The Portraits by Hans Holbein the Younger of Henry VIII family and courtiers are probably the highest level or portraiture achieved during the 16^th century. The portraits of Thomas Moore, Anne Boleyn, Lady Elliot, Simon George, to name a few, are executed with an impeccable drawing technique from which we can learn a great deal, but they also give us unrestrained access to the personality of the sitter. These portraits are not idealized, they unapologetically and pragmatically capture the mood, psychology, ambitions of these powerful people instead.

This two-session foundation crash course is dedicated to creating a few Master copies of Holbein’s drawings, analyzing style and drawing technique, using red chalk or pastel, charcoal and white chalk on toned paper

This Foundation Crash Course is part of a series dedicated to expand your artistic and technical knowledge exploring the works of great Masters of the past and follows the recently offered courses on Raphael and Michelangelo. Future courses will be dedicated to the works and techniques of Seurat, Prud’hon, Kollwitz, Degas, Ingres and many more. You can also purchase the recordings of previous sessions on this topic on my website.

Materials:

• Red earth pastels (sanguine or burnt sienna) such as cretacolor or PITT pastel in pencil or sticks; compressed charcoal pencils such as Wolff’s Carbon or Generals’, and charcoal sticks such as nitram, in gradations from hard to soft; white chalk in pencils or sticks.
• A pad or a few sheet of toned paper (tan or gray). These are a few types and brands: Strathmore charcoal toned, Ingres toned paper, produced by Hahnemuhle (also available in pads), by Fabriano and by Canson, or Stonehenge Colors, available in pads or single sheets.

Kneaded eraser, sharpeners and sand paper.