Half-Body Portrait Painting (Online Course) Winter 2025 w/ Charles Choi

January 31 to February 28 (Fridays), 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM, Eastern Time

**All sessions are live and will be recorded, students do not have to be present. All recordings will be available to students for 3 months after the final session, after 3 months the recording will be deleted.

Please check your email spam/junk folder for your Zoom invite.

DEMO: https://youtu.be/V3DVLx1q7qc

Course Description

Capturing the texture, spirit and essence of life.

This "Portrait Painting" Online Course is conducted by a renowned artist, Charles Choi.

This course consists of three main parts: theoretical explanations, demonstrations, and Q&A sessions with students.

Theory session (total time: 150 mins)

Charles will cover the key concepts on how to start a portrait painting from scratch. Especially focus on the process of choosing a model, sketching, observation, color base application, sculpting etc. Know-hows on using oil at different stages, skin color refinement, painting techniques, smoothing color infusion will also walk through in details.

Demonstration session (total time: 520 mins)

The whole painting process of Charles will be recorded and shared, so students can go through every steps clearly and easily comprehend how a “lively portrait with essence” was created.

Some challenging parts such as color manipulation, facial expression & hand’s structure, clothing texture, brush stroke & edges handling will be fully covered.

Q&A session (total time: 80 mins)

After the first class, students can raise painting related queries and starting from the 2nd class, gathered questions will be answered by Charles thoroughly.

Course Outline

Week 1 -

Core Concept (Duration: 30 mins)

(1) How to choose a Model

(2) The most important aspect of a half-body portrait

(3) First impression on Model

(4) Model’s posture and movement

Live Demo (Duration: 120 mins)

(1) Form the initial shape

(2) Facial color tone

(3) Facial initial sculpting

(4) Background and clothing

(5) Hand’s relationship

Week 2 -

Core Concept (Duration: 30 mins)

(1) Sketching techniques

(2) Steps of placing color on canvas

(3) Cover the whole canvas with color

(4) Review & refine the color setting

Live Demo (Duration: 100 mins)

(1) Facial re-arrangement

(2) Right hand color arrangement

(3) Depiction of clothing patterns

(4) Left hand

(5) Depiction of Right hand’s fingers

Q&A (Answers on students’ queries – Duration: 20 mins)

Week 3 -

Core Concept (Duration: 30 mins)

(1) In-depth forming the Facial creation

(2) Processing of edging

(3) Detailed observation

(4) Facial sculpting & re-shaping

(5) Spatial relationship between Head, Neck, Shoulder & Clothing

(6) Depicting the Neck

(7) How to capture the hands with details

Live Demo (Duration: 100 mins)

(1) Facial re-arrangement

(2) Eyes’ expression

(3) Mouth & surrounding structure

(4) Neck detailed depiction

(5) Facial & Skin texture

Q&A (Answers on students’ queries – Duration: 20 mins)

Week 4 -

Core Concept (Duration: 30 mins)

(1) Re-shaping the clothing

(2) Brush work

(3) Usual color

Live Demo (Duration: 100 mins)

(1) Clothing partial shaping & transition

(2) Clothing detailed depiction

(3) Subtle changes in the folds & creases of the Neck

(4) Clothing depiction on Left Shoulder

Q&A (Answers on students’ queries – Duration: 20 mins)

Week 5 -

Core Concept (Duration: 30 mins)

(1) Unity of painting

(2) Color harmony

(3) When to put a Full-Stop

Live Demo (Duration: 100 mins)

(1) Final molding of hands

(2) Final shaping of clothing

(3) Refining the overall senses

(4) Fine-tuning the color consistency

(5) Happy-ending with your signature

Q&A (Answers on students’ queries – Duration: 20 mins)

Course Materials

Oil paint: Titanium White, Ivory Black, Cadmium Red, Cadmium Yellow Light, Burnt Umber, Yellow Ochre. 

Brusbes: two size 2 brushes, two size 6 brushes, two size 12 brushes. ( one of each pair should be a flat brush, the other should be the a rounded tip brush) 

Linseed oil 

Palette: a big piece of glass or a wooden palette. 

Easel

Canvas: suggest size 80x60cm at least 

Comfortable cloths

Newspaper : clean painting brushes

Painting Knife, Palette Knife