Learn Oil Painting Basics and Portrait Fundamentals

In this mixed painting class, you’ll learn either the basics of oil painting or the fundamentals of portrait painting, depending on your level. The course is designed to be flexible, so each student works on their own tasks at their own pace.

If you’ve never painted with oils or feel unsure, we’ll guide you step by step in how to start with oil painting. You’ll begin with simple exercises to get a feel for the material and essential techniques. We practice using still lifes to understand light, form, and eventually color.

Once you feel more confident with oil paints, we move on to portrait painting, with gradually more advanced tasks. The goal is to paint portraits in color based on photo references.

Class Content

• Basic material knowledge and principles of oil painting
• Form, values, and color
• Small oil paintings of objects and photos
• Monochrome and color portrait studies
• Alla Prima portraits from photos
• Preparation for painting from live models

Prerequisites for This Painting Class

You should have some drawing experience so that you can fully concentrate on painting. If you’re not familiar with values, edges, and forms, or if you’re a complete beginner, we recommend taking our Drawing Basics class either before or alongside this one.

Drawing Materials

For this drawing class, we recommend using charcoal pencils on newsprint paper. Alternatively, you can also use pencils and other smooth paper, at least in A3 size. You can find recommendations for drawing materials in our material lists.

Group instructions will be in German. And your personal feedback in English.

If you have any questions about the classes, take a look at our FAQ.