Inside an online portrait painting class

By Alex N

The “How to paint a stunning portrait” is such a visual course - and it's lovely to see how art students progress with their portrait painting and use of oil paint.

However we were really excited when we heard about Gina's success in Rosso's painting class.

Gina started Rosso’s online oil portrait painting class in November and was soon working through the videos and assignments for each lesson with Rosso’s personal feedback.

As Gina says:

"I recently signed on for and took your painting a floral portrait class with Rosso Emerald Crimson on Learning with Experts. I took the version that included feedback from Rosso and it was fantastic."

Here’s what happened in the class and how Gina created her portrait.

Lesson 1 Research & preparatory studies

Gina uploaded a preliminary “doodle” (we think it’s a brilliant sketch!) and shared where she had found her inspiration, and some of the aspects of the portrait she was starting to think about.

How could her model’s hair work with the background? What colours would work well?

Gina also had questions for Rosso about the panel she planned to paint on. Would the current finish be too smooth to paint on? How should she prepare the panel for painting?

Rosso replied: “Panels are always very smooth, gessoe them, sand them, then when dry you can create the layers with paint on top ;)”

Lesson 2: Preparing to paint

Gina prepared her panel, and added on some gold leaf.

Lesson 3: Sketching and blocking in

In this lesson you take your original sketch to apply to your canvas – it’s not as easy as it sounds.

As Gina said: "The transfer worked great, but I stood there for a minute and evaluated and she STILL wasn't a large enough image and had too much of the arm and elbow in it for what I had intended to do."

Lesson 4: Painting the portrait

This is the big moment – when you mix your colours and paint your portrait on your canvas:

Here’s Gina’s portrait:

Lesson 5: Painting the background

Rosso teaches students how to use a spatula to paint the background and layer complimentary colours underneath. As Rosso says:

“So for the background, what happens usually is that when you use the spatula, the colour on top is really dense and vivid. For this reason, I have started messing around in the layers below, don't worry because the spatula will cover most of it”

Lesson 6: Finishing the painting

Gina then cleaned up some placements, angles on the face, and worked on the alignment of the body and the face.

“Once I had finished with my painting, I liked it and thought I had done a pretty decent job, so I entered it in a local juried exhibition at a gallery. "

"I was elated to find out that my painting had been accepted into the exhibition and even more excited to find out that my painting had sold!”

Are you ready to start painting a portrait with Rosso?

Recommended course

How to paint a stunning portrait taught by Rosso Emerald Crimson

Award-winning portrait artist Rosso Emerald Crimson takes you through every stage of painting a portrait with oils, from equipment to inspiration.

View courseAll Art & Design courses

Alex N

I'm passionate about online learning, and lucky enough to work for Learning with Experts. Most recent course: The Pie Shop with River Cottage's Tom Morrell. Next course: Container Gardening with Chris Beardshaw.

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