basics

Part 2 – Charcoal and Painterly Dry Medium

Work From Live Model

  • pencil portraits from live model x 3
  • head (focus on proportion)
  • head, neck and shoulders (focus on likeness)
  • head, neck, shoulders and 1 hand, including clothing (focus on proportion, likeness and gesture)

Work From Live Model

  • charcoal portrait from live model including background x 2
  • head, neck and shoulders
  • Master copy block-ins
  • head, neck, shoulders and 1 hand, including clothing
  • charcoal and chalk portrait from live model including background x 1

Assignments (Open Studio and/or Homework)

  • Constructive Drawing
  • Anatomy Drawing
  • Master copy block-ins
  • Master copy finished work,
  • Construction and Anatomy of head, neck, shoulders, torso, arm, hand

Assignments (Open Studio and/or Homework)

  • Master copies in charcoal
  • Developing Vignette background
  • Clothing, Jewellery, Make-up, Props
  • Self Portrait, frontal
  • The Portrait Sketch
  • Self Portrait in charcoal
  • Self Portrait in sketch form

Part 3 – Introduction to Colour

Part 4 – Introduction to Oil Painting

Work From Live Model

  • portrait sketch in dry medium x 4
  • Watercolour Portrait x 4

Work From Live Model

  • grisaille x 2
  • head, neck and shoulders – black and white
  • head, neck and shoulders – brown and white
  • limited palette x 1

Assignments (Open Studio and/or Homework)

  • introduction to colour in watercolour
  • mater copies of portrait sketch in dry medium
  • mastercopies of portrait sketch in watercolour
  • colour studies
  • Self-portrait in dry medium
  • Self-portrait in watercolour

Assignments (Open Studio and/or Homework)

  • Introduction to oil painting
  • Grisaille master copies
  • Colour Studies
  • Limited Palette Mastercopies
  • Self Portrait in Grisaille
  • Self Portrait in Limited Palette

Part 5 – Full Colour Palette

Part 6 – Beyond the Classroom

Work From Live Model

  • full palette x 3
  • head, neck, shoulders
  • head, neck, shoulders, 1 hand, clothing
  • head, neck, shoulders, 1 hand, clothing, background

Work From Live Model

  • full palette x 3
  • head, neck, shoulders, 2 hands, clothing, background

Assignments (Open Studio and/or Homework)

  • Master copies value studies
  • Master copies colour studies
  • 1 completed master copy in full palette
  • 1 self-portrait in full colour palette

Assignments (Open Studio and/or Homework)

  • Working from Photographs as References
  • Working from Fantasy References
  • The Commissioned Portrait
  • Incorporating Environment and Expression to express a narrative