PORTRAIT WORKSHOP EQUIPMENT

Below is a list of art materials for your information only.
It is not essential to have all the equipment listed below.

FOR DRAWING

Since a good proportion of the time in this workshop will be spent drawing, obviously some drawing equipment will be needed.

  • A roll or sheets of newsprint. The more the better because then you will be more likely to be happy to make mistakes and mistakes are important (more about that in the workshop). Newsprint is relatively cheap and can be purchased at office works or art stores.
    You want relatively smooth newsprint and not rough textured newsprint.

  • You will be attaching this to a board and your watercolour board should work fine for this. Maybe bring 2 or more bulldog clips for this.

  • A 4B or 6B pencil. Pitt pastel pencil (black) is good, but any 4B or 6B will be fine.

  • A stanley knife for sharpening

  • A kneadable eraser and a normal hard eraser.

  • A nail file

FOR PAINTING

 
Please bring any colours that you have. Below are colours that I have, but you are not obliged to have these or be restricted by these in any way.
Any colours you normally use should be fine.

NOTE: I have bolded colours that you may find useful.

  • Winsor Violet

  • French Ultramarine

  • Cobalt Blue

  • Cerulean Blue

  • Winsor Blue(Green Shade)

  • Winsor Green (Blue Shade)

  • Cadmium Yellow Pale

  • Raw Sienna

  • Raw Umber

  • Burnt Umber

  • Burnt Sienna

  • Cadmium Red

  • Permanent Alizarin Crimson

  • White Gouache (any Brand)

 
SOME OTHER COLOURS I USE OCCASSIONALLY:

  • Perylene Maroon

  • Cobalt Turquoise Light

  • Winsor Yellow Deep

  • Winsor Red

  • Potters Pink

BRUSHES
A variety of brushes. 

  • A mop/wash brush of some kind is useful.

  • A flat brush would also be useful.

  • Since brush size numbers vary across brands, giving a brush size number will not be helpful.

  • Bring any brushes you have, but please do not bring only small brushes.

 PAPER
Arches or  Saunders 180gsm or 300gsm medium.
I prefer to use 180gsm paper and stretch it.
You are free to use any paper, but please make sure it is a relatively good or well know brand.
Medium (Cold press) will be the easiest texture for you to use.
If stretching gator board is essential and a small stapler.
Even if you are not stretching paper a board is essential to attach your paper (watercolour and newsprint).

 OTHER

  • Plastic Water container

  • Hard board of some kind for attaching paper
    Gator board is ideal – Approx Size: 42 X 32 cm (Quater sheet size) or bigger

  • Watercolour Palette – make sure it has a flat space for mixing.

  • Masking tape (roughly 2cm width)

  • Rags for drying and wiping brushes

  • 2B pencil

  • A4 sketch pad for taking notes

  • A tablet/laptop or phone to help you with your images.

  • Not essential, but a small table top easel for when we are drawing is useful. They are quite cheap at Office works and Big W

IMAGES

A word about the portrait subjects.
I know that you may want to draw/paint portraits of loved ones, but I will be supplying the images that we will be working from. The selection of images is important - particularly if you are new to portraiture (which I will cover in the course).

I will be projecting images onto the wall for you to work from. You can also take a photo of the projected image with your tablet/laptop/phone and work from that if you prefer.

IMPORTANT: Even though for much of the time you will be working from images that I will be choosing, you will have the opportunity to work from an image of your choosing. Please bring two images that you may want to paint and I will help you choose the better of the two. Please avoid bringing a photo that has been taken in a studio setting by a photographer. We are after images that have a distinct light and dark side (see below).