question on teaching painting

[quantum]

I will be teaching a community education class, "Beginning Oil Painting",
six sessions, 2.5 hrs/session. I will begin with materials, color mixing,
have them paint a simple abstract, then have them do a simple still life.
Then I will go over the basics of drawing/painting the portrait. The final
two sessions I want the students to attempt a portrait painting. Since they
likely have little skill in figure/portrait, I thought of making a template
(stencil) using a piece of cardboard where I could use an X-acto knife to
cut out ~1/4 inch lines at key locations (eyebrows, chin, neck borders) for
a given portraint painting to have them reproduce; they would then be able
to quickly use some vine charcoal to mark the basic portrait outline on
their canvas by drawing through the 'stencil'. Thoughts? What I mean is, on
the one hand is not having them do 'true art' since they would be using a
'cheat' of a sort. But them my goal is only to introduce them to painting,
the class is not titled 'portrait painting'. I want them to have fun and
concentrate more on colors and blending to create 3D realism. That is why I
thought of using the cheat method so they would not get discouraged and
feel like their painting looks like a piece of crap. I took a figure
painting class last year at the local art shop, and while I did very well
because of my experience, there were total beginners in the class who quit
soon into the class because they were so discouraged at the fact their
portraits just did not even have the basic correct placement of the facial
features.

[Minnie Ball]

In article <ulcsec4...@corp.supernews.com>, no...@nowhere.net says...

>
>I will be teaching a community education class, "Beginning Oil Painting"

As one who has taught semesters of "beginner-level"
in a university setting, I would say your idea is
an excellent one. I would suggest that by the time
you arrive at the portrait phase you will have
learned which students need such a "cheat" and
which do not. I would let the students who feel
confident to proceed on their own do so.

My situation in beginning painting was somewhat
different since students in university are
expected to have a full year of preparatory
drawing, etc before being allowed to take a
painting class.

[keith o'connor (tinmangallery.com]

As you say: your true objective is that they have fun. I am wondering if in
designing your simple still life you could somehow incorporate a general
head shape - maybe the abstract could incorporate a general head shape such
as an egg shaped area and then your still life could have a general egg
shape somewhere and then the egg shape becomes a generalised head in the
final stage. You could cut the egg shape putting each part in different
sections of the compositions.

You could consider the egg shape rotated with different orientations in the
different paintings. It would also show how a single shape can be reused in
various ways.

Keep us posted as to your results.

keith
quantum <no...@nowhere.net> wrote in message
news:ulcsec4...@corp.supernews.com...

[Sharon Barcone]

Portrait work is rare in beginning classes. However if you want to go there,
why not correct the problem that caused so many to quit the other class.
Forgot stencils, teach them how to get the placement correct by properly the
size of one thing compared to another. If you teach them how to judge
proportions it will help in any thing they paint. It isn't hard. If one's
head is a pencil length high and the eyes are half way down the pencil there
is a reference for transferring those ratios to the canvas. Depending on the
size of paper they are working on, you want them to start by placing the
indications of where the top and bottom of the head is. From there it is a
matter of judging proportions and using those proportions to place the
features.

Learning to do it right is more fun that just doing it!

sharon

"quantum" <no...@nowhere.net> wrote in message
news:ulcsec4...@corp.supernews.com...

-----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =-----
http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World!
-----== Over 80,000 Newsgroups - 16 Different Servers! =-----

[Roob]

Don't do this stencil thing. Just let them do whatever types of
portraits they want. They'll have more fun that way. Plus, I think
you're underestimating people that have never painted before. Anybody
can draw a face. It might not be "academically" correct, but anybody
can figure the proportions out for themselves through THE PROCESS OF
ELIMINATION.

quantum <no...@nowhere.net> wrote in message news:<ulcsec4...@corp.supernews.com>...