Art Practical: Learn to Paint Animals

For many prospective art students the thought of learning to paint an animal portrait is quite daunting. However, challenging yourself to confront this can be incredibly rewarding. The first time you achieve something akin to a real, convincing likeness is quite thrilling, and rest assured, it is a taught skill. This course is structured so you will learn skills of proportion, perspective, line, tone, texture, brushwork and colour mixing and be able to clearly analyse requirements for the task, including painting fur. We will begin each session by looking at carefully chosen art historical and contemporary examples, then the tutor’s filmed demo will be run, to give you an example of how to achieve this (and sometimes what not to do!). The group will then be directed to carry out the task, having been placed in a ‘breakout room’ in which a smaller selection of students congregate in order to be given appropriate advice and direction from the tutor. You get to see how the others are doing, which can be fascinating, and on occasion quite comforting. It is great to be with like-minded students and enjoy an appreciation of animals. This course is for complete beginners and those looking to improve their skills and develop their own style.