Face Up to Creating a Portrait with Our New Beginner-Friendly Workshop

Portraiture is one of the most often seen artistic fields, but it it’s also one of the most demanding, requiring thought and observation to get right. If you’re just starting out on your portrait-creating journey, Yolanda San Marcos’ new Drawing Portraits for Beginners workshop will help smooth your path: the Andorra-based artist says the online session will be “perfect for those who want to understand the basic rules of portrait drawing”.

During the friendly and welcoming two-hour workshop on Monday 6 June, San Marcos will demonstrate the techniques you need to create realistic portrait drawings using pencils. San Marcos will explain how to understand the anatomy of the face, how to select the best model for your drawing, how to use shading to create a 3D effect, and she will also discuss the rules of proportion. You’ll then get the chance to practice some technical exercises before creating a detailed drawing in a realistic style.

“I’m excited to give students complete knowledge and new techniques to work with,” says San Marcos. “We will discover a lot of new things during the course.”

San Marcos’s artistic practice is based on her fascination with human beings and their emotions. She says the language of her work combines abstract, symbolism and disruptive realism. She encourages her students to follow their own ideas, and believes that an artist needs to be “someone who is curious, investigative, and a magnificent dreamer”.

Thanks to the support of our sister brand Winsor and Newton, everyone taking part in the workshop will receive a bundle of materials including a set of professional sketching pencils and an A3 Bristol board pad, with extra-smooth paper that can cope with repeated sketching and erasing. Now all you need to do is find a photograph of your ideal model…

Find out more about the Drawing Portraits for Beginners workshop here as well as the many other online learning sessions on offer at Elephant Academy.