Acrylic Portrait Course

Taking you from Rookie to Rembrandt

I’d always painted with oils through art college and had used full strength turpentine – safe in the knowledge my fellow students were cool with the fumes and I had the luxury of time to wait for the oil paint layers to dry (perfect time for a few pints down the pub!)

However, when the relaxing days of college ended, I found myself painting in a small studio at the front of a teapot factory that was open to the public and mounting bills to pay…now the 6-month drying time of oils didn’t seem so attractive!

Plan B – a crash course in acrylics.

So I knew how to structure an oil painting but translating that knowledge to acrylics, to make them look like oils – wasn’t easy.

The paint tube names were different to the historical colours I’d used with oils and they all seemed to be a lot brighter in saturation as well.

The acrylics dried so quickly – I didn’t have time to alter the shapes on the canvas and the edges of my brushstrokes were just too severe.

On top of that, there was a colour shift in the drying of the paints, that kept on putting my mixes out.

I tried painting really thick …. then really thin and I did produce a lot of acrylic portraits,

So how did the paintings turn out? Pretty good, some award-winning.

I exhibited at the Mall Galleries in London, became a finalist in the Artists & Illustrators Portrait Artist of the Year but the subtleties of tone and smokiness of the Old Masters still eluded me.

I needed to change direction, think around the problem and come back with a new approach.

The Royal Seal of Approval

Then I received the letter.

You know the ones you don’t really think exist. It was a letter wax sealed with a Royal Crest.

Had I been asked to paint the Queen?

Not quite, but for me, the prize was even better.

I’d been awarded a Queen Elizabeth Craft Scholarship to study classical portraiture in Florence, Italy.

I could finally put all the pieces of historical information I’d put together myself, into an order that worked for me.

It changed the way I painted and cemented my existing practice.

I developed a method that enabled me to get consistently natural skin tones, keep the paint wet whilst using the minimum amount of colours and this is what I want to teach you in this course.

Discover a method for mixing natural skin tones with Acrylics that look like Oils

The main problem with acrylics is they dry too quickly. You don’t have enough ‘blending time’ to create smooth subtle transitions.

But what if you did 80% of your mixing before you even picked up your brush?

If you just mix your portrait with the colours straight from the tube, you’re missing a trick.

Subtle mixes, scumbling and glazing effects can all be easily achieved with acrylics if you have the right approach.

We’re going to take techniques and colour palettes from the past Masters and combine them with the qualities and properties of acrylics, turning the ‘disadvantages’ to our advantage.

You’ll gain a solid foundation in acrylic painting techniques, so you can build on your successes to create portraits you’ve always dreamt about, so when they’re hanging in your local gallery people will say to you “Did you use Oils?”

“Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter.”

Oscar Wilde, Poet & Playwright

What’s in the Course?

This is a comprehensive, easy-to-follow 4 1/2 hour video course, where you will discover a fresh, quick approach to painting 3 different portrait styles.

Coming from an art education background I’ve designed Art Curriculum for schools, developed interactive learning resources with the National Gallery, London and taught students from all different starting points the principles of how drawing and painting works.

This course has been designed as a step-by-step rounded learning experience bringing together all my experience as a student, painter and teacher.

• 3 x portrait paintings, taking you step-by-step from drawing, right through to the finishing touches.
• 8-downloadable video lessons, split into separate chapters that follow on sequentially.
• Step-by-step instructional videos so that you can follow along at your own pace.
• Downloadable jpeg reference images, line drawings and a full materials list.
• Over 4 1/2 hours of detailed video instruction.
• Lifetime access, downloadable on separate devices.