PAINTING THE HUMAN FIGURE FROM PHOTOGRAPHS

From Jan van Eyck, through Leonardo da Vinci, Caravaggio, Canaletto, Reynolds and Gainsborough, to Norman Rockwell and the present day, painters have always used the best technology available to them. Such technology includes the camera obscura, mirrors and photographs, and is extremely convenient, but surprisingly difficult. In this two-week workshop, maestro Michael John Angel will teach the class the proper use of photographs when painting the human figure in oils.

The course will begin with a few basic exercises and include various illustrated lectures in proportion, gesture, under-drawing and oil-painting materials. In the main part of the course, each student will produce an oil painting in full colour, using photographs.

Students will also receive various computer handouts, with illustrations, that encapsulate the method of drawing the human figure accurately. Other computer handouts will explain the different grounds, materials and mediums used in oil painting and describe the various layers used in a classic underpainting-overpainting oil technique.

There is also a one-hour lecture on the proper use of the camera when photographing the model.

The cost of this course is £2320 including 12 nights’ accommodation at the Liverpool Hope University, or £1680 without accommodation.

To register for this course click here.

 

Liverpool is one of the great cities, certainly from the point of view of the representational artist. It contains two of the greatest art galleries for 19th-century painting outside of London or Paris—The Walker Gallery and the Lady Lever Gallery. Major paintings by Leighton, Alma-Tadema, Waterhouse and many others are all to be found here, and, as you will know, there is no substitute for studying these wonders at first hand. Liverpool Hope University has offered us the use of its studios and has also offered affordable accommodation for our students. The university is only a short walk from the Walker Gallery. Liverpool is also very affordable and was, in the 19th century, one of the beautiful and richest cities in the world.