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Short Course

Portraiture

  • Duration

    8 Weeks

  • Cost

    £270

  • Tutor

    Lexi Strauss

  • When

    Friday Afternoons

A charcoal illustration of a woman with her hand on her shoulder. She is turning her head to the side and has a tattoo on her wrist. Artwork by Daniel Lee.

Whether you’re a beginner or just brushing up existing skills, this in-depth portraiture course will build confidence through solid exercises and enjoyable experiments in portraiture technique.

Course Overview

This course is designed to develop your knowledge and confidence in portraiture, with a strong focus on drawing this term. These are guided sessions in a social environment, where all creative approaches and techniques are welcomed.

There will be plenty of support and guidance and individual students will be encouraged to explore and develop their own styles, developing an understanding of line, tone, and mark-making to bring depth and character to your portraits.

You’ll be encouraged to experiment with a range of techniques and materials. Working with graphite, charcoal, ink and pastels for those interested in incorporating colour. You’ll investigate facial structure, anatomy, and the nuances of capturing emotion, whilst exploring the fundamentals of capturing likeness and proportion with expression.

The classes offer a supportive and dynamic environment to explore both traditional and expressive approaches to portraiture. Basic materials will be provided, but please feel free to bring your own materials and guidance will also be offered on additional supplies to suit your personal artistic development.

Students should have some previous experience, or have completed one of Lexi’s introductions to life drawing, drawing or painting courses.

A loose sketchy pencil drawing of a man holding a cigarette.
A group of people sat around a portrait model. They are all sat at drawing desks and are focussing on drawing the woman in front of them.
A yellow painting of a man reclining.
Looking over the shoulder of a woman in an orange jumper, you can see her drawing on a board at an easel. The drawing is a simple but accurate line drawing of a man sat in a chair.
A loose pencil sketch portrait of a person wearing glasses.
A painted portrait of a young person with curly pink hair.
Photo of Lexi Strauss painting a colourful painting. She is wearing a neon pink beret and is smiling at the camera.

About the Tutor

Lexi Strauss, an MA Painting graduate from the Royal College of Art (2014) and Fine Art graduate from Hereford College of Arts (2011), is a painter and performer known for her theatrical installations and art clown performances. Her work bridges art, theatre, and comedy, often exploring themes of humour and trauma.

See more of Lexi's work

Term Dates

Term will start on Friday 16th January. There will be 8 sessions with a break for half term on 20th February. The final session will be 13th March. 

A lady with dark grey curly hair is stood at an easel drawing. She wears a patterned top, and is looking off camera, so you can't see her face.

The teaching is inspiring, encouraging and fun. It makes you think in ways we forget as adults. I would recommend it to anyone wanting to get into drawing.

Jane - Introduction to Drawing Short Course
A wide shot of the Folly Lane Print workshop. Various students are working at different workstations throughout the workshop. The room is filled with old fashioned printing presses, ink stations and is flooded with natural light from big windows.

Industry standard workshops and studios

This is where you make your ideas happen. Find out more about the professional kit and spaces we provide at HCA.

Workshops and Resources

FAQs

Basic materials are provided on all of our short courses, and you will be advised on any additional materials you may want to buy for personal projects whilst on the short course. 

You may want to bring your own sketchbook, but we will provide you with a basic sketchbook and paper for the course. 

Courses like these can look great on your CV and are good for professional development. Therefore, we award certificates at the end of the course, provided that you attended enough of the sessions. 

Our short courses are non-credit bearing programmes.

This course is suitable for people with some existing drawing or painting skills, but the course will teach basic skills as well as more advanced skills. 

This course will be held at our College Road Campus. You will need to arrive at our reception each week to sign in. 

This course will take place over 8 sessions with a break for half term. Please see dates listed above. 

Sessions will start at 1.30pm and will finish at approximately 4pm. You may have to arrive earlier on your first week for registration. 

Unless otherwise stated, our short courses are suitable for anyone over the age of 16. 

We recommend anyone aged 16-17 is accompanied by someone 18+ who is also a paying participant. 

We keep our class sizes small so that you benefit from a lot of contact time with the tutor. There will be a maximum of 15 people on this course.

Yes, there is parking available on campus.

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