Portrait Drawing

Portraits Workshop
Portraits Workshop
Portraits Workshop
Portraits Workshop

Cost: $315.00

This class will take place online using Zoom. You will need a computer or device and we recommend downloading the Zoom app. 

4 online session

Wednesdays, April 10–May 1

6:00 pm to 9:00 pm

REGISTER ONLINE

This workshop welcomes beginners and advanced students to take a deep dive into the rich historical practice of portraiture, uniting cultures from across place and time, as we embark on a day of making our own portrait drawings. Portraiture dates back to at least ancient Egypt, and before the advent of photography artists from around the globe have worked in drawing, painting and sculpture to create recordings a person’s appearance. More than a documentation, portraiture has served to show importance, power and prestige, beauty, and honor. We will explore examples of portraiture from across history and place, examining Egyptian funerary masks and Greek busts, African portraits of rulers and ancestral heroes, the tradition of artist’s self-portraits and issues in contemporary portraiture.

Taking inspiration from art historical examples, we will warm up with exercises that include drawing one another from observation, exploring the connection between artist and sitter in real time, before progressing to focus on observational self-portraiture using mirrors. Learn formal and technical concepts of anatomy, composition, line, shape and form, while considering expression through the sitter’s pose, lighting, color choices, texture, gesture and mark-making. The workshop format provides a dynamic opportunity for dialogue, group conversation and feedback throughout our explorations together.


Required supplies:
- A computer or device with stable internet connection and Zoom app installed
- A workspace (tabletop, easel, or drawing board) next to your computer or device that allows you to work while on Zoom
- 2-3 graphite or ebony pencils

- vine charcoal
- soft charcoal pastels
- 1 kneaded eraser
- 1 pad 30-60 sheets white drawing paper (approximately 16 x 20”, or 18 x 24”)
- 1 pad newsprint paper (approximately 16 x 20” or 18 x 24”)
- a mirror nearby (the larger the better for observational self-portraits)
- colored drawing media (your choice of colored pencil, oil pastel, or chalk pastel)

Course Code: PORT0603

Instructor(s): Natalie Westbrook

  • Founded by inventor, industrialist and philanthropist Peter Cooper in 1859, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art offers education in art, architecture and engineering, as well as courses in the humanities and social sciences.

  • “My feelings, my desires, my hopes, embrace humanity throughout the world,” Peter Cooper proclaimed in a speech in 1853. He looked forward to a time when, “knowledge shall cover the earth as waters cover the great deep.”

  • From its beginnings, Cooper Union was a unique institution, dedicated to founder Peter Cooper's proposition that education is the key not only to personal prosperity but to civic virtue and harmony.

  • Peter Cooper wanted his graduates to acquire the technical mastery and entrepreneurial skills, enrich their intellects and spark their creativity, and develop a sense of social justice that would translate into action.