In this phase Jeff Watts, Erik Gist and Meadow Gist will guide you in the process of painting a draped figure. Jeff will start with 5 different costumed figure comprehensive sketches in gouache, with Erik and Meadow taking you through several figure paintings in oil.
Welcome to Oil Fundamentals! In this course, learn all about the absolute basics of oil painting. We will discuss brushes, paints, surfaces, mediums and more. Later on in the Phase you’ll go through painting in pickout, burnt umber direct and Zorn palette. You will be painting a variety of subjects: animals, landscape, skulls, portraits, costumed… Continue reading
This phase will introduce you to several monochromatic palettes. This means you will not be venturing into the realm of color as of yet. Instead, monochrome will give you ample time to focus on more important concepts: manipulating edges and values in oil paint. You should start cultivating an acute awareness of value judgment and… Continue reading
Now, after grounding yourself in the foundation of portrait in oil, it’s time to open up your palette range a bit. First we will jump into the “Zorn” palette, named after famed Swedish painter Anders Zorn. This four color palette is truly amazing. You will learn to premix this palette, then Jeff will introduce you… Continue reading
In this phase we will be exploring the individual features in three palettes. We will work from both male and females and utilize photo reference as well as master studies. It is essential to Familiarize yourself with each feature from as many different types and angles as possible. This will prove very beneficial as we… Continue reading
This course will expand upon your portrait painting foundational skills, and introduce you to the loose style and expressive edge work of gesture portrait painting. These lessons will help you understand color and color mixing in a more instinctual way, as well as help hone your understanding of edge work and your ability to push… Continue reading
In this phase we will again be placing the emphasis on limited palettes. We will start almost all first phases in painting this way. The goal will be to familiarize yourself with value control, shape recognition, and edge control. Students will work from photos of the male and female casts, both front and back, as… Continue reading
Having gotten familiar with navigating the human form from the major angles, and using controlled palettes, you are now ready to open the range a bit. In this phase you will again be working from photos of the male and female figures taken from the major angles. However, now you will be using the Burnt… Continue reading
This course will expand upon your figure painting foundational skills, and introduce you to the loose style and expressive edge work of gesture figure painting. These lessons will help you understand color and color mixing in a more instinctual way, as well as help hone your understanding of edge work and your ability to push and design from your reference. This charismatic approach to figure painting is a wonderful way to "loosen up" your painting approach and work on expressive brushmanship.
In this course will feature Jeff painting from various masters and demonstrating how they approached rendering the figure in oil. These lessons will help you focus on your observational painting, applying your knowledge of anatomy, and sharpen your sense of design by differing to the masters. It will cover a wide range of stylistic interpretations, drawing upon the work of William Adolphe Bouguereau, Diego Velasquez, Solomon J. Solomon and Anders Zorn.
Basic composition, staging, and limited palettes will be the emphasis of this phase. The phase begins with one object rendered in each of the 3 palettes: Burnt Umber Pick-Out, Burnt Umber White, and Phthalo Blue Black and White. You will then work up to two (and ultimately three) objects. Instructor Jeff Watts will go over… Continue reading
You are now ready to study some of the key patinas you will need to paint in your artistic career. In this phase Jeff Watts has selected five of the patinas he has had the most calling to do in his career, as well as ones that were the most challenging. Watch in the following… Continue reading
In this course, Jeff will show you how to approach still life painting with shorter, more gestural techniques. This course focuses on the "direct" approach, and understanding how to paint wet into wet. Watch as Jeff teaches you how to add life and vibrance to your still life pieces by keeping a quicker pace and laying confident marks, all while learning how to navigate the common hurdles that await still life painters, such as color harmony, texture, and composition.
In this phase Jeff Watts introduces you to his second favorite medium after oil: gouache. He will demonstrate this medium using a traditional approach that is rarely taught in contemporary art schools. It will be instrumental to your future growth. Jeff refers to this technique as “tiling”, but you can think of it as shape… Continue reading
Now that you have successfully completed the Phase I gouache you can open up your palette some more, to a warm/cool palette. This will allow for a full treatment of color. We will again be working up our paintings through the chain of values, but now we will have a greater opportunity to use a… Continue reading
Painting from the master’s was an instrumental learning tool for Jeff as a student and still plays an important role in his current training regimen. In this phase Jeff picked a few of his favorite illustrators to emulate. Each one possess certain qualities that he feels will help cultivate your design skills, color harmonies, edge manipulation and much more.
The goal of this phase is to introduce you to the fundamentals of landscape composition. Jeff will go over 13 different compositional “stems” used throughout history by some of the great landscape painters. He will then use black and white gouache to do several small thumbnail paintings of each compositional stem, while explaining each one… Continue reading
Now that you have begun to understand the basics of landscape composition, let’s break apart various concepts within landscape and learn to tackle them. In this phase Jeff Watts will be introducing you to a fabulous limited palette–similar to the Zorn palette–but more ideally suited to the landscape painter. It features four colors: cadmium yellow,… Continue reading
In this class Jeff Will walk you through breaking down Landscape paintings from some of his favorite painters. Emphasis will be on picking up the chosen artist’s brushmanship, color harmonies, compositional choices, and shape design. Jeff will work from 4 artists; noted seascape painter Frederick Judd Waugh, Northern Californian impressionist painter Percy Gray, California Impressionist Edgar Payne, and lastly Russian impressionist Isaac Levitan. This Phase is a must do for aspiring landscape painters, conceptual designers and illustrator’s.