Painting and Drawing for Beginners

If you are new to art or extending your artistic skills there are many benefits in developing painting and drawing skills at the same time. You will find that improving your drawing ability will accelerate your progress in painting.

Drawing more accurately means you can move into the painting phase sooner, reducing distractions from trying to "fix" mistakes in the drawing, letting you focus more time on developing your painting.

This art class will introduce you to different approaches to the process of drawing and planning phase before you begin to paint. You will be taught how to develop your drawing into a painting and understand how the two skills come together to create a finished piece of art.

During this art course you will produce a series of drawings from:

• references images from the "masters",
• contemporary artists, as well as
• in studio observational drawing using still life composition.

Initially you will be introduced to a variety of drawing techniques and materials designed to improve your accuracy and knowledge. These skills will form the foundation for the development of paintings that will be undertaken in the latter part of the course

Along the way you will be guided on how to improve your drawing skills particularly with respect to;

• techniques and tips to create an accurate drawing
• how to perceive and render light and dark values in preparation for painting
• use of line and tone

During the painting part of the course you will be encouraged to develop your own ideas from the drawing phase into a finished painting, either of your own choosing or from a set piece.

Concepts and artistic skills you will learn include;

• The advantages and disadvantages of oil and acrylic painting
• Choosing the appropriate art materials
• Colour mixing
• How to use underpainting to create depth and substance
• Developing and extending your personal style

In this course you will learn how to;

• explore ideas, techniques and historical and contemporary painting and drawwing practice and choose techniques to support your own work
• identify and acquire resources required to complete a chosen work
• adapt and use combined painting and drawing techniques to create a single major work or multiple paintings and drawings that show technical proficiency in chosen techniques
• review and document the work process.