The human figure is one of the most fascinating, compelling and rewarding subject for an artist to paint.

Painting the Human figure is demanding, but it is also a great occasion to learn refine painting and drawing skills that can be also transferred to any other subject an artist might decide to paint in a realist way: portrait, still life, landscape.

This six sessions, oil painting foundation course, is dedicated to the fundamentals techniques for painting the figure, each 3 hour session will be dedicated to a specific exercise designed to improve your overall figure drawing and painting technique: measuring, tonal study, posterization, limited palette, extended palette, blending colors and more.

We will be working from photographs of models and from master’s drawings and paintings, appreciating a variety of painting styles and work toward developing a personal one.

Thank you to the fantastic Mariya for this beautiful photo reference. You can contact Mariya directly here if you are interested in purchasing some of her photo references: Alto Mariya

The session is will be recorded, and, as usual, the recording will be added to your New Renaissance Atelier Video library for you to watch as many times as you want.

Materials

• Paint: alizarine crimson, cadmium red medium ultramarine blue, cobalt blue cadmium yellow lemon, cadmium yellow, yellow ochre, burnt sienna, burnt umber, black, white.
• A wooden, plastic, or disposable palette. If you buy a wooden palette, make sure it is treated with a few layers of linseed oil to prevent the untreated wood to soak up the oil from the paint. I can show you how to do this in class, but you’ll need a disposable or plastic palette for the first class.
• A variety of brushes: hog and synthetic will do; Filbert or bright, #2, 6, 8, and 12 will do. You will also need a few round, synthetic brushes, #2 and 4. You can also use the colors that you already have and we will discuss about these materials in class.
• Linseed oil (refined linseed oil will suffice), Galkid or Liquin, Turpenoid or other low odor solvent
• Rags or paper towels.
• A metal cup for the medium and a palette knife.
• Canvas or canvas boards size 20”by 16”, or so.