ABOUT THE CLASS

As an Artist I sometimes have the tendency to get swept away and pick up more projects than I can handle, and then I end up finishing only a handful of them. I know a lot of other artists who face the same issue. The portraits that I cover in this class have helped me discover a way to do quick studies without focusing too much on the details, and instead relying on my creative intuition to reach the final artwork.

This class is great for both beginner artists as well as people who have been professionally practicing art for a while. The great thing about it is that you don’t need to know how to draw difficult portraits for you to be able to create these pieces. This class would also help people who have been battling with an artists block, as it forces you to get out of the box, and to just have fun with all of your tools.

For any hobby, as well as professional artists, these abstract portraits could also serve as a warmup for your mind and your hand to help get your creative juices flowing before you start working on a bigger project.

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN

Materials - I’ll guide you through all the materials that you’ll need and the supplies that I will be using throughout the duration of this class.
Scribble Art - I’ll share with you my scribbling techniques as I draw 2 scribble works in real-time. Scribble art at it’s core is very fluid and intuitive and it’s so much fun to work on, but more than that, I genuinely believe it’s a form of art therapy and it’s so easy to get lost in (and the best part is, you don’t even need to add color to it for it to be a finished artwork!)
Color Palette - I’ll guide you through all the colors I use, as well as share the colors that I mix in real-time as I paint the portrait, so that you can paint along with me.
Abstraction techniques - As we start painting over our scribbled artwork, I’ll show you how I go about adding abstract features to my painting using a limited palette.
Highlights and Shadows - I’ll share with you how the direction of the light source creates all these highlights and shadows on the face that affect the tone of the colors, the strokes we use and the forms we see on the portrait.
Bonus ideas and inspiration - At the end of the class, I’ve included several demonstrations of me painting loads of these paintings using different color palettes so you can see how different colors work together.
Flow - The focus of this class is being able to find your own flow and to come up with your own experimental techniques to reach the end result that speaks to you. I’ll guide you through certain rules that I follow, but the journey will be yours through to the end.
Detailing - As we reach the end of the painting, I’ll teach you some techniques that I use to add more visual interest to my paintings such as dotting-on-paint, adding texture, working on your edges, etc.

WHAT YOU’LL WALK AWAY WITH

This series of portraits has really helped me in my art journey to reconnect with my own creativity, and I will guide you to get in touch with that inner child that we all have inside of us, so that you too, can reconnect with all the things that make drawing and painting fun, experimental, and interactive.

There is a catch though -

As with anything else, we get better the more we practice, and especially with pieces like this, you want to be able to dedicate the time and patience to your practice sessions. A single painting takes me anywhere between 10-30 minutes to finish, so to start with, I urge you to focus on quantity over quality, and slowly build towards quality over quantity. The more you do these portraits, the closer you’ll get to discovering that edge that makes it you.

And I promise, if you put in the time and effort, by the end of a few practice sessions, you would have loads of mini paintings adoring your walls!

CLASS SUPPLIES

Basic Stationary - Pencils, eraser, sharpener
Ink - I’ll show you all of the different ink mediums you can use in the class, but to start with, you can use any kind of pen you might have on you already (fountain, ink, ball point pen, etc)
Paper - For these pieces, starting small is a good idea. You can work in your sketchbook, or use an A5 size paper that’s medium to high GSM so that it can handle acrylic application.
Acrylic Paint - I will share with you the color palette I use, along with all the brushes. Other than that, just have a cloth and water handy for cleaning your brushes.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I've done loads of these little paintings, so if you'd like to see some extra images of my completed artworks in different colors for inspiration, you can find them here -

Inspiration | instagram

I can’t wait to see the pieces that you create. I would love to receive feedback from you about your experience throughout the class, and your journey with these portraits.

I hope these tips and tricks I’ve collected over the years help you just as they’ve helped me.

Cheers,
Varnika

Ieuan Esau

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