Essential Drawing Course for Beginners

Every Tuesday, Join anytime
6:30pm – 8:00pm Pacific Time

You will learn the most important aspects of drawing from the very beginning. You will build the foundation for rendering basic objects and environments, and become ready to practice these techniques with more complex subjects in future drawings. All the techniques of the Essential Drawing Course are done in monochrome (black and white) so you can keep your focus on structure, tonality, shading, form, and texture.

This drawing course includes 12 online classes, and one free bonus Figure Drawing session on Saturdays. The Essential Drawing classes take place in real-time every Tuesday at 6:30pm Pacific Time via Zoom. You can join the course at any time – each class is an independent technique.

• 12 live online 1.5-hour classes, PLUS 1 free “Figure Drawing” session
• No experience necessary
• Adults and teens 15 years or older
• Unlimited access to recordings for life
• Supply List provided

  
  

  Must have:

  • 9x12in drawing pad (or any size you’d like)
  • 4B pencils
  • Eraser
  • Sharpener

  Optional but recommended:

  • Set of conté sticks
  • Set of willow charcoal sticks
  • Blending stumps OR paper towels
  • Brush marker (water resistant)
  • Workable fixative spray
    • Must have for charcoal, conte crayon, or soft pastels (not for oil pastels.) If you want to learn how to spray your drawings, click here.

Upcycled Art: Contemporary Mixed-Media Portrait
6-Week Drawing Course

Wednesdays, October 6th – November 10th
6:30pm – 8:00pm Pacific Time

Creating a unique work art doesn’t always have to start with a blank canvas. Sometimes, it starts with grabbing scissors and cutting your old artwork! This is when you begin to recognize that everything you have ever done had its purpose. This will be a fun and productive “recycling project”, where in the course of 6 weeks you’ll create a magnificent portrait in mixed media. You’ll draw in oversized format and discover the importance and purpose of making “intentionally bad” art (that you are not attached to) as building blocks for new art.

• Live online 1.5-hour class
• No experience necessary
• Adults and teens 15 years or older
• Access to recordings
• Supply List provided

  • Light-colored cardstock: any three light (pastel) colors, 15 sheets each color (neon colors are OK as your choice as well, just make sure to have 15 sheets of each chosen color. One of those light colors can be white, 15 sheets).
  • Dark-colored cardstock: any one dark color (black, brown, etc.) – 15 sheets. All 15 sheets must be of the same color.
  • Options for substrate
    1. Large roll of brown paper from a home-remodel store or art store (36-inch or 48-inch roll)
    2. Four (or six) sheets of 19×25” Canson paper in pastel or saturated colors. These four (six) sheets can be four (or six) different colors.
    3. Four (or six) pages from an 18×24 drawing pad, painted with tempera.
       1. You will be gluing all these sheets together to create one large substrate. When deciding whether to choose four or six sheets of paper, keep in mind that six colors will make your artwork look more ambitious (i.e. larger), more impressive for college admissions, and more attractive for art collectors. 
  • Premium Blick Black tempera diluted to the consistency of ink
  • Premium Blick White tempera diluted to the consistency of ink
  • Bristle brushes, variety of sizes from small to large;
  • Black and white nupastel or soft pastel
  • Blending stumps
  • Eraser
  • Sharpener
  • Pencil
  • White Glue
  • Scissors
  • Fixative spray, workable
  • A space on your wall and pushpins. Optional: wooden/foam support board, big enough to fit your large colored substrate, and 4-6 large clamps.

A View Through the Window
6-Week Painting Course

Mondays, September 20th – October 25th
6:00 – 7:30pm Pacific Time

If eyes are the window to the soul, windows can be called the eyes to the world! Windows and doors are a motif well-loved by artists from ancient times to today. Learn about different artists and styles, from the Pompeii to the Early Renaissance, to the 19th-century Realism, to Symbolism, Surrealism, and Modern art, and find your unique voice by painting a life-sized window that overlooks a sea, or a door that opens onto a balcony over a lush garden, and let it inspire a story that unfolds inside or outside. 

By the end of the course, you’ll have painted your very own, large-scale original painting.

• Live online 1-hour class
• No experience necessary
• Adults and teens 15 years or older
• Access to recordings
• Supply List provided

  • Supplies:
    • Sketch pad to develop ideas
    • Pencil, eraser, sharpener, for sketching
    • Large canvas (stretched or unstretched*), recommended size 36x48in (if you’re painting large scale, purchase the canvas at a local art store rather than getting it shipped). The size of the canvas is up to you, if you would like to paint smaller, get 16x20in stretched canvas. Keep in mind we will spend 6 weeks on one painting.
    • Acrylic paints; colors: at least red, yellow, blue, black, and white, all other colors are optional
    • Bristle paint brushes, variety of shapes and sizes, if you want to purchase brushes individually: Flat: 10, 30; Round: Size 6; 2 Large 2 inch Flat Brush (can purchase large brushes at home depot for about $2 a brush)
    • Palette for mixing paints: freezer paper, disposable paper plates, or glass palette
    • Rags or paper towels for wiping brushes
    • Container with water to wash brushes
    • Wall space or easel for canvas; if you’re painting on a small canvas (16x20in or smaller), you can paint without an easel and have it rest on the table
    • Optional: Palette knife, for cleaning palette

    This course can be done in the medium of your choice: it also can be oils. If you plan to use a different medium and have questions about what supplies to bring, please email hello@primamateriainstitute.com