An artist’s portfolio is an edited collection of their best artwork intended to showcase an artist’s style or method of work. A portfolio is used by artists to show employers/schools their versatility by showing different samples of current work. This is an ongoing process of skill development. Maintaining a portfolio will help you focus on your abilities and accomplishments. Since you are always putting your best work in your portfolio, it demonstrates your skills and shows your potential. Our Portfolio Creation course is designed with beginners in mind, but is perfectly suitable for practicing artists looking to increase their skills.
The course is broken up into three (3) sections: Drawing, Painting and Life Drawing. We feel that having a strong foundation in these 3 areas will give students the skills and the portfolio to take on any challenge.
This course is for students aged 16 and older.

(Younger students will require parents written permission for life drawing)

Cost: $1200 for the semester or two equal payments of $600.
Duration: 2-hours a week on Thursdays for 6 months.

Course Layout

Drawing

-Shapes
Here we will focus on the fundamentals of shape recognition through measuring, the tools and how to develop strong line quality.
-Values
Students will learn about lights and shadows, the value scale and how to interpret the values they see as well as reproduce them on paper.
-Edges
Projects will now centeraround creating form. Using 3-Dimensional objects, they will learn how to soften edges to make these objects pop off the page.
-Summative
Combining all the knowledge learned in the above levels, students will draw a still life arrangement in graphite pencil.

Painting

-Colour Theory
Moving into the world of colour, we will begin with a fundamental understanding of how to examine colour. Hue, Value and Chroma/Intensity will be discussed.
-Colour Studies
After completing a comprehensive colour wheel, students will now be tasked with colour matching. They will be given colours at random to match, as well as examine colours from paintings and reproduce them.
-Summative
Students will now have an understanding of colour and will be given another still life to reproduce. This time in colour and in oil paints.

Life Drawing

-Life Drawing Process
Academic methods to drawing the figure will be taught through the use of measuring and a system of drawing Large to Small.
We will work from realism figurative works to first establish an understanding of figure drawing without a live model.
-Drawing from the model
A model will be brought into the studio and posed for a 6 week long session. This will give students plenty of time to ensure their measurements and proportions are correct as well as giving them a chance to do some
rendering of the form.
It will also give them a chance to work from life as life doesn’t always sit perfectly still.