Portraiture Level I Summer Art Camp for Kids

with Annalisa Shanks

Ages 8-12 yrs. Learn Studio Incamminati methods to draw portraits in charcoal.

Register Here: https://bit.ly/PortraitureSU25

5-Day Camp (July 21-25) Level I:

Using photo portrait references of movie characters, we will begin Days 1 and 2 with quick charcoal exercises practicing basic 3D shapes, such as spheres, cylinders and rectangles, and how to capture light effects on those simple shapes. Students will quickly learn how the human face can be drawn using these basic shapes – the neck is a cylinder, the top of heads are spheres, the nose is a rectangle with half-spheres for nostrils. We will focus on working big to small, starting with the broadest “masses” using lines and shapes, then breaking those shapes into clear separations of light and shadow. We will practice abstracting these shapes to build a strong portrait structure which will result in a realistic portrait of our favorite movie characters. On Day 3 we will move on from basic abstraction to learning how to refine these abstractions into facial features. On Days 4 and 5 students will have the option of practicing the “start” multiple times during the week, in which they focus on strengthening their beginning “block-in” stage – after all, the start is the most important part!

Students may also choose to work on one portrait, pushing the value transitions and features as far as they can. By the end of the week students will know how to bring a more realistic human element to their portrait drawings. Annalisa Shanks is the daughter of Nelson and Leona Shanks, founders of Studio Incamminati, a classical realism art school in Philadelphia, PA. Read Annalisa Shanks bio here: https://www.artsofgreatfalls.org/our-instructors