Master Class! Open to all levels!
Dates: Six Tuesday mornings March 18 – April 22, 2025
Time: 9 AM – 12 PM
Price: Members: $300, non-members: $350.
Unlock the secrets of portrait Drawing in this 6-week in-person Master Class led by renowned artist and educator Roberto Osti. Designed for artists eager to deepen their understanding of the human face, this class offers an immersive exploration of facial, structure, and drawing techniques essential for advancing your skills. Sign up today!
Portrait Drawing Master Class, Roberto Osti – At the Sketch Club
This course is specifically designed to give the students interested in portraiture, a solid foundation on the subject and practice a variety of techniques.
In this six sessions course, we will create artworks working from life, alternating male and female models weekly, creating a number of portraits in a variety of dry media and techniques essential for portraiture such as: graphite, charcoal, Conte crayons, reduction technique. The students will also be encouraged to prepare self-portraits or portraits of family and friends as homework, continuing practicing the techniques studied in class and further develop technical skills.
The techniques we will practice during these 6 weekly sessions, each lasting 3:00 hours, include those that are traditionally used for portraiture to obtain a good level of realism and detail but also quick preliminary sketches to study subject and composition, utilizing also modern approaches and materials such as markers, ballpoint pen and so on.
In addition to the techniques mentioned above, we will study the fundamentals of structure and anatomy of the head, measuring techniques, tonal rendering, effects of light on form, correct positioning of the facial features and their structural characteristics. A variety of drawing materials will also be discussed and used.
Materials:
- White paper: a pad of Strathmore Drawing medium finish or vellum or vellum finish, about 11”x14”; or a pad of Strathmore Bristol, same size and same surface; or a pad of Stonehenge Legion in white, same size.
- Toned paper: you may wait to buy the toned paper as we will be discussing various types of paper in class, but these are a few possibilities: a pad of Strathmore charcoal, 11” by 14” or bigger; or a few sheet of Fabriano Roma, Fabriano Ingres, Canson Mi-Teintes, Hahnemuhle orStrathmore Charcoal toned.
- Graphite pencils: traditional wood casing pencils or lead holders in gradations HB, B, 2B, 4B.
- Red earth colored pencils, (such as burnt sienna, sanguine, Venetian red or Indian red) black and white.
- Charcoal sticks in medium, soft and extra soft gradations. My favorite brand is Nitram, but you can use any charcoal brand you are used to. Do not use willow charcoal because it is too weak for our purposes. Compressed charcoal pencils in medium, soft and extra soft gradation, General’s is a very good and cheap brand. White chalk in pencils and-or sticks. Red earth pastels (Conte, Cretacolor or General’s).
- Kneaded eraser, pencil sharpener, sand paper,
About Roberto Osti
Roberto Osti is a renowned artist, author, and educator specializing in figure drawing and human anatomy. With degrees in Anatomical Drawing and Fine Arts, he combines scientific precision with artistic mastery. Osti has authored several books, including Basic Human Anatomy and Dynamic Human Anatomy, and has taught at leading institutions like the New York Academy of Art and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. His engaging teaching style and deep expertise make him an ideal guide for artists looking to elevate their understanding of the human form.
Sign up today!
