Learn Oil Portrait & Figure Painting Techniques Using A Live Model.
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Can anything be more devastating than the anxiety felt by an artist watching the realization of his vision compromised by his impotence during execution? William Bouguereau Painting the human head is the most demanding of all artistic endeavors. Although my workshops are specifically geared towards portrait painting, the methodologies I teach can be successfully utilized with any subject matter, any style and any medium. If you can paint a realistic head in oil convincingly, you can achieve any artistic goal you set! My workshops and classes provide artists of all levels a uniquely simple and logical approach to painting the portraits and figures in oil. The instruction will emphasize the mind-set and methodologies that have guided master portrait artists for over five hundred years, time-honored practices responsible for creating the greatest portrait paintings. People wonder why artists can no longer paint like the Old Masters. The reason is perfectly clear; painting today isn‘t approached the same way as it once was. Today artists are distracted from the truth, focusing on the superficial aspects of technique instead. The answer is quite obvious to anyone who seeks it. Living in New York has provided me with unlimited access to great paintings and I discovered that although they may be stylistically diverse, all great painters think alike! Painting well is a function of strategic thinking, not the result of using some secret exotic paint medium or having a potpourri of colors on your palette. As a result, I now eschew the vast majority of today's commonly accepted practices and beliefs, which I feel serve only to confuse, rather than clarify, the issue of learning to paint well. If you’re not satisfied with your paintings, maybe you want to consider a different approach. Successful painting is more than merely copying what is in front of you; it requires the ability to understand and interpret your subject. By working from a live model, students will rigorously engage with the principles of portrait painting in the classical tradition. Strategies for capturing a likeness, handling paint, emphasizing the effects of light and atmosphere, modeling form and mixing lifelike complexions will be covered. Every step from preparing a canvas to applying the final highlight will be thoroughly demonstrated and explained. NY workshops and classes include a field trip to the Met while students outside of NY will be treated to my slide presentation, “Everything I know about Painting I Learned at the Met!” My painting classes center around the unique palette arrangement and color choices I’ve developed. Color is but one aspect of what makes a painting work, but it is the most readily apparent, particularly in regards to portraiture. My palette gives me the ability to replicate the life-like flesh tones indigenous to each unique sitter I paint, regardless of age, gender and ethnicity. I believe that by using my palette, any artist, with practice, can create beautiful, believable, realistic and translucent skin tones. However, my workshop goes far beyond merely conveying how to replicate accurate life-like flesh. The color aspect needs a framework to support it. Color is important but is much more effective in the context of illusionistic space. The ability to create depth, structure and the effect of light are what’s at the heart of all great portraiture. I don't, however, teach a preconceived or formulaic way to arrive at these things. I champion keen observation and intelligent reasoning, based on true understanding, as the ideal way to make the most appropriate decisions. In addition, I will cover how to achieve more accurate drawing, as well as the thought process for developing value structure, mixing accurate colors (in addition to flesh), creating a sense of atmosphere and bringing your subject to life. Most importantly all aspects of my teaching are thoroughly demonstrated and explained by me. I don't delegate the important task of critiquing my students to assistants. If I'm not demonstrating or lecturing, I’m working one-on-one with my students. Regardless of the length of the workshop I give, I cover the same basic material. The longer duration workshops provide me with the opportunity to take my demonstration paintings to a higher degree of finish. My students get more time for their paintings, as well. The additional time also gives me the opportunity to repeat and reinforce my teachings. My principles are broad based and can be utilized along with any type of painting style: loose, tight or whatever. It is the knowledge that supports informed choices. The answer is not in some magic medium or mystical ritual. Painting mastery is a state of mind and, coupled with a great worth ethic, there is no telling what can be achieved. I believe the most effective way to teach is by showing peoplewhat to do while explaining each and every step. I will spend approximately half the workshop demonstrating the following: •Techniques for achieving great drawing accuracy •Transparent under-painting for building luminosity •Preparation and use of the Mattelson Flesh Palette •Scumbling as well as wet into wet paint handling techniques •Modeling three dimentional form The most critical aspect of portraiture is in attaining mastery over your drawing. Since any deviation will alter both the character and the sense of solidity in the visual portrayal of your sitter, the ability to faithfully represent what lies before you is the major factor in achieving long-term success as a portrait artist. I created this workshop because I wanted to focus solely on the specific drawing techniques that relate to portraiture. The fundamental drawing skills necessary for creating a good solid painting are not necessarily the same as those used to make an aesthetically pleasing drawing. It is common today, for those seeking instruction in portraiture, to focus primarily on the color aspect, because it’s the first thing we notice. If you sign up to take a painting workshop you do it to focus on mixing color and applying paint. Unfortunately, drawing inadequacies are the source of most of the problems you'll face. Once you get the drawing down, the painting process becomes a whole heck of a lot easier, hence the point of this workshop. Without the sound structure that good drawing provides, a painting that relies solely on color, is like a beautifully decorated house built over quicksand: it won’t stand on it’s own. What always attracted me to the work of really great portrait artists like Van Dyke, Bouguereau, Raeburn and Paxton, to name but a few, was the convincing way they conveyed solidity of form. It goes way beyond just copying what lies before you. I have spent my whole life striving to understand, implement, and synthesize their approaches into my workflow. In my drawing workshop I'll be primarily focusing on ways to integrate accurate objective seeing with a subjective understanding of the dimensional properties of the head. Draftsmanship is a learnable skill. In this workshop, working from the live model, you will discover how to create an accurate and solid drawing. The focus of this workshop, goes far beyond doing an aesthetically pleasing drawing. You’ll learn how to construct a proper framework, on which you can ultimately build a life-like portrait painting that expresses the character of your sitter. Time-tested methodologies, for objective measuring and discovering the specific proportions unique to every subject, will be covered. You’ll also learn how to use tone to verify the structural integrity of your drawing. All techniques will be thoroughly demonstrated and explained. Whether or not you've previously taken a painting class or workshop with me, I believe this workshop can be a tremendous aid in allowing you to be a more effective portrait artist and painter. I ‘ve also spent the last thirty years developing my photography skills (no pun intended) and I’m excited to share my insights. Invest two days and you’ll discover a tool that can radically improve the quality of your artwork. Digital photography goes far beyond what was ever possible with traditional film. Looking at the work of other artists I see a near universal lack of understanding of what constitutes proper reference photos. Most photos fall short, even aesthetically beautiful ones. Good reference material provides the artist with the information necessary to enhance their understanding of the subject matter. If the information isn't there, the only choice is to "fake" it. This inevitably leads to areas of ambiguity which can only detract from a compelling end result. The old masters did drawing studies to specifically record pertinent info. Does this mean if you take great reference photos you don't need to know how to draw? No, but it can sure save time. If Reubens were alive today would he be using digital photography? Indoor plumbing? Air-conditioning? An iPod? If you think not, you’re kidding yourself. The problem is that the photographic process doesn't replicate the way the eye sees. You have to know how to compensate for the camera's shortcomings, an issue not addressed in photography books, because it's not a concern for photographers. They want their work to look like photos! The computer acronym GIGO (Garbage In = Garbage Out) applies most appropriately to reference photography. Today portrait artists are at the mercy of the camera. The vast majority of people interested in commissioning a portrait don't have the time to sit for an adequate length of time. Nothing beats painting a live sitter, but I’ll show you how to come pretty darn close by using the camera to your best advantage. Some of the things I'll be covering include: •The advantages digital photography offers portrait artists •How to maximize the potential of digital capture •How to light your subject •How to simulate and match various lighting conditions •How to attain accurate color •How to achieve proper exposure •The best equipment to use for reference purposes •How to process images in your computer •How to get your printer's output to match your monitor •How to adjust color and contrast •How to combine parts of different photos into one image •How to correct distorted values and proportions By improving the quality of your photography, you can dramatically enhance the quality of your painting. To see the kind of results my students produce in class, you can view examples of their portraits and figure paintings as well as artwork from portrait painting workshop students. You can read student feedback as well. If you're looking to enhance your portrait and figure painting skills and expand your knowledge of the painting process, you can find more information and see my current teaching scheduleon my teaching programs page, as well as see some of my in-class demonstrations. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact me. Marvin Mattelson  |
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