I used ball point pen because I dislike graphite; even though I know it has a great purpose for shading and values. Pen causes me to redraw over lines to adjust for corrections, which I don’t mind. These were 4x4 squares on a scratch pad I use as a sketch pad. I used old sharpies to sketch the gesture drawings.

The photo references were so wonderful and challenging! This class freed me up to let go of my need for it to look exactly like the photo. I get stuck in it needing to be exact and it makes it frustrating and not fun for me. I was also really struggling with getting portrait features in the right place before I took the class. 

So much gratitude for Paul’s honest and easy style of teaching. He really made drawing the face feel less restrictive. His explanation just made everything make sense.

I took this class to brush up on my portrait drawing since I have been out practice for about 28 years. (This is an edit: I didn’t mean to, but I lied. It hasn’t been that long, I did some portraits about three years ago. My confidence level feels like it’s been 28 years...seriously. Sorry to mislead anyone who might be reading this.)

Since becoming an artist again, I go back to basics classes to redo the fundamentals and for a refresher because I need the reminders. I am always open to learning and practicing, practicing, practicing! 

This class gave me the confidence and inspiration to bring in human figures into my paintings. And keep practicing!