Master Course in Painting • Famous Artists School

Famous Artists School Master Course in Oil & Watercolor Painting

Enroll in the Master Course in Oil & Watercolor Painting

The Master Course in Painting is a suitable and more cost-effective choice if you intend to pursue your painting education to the advanced level. This course provides all of the coursework in the Certificate Course (10 complete lessons) plus 14 additional advanced lessons and Instructor Critiques (for a total of 24 lessons and critiques) covering one of three exciting electives: the Painting Survey Course, which provides an overview of advanced topics without specializing in any one technique or subject; the Advanced Landscape Course, focusing on advanced landscape painting techniques; or the Advanced Portraiture Course, giving you all the advanced tools you need for drawing and painting portraits. You Painting Textbook do not need to select which elective to pursue until you have completed the first ten lessons and assignments.

The Master Course includes a three-volume, fully illustrated, colorful textbook; a Study Guide with Home Projects and a total of 24 Lesson Assignments for submission to Famous Artists School; 24 Personal Lesson Critiques from your Famous Artists School Instructor; and the useful booklet How to turn your part-time painting into dollars.

If you wish, you can pay for this course with our convenient Installment Plan.

You can also order the FAS Art Kit, which contains the art supplies you need for completing your Assignments.

ENROLL IN THE MASTER COURSE IN PAINTING

FAS Master Course in Painting Electives

After you’ve completed the Certificate Course in Painting, you continue your Painting Course with 14 advanced lessons covering one of three exciting electives.

Advanced Painting Survey Course—provides a general overview of advanced topics without specializing in any one technique or subject.

Advanced Landscape Course—choose this Program if you want to specialize in landscape painting.

Advanced Portraiture Course—this Program allows you to concentrate on painting and drawing portraits.

Advanced Painting Survey

by Donna Smith

A painting by FAS Student Donna Smith

Color harmony
Creating texture
Keying your colors
Watercolor textures
Review painting
Drawing heads
Figure drawing
Painting the head
Animal drawing
Figure composition
Figure or animal in a landscape
Painting a portrait
Figure painting
Graduation painting

Lesson Eleven - Color Harmony
In this Lesson, you’ll build on the knowledge of color that you developed through the ten Lessons of your Certificate Course. You learned how different light sources affect the hue, value, and intensity of colors. Now you will focus on how color can be used as an important part of your compositions, so they will create the emotional effects you want to express. You will review Section 5 of your textbook. By studying the color reproductions of paintings found throughout your textbooks, you will learn to analyze their color schemes and the ways in which these master artists organized their color. For your Assignment, you will paint two different color versions of the same landscape or indoor scene, using either oil or watercolor. In the first, you are to use a color scheme that creates a bright, pleasant mood; in the second, use a color scheme that creates a somber mood. Your instructor will be interested to see how effectively you have used color to create different moods.

Lesson Twelve - Creating Texture
With this Lesson, you’ll start to focus on some of the details that will make your paintings come alive. Texture is one such detail. Think of the varieties of textures that are available for you to observe and try to capture: tall grass, short grass, foliage, weeds, clouds, glass, weathered wood, soft wooly blankets, shiny metal, crumpled paper, leather, rocks ... the list is endless. You’ll review Section 8 of your textbook and practice creating different textures with your brushes or painting knife. As you do, you’ll learn to lend your own interpretation to the textures that you see. As a painter, you can do so much more than mere copying. For your Assignment, you are to paint a subject that allows you to show at least three different textures. You may do a still life, landscape, cityscape, interior, or a purely decorative subject. Whatever you choose, your instructor will be concerned with your interpretation of the textures, as well as your use of paint and your painting tools.

Lesson Thirteen - Keying your Colors
Since use of color is one of the most important elements to be mastered in learning to paint effective pictures, this Lesson will go even deeper into this topic. You will learn how to use a limited palette of colors to create an interesting color theme in a painting. Such a procedure is used by many artists, for it allows them to control the color theme more easily. For example, you might intentionally limit your selection to colors that are closely related – that is, all warm or all cool. Complementary colors can be used sparingly, to create an accent to the main color theme. For your Assignment, you will make a painting using one of four limited palettes, in oil, watercolor, or acrylic. You may choose the subject, but your palette should be well suited to the selected subject. Your instructor will be looking at how well your choice of color scheme contributes to the picture idea or mood; and how well you incorporated what you have learned about composition.

Lesson Fourteen - Watercolor Textures
Watercolor often produces unexpected results, even for the most experienced painter. Because you can’t always predict what will happen, creating textures in watercolor can be a lot of fun. Because the most successful watercolors are completed quickly, to keep the fresh appearance that is characteristic of this medium, you will find that you must work quite differently to create texture than in oil or acrylic. However, the variety of textures you can produce is just as wide. You will learn to use a variety of tools to create textures: in addition to your brushes, you may use a razor blade to scrape in lines, or a sponge to dab paint onto your paper. The relative roughness or smoothness of the paper you choose will contribute texture as well. For your Assignment, you will paint a complete watercolor painting of a subject of your choice, which will give you the opportunity to express at least three different textures. Your instructor will evaluate your painting on how well you have expressed the different textures, and how well you hve used your painting tools.

Lesson Fifteen - Review Painting
At this point, you are about two-thirds of the way through your Course. It’s a good time to pause and review all of the work you have been doing. As you look back over your previous Assignments and instructor evaluations, you may find there’s a particular recurring problem that you’d like some help with. If so, this is the time to focus on that problem and get your instructor’s help. If not, you can review your Lessons, taking into account the following principal areas: color mixing and color harmony; controlling values; painting procedures; creating form; using perspective; composition; creating textures. For your Assignment, you will make a painting in oil, acrylic, or watercolor, of a subject of your choice. The painting should be done with one of the following purposes in mind: to have your instructor help you primarily with one particular problem that is giving you difficulty; or to have your instructor evaluate the painting on the basis of what, in his opinion, needs to be strengthened. This evaluation will be the springboard for your work in the remaining Lessons of your Course.

Lesson Sixteen - Drawing Heads
The head is often the focal point of interest in paintings. Its attitude and expression can help greatly in communicating the idea of the picture and giving it mood and meaning. It’s important for artists to understand this and use it to fullest advantage. You’ll begin by learning to draw the head so it has solidity and conviction of form. There are simple shapes and measurements that you’ll use as a base for constructing the head; later you’ll learn to create and place the features on the head form. You’ll practice with step-by-step examples in your textbook, first copying, then studying how horizontal lines through the features curve as the head tips. You’ll use the step-by-step procedure to make quick drawings from photos and of real people. For your Assignment, you will make pencil drawings of three different heads, working either from life or from photos. The three drawings are to be done from different angles, of three different persons. Your instructor will be concerned with how well you have created the head form and placed the features.

Lesson Seventeen - Figure Drawing
Paul Cézanne wrote, “The human figure is the culmination of art.” Certainly, artists through history have shared that feeling, and we want you to appreciate it, too. To be able to draw the figure well is a matter of careful observation and practice. There is no substitute for this. You will make many drawings of figures from photographs in your textbooks and wherever else you find them. In the early stages, your main concern will be to establish the proportions and action of the figure. Your textbook first takes you step-by-step through the basics of creating three-dimensional figures. Later, you will make a close study of anatomy, always continuing to practice as much as possible. In your drawings you’ll aim to express bulk and structure, movement and action. Learning these basics will enable you to observe your subjects with better understanding. For your Assignment, you’ll make two figure drawings: one a rapid sketch, the second a careful study of the same figure. Your instructor will evaluate how well you have captured the “gesture” of the figure, as well as the action and a sense of solidity.

Lesson Eighteen - Painting the Head
In this Lesson, you will work on building the form of the head, establishing the front, side, top, or underplanes that describe the bulk of the head. With this basis solidly in place, your future portraits will be much more likely to achieve a satisfactory likeness and true description of the looks of your subject. You will study the drawing and placement of the individual features, following the step-by-step examples in your textbook. You’ll learn to use value changes in your drawings to show the essential planes that give the head form: the nose, the turn of the cheek, the mouth. You’ll draw as if you were sculpting a solid form in clay. In other practice drawings, you’ll use only the shadow patterns. For your Assignment, you will paint a three-quarter view of a head, in oil, watercolor, or acrylic. You may paint from a model or a photograph, or try a self-portrait. At this stage, your Instructor will be looking mainly at how well you have shown the major planes that express the bulk and solidity of the head.

Lesson Nineteen - Animal Drawing
The graceful movements of the animal have always fascinated the artist from the days of the earliest cave drawings. But whether or not you intend to pursue it extensively, you will find the time you devote to the study of animals a great help in developing your powers of observation…and observation is the key to the world of the artist. As you will learn, man and animals have much in common—in their structure, movement, behavior, and feeling. Having studied human anatomy and the figure in motion, you already possess much of the knowledge you need to draw animals. After analyzing the similarities and differences between men and animals, you will follow step-by-step procedures for drawing the horse, dog, and cat. You’ll then branch out into an overview of the entire animal kingdom, practicing your drawings as you go. For your Assignment, you’ll submit two or three drawings of an animal, in different poses. Your Instructor is interested not only in how well you reproduce the anatomy of the animal, but how expressively you are able to draw it.

Lesson Twenty - Figure Composition
Composing a picture restricted to inanimate forms, like buildings or mountains or trees, is a comparatively simple matter. These forms can be altered in shape or position quite radically without changing their meaning. They can’t think or feel, and if we paint them so that they seem to have a “mood,” it is our mood they are reflecting rather than their own. The situation is changed completely, however, when we begin to work with the human figure. The human being is a conscious, thinking, feeling, dynamic form. So there are a number of new elements to consider when composing a picture including the human figure. You’ll begin to take into account the figure’s mood: what is he thinking? what is her intention? does his attitude reveal his thoughts? Most important, you’ll plan your composition around where the figure is looking, because that “sight line” is likely to be one of the strongest lines in the composition. For your Assignment, you’ll make a painting in which two or more figures are the main theme. Your Instructor will be concerned with the idea you chose to represent, and how successfully your composition communicates that idea.

Lesson Twenty-One - Figure or Animal in a Landscape
In this Lesson, you’ll learn techniques for combining a number of the elements that you have been working on so far: composition, landscape painting, figure painting, and animal drawing. After reviewing the lessons that focus on those elements, you’ll practice a number of variations. Your object is to find a story idea that you would like to express, then work out the way in which your composition will help you to tell that story, along with the action and attitude of the figures and animals you include. For your Assignment, you’ll make a landscape painting incorporating one or more figures or animals. Remember not to try to say too many things. A single thought, well expressed, can make a strong painting. Your Instructor will be interested to see how well you have combined these elements to tell a clear and powerful story.

Lesson Twenty-Two - Painting a Portrait
In earlier Lessons, you studied the construction of the human form, what the relationship of the separate parts is, and how these parts work together in a marvelously versatile and balanced organism. But there is more to the human being than solid form, and more than bone and muscle; there is that indefinable quality called personality. It is that quality that a successful portrait must capture, for mere physical likeness is only the beginning. It’s an elusive element, difficult to reproduce without, again, a great deal of observation and practice. As you practice, it’s recommended that you paint someone, either from life or from photos, whom you know at least slightly – so that familiarity will add to the character of your painting. You’ll review the work of the masters, seeing how they approached this challenge; you’ll also study drapery and clothes, to see how to reproduce them so that they complement your portrait. For your Assignment, you’ll paint a portrait, choosing your own pose, background, and compositional arrangement. Your Instructor will be looking to see how well you captured your subject’s likeness.

Lesson Twenty-Three - Figure Painting
The human figure is nature’s most marvelous accomplishment. It has a simplicity that can be appreciated by everyone, yet its mechanism is so mysterious that without a knowledge of anatomy it is hard to understand – and harder still to draw and paint. So you will study artistic anatomy – not the names and locations of muscles and bones, but their forms and actions as they affect the outward appearance of the figure. You will find that you can draw clothing more convincingly if you know the form beneath it, and how it changes with different actions. As you study and practice, you’ll concentrate specifically on expressing the three-dimensional form of the figure. Life drawing is the optimal situation in which to practice reproducing this form. You’ll concentrate on the major planes of the body, not the details of features, fingers or toes. And you’ll learn to rework your painting until you are satisfied that it looks right. For your Assignment, you’ll submit a finished painting of a male or female figure that expresses the form of the figure, choosing an attractive pose and complementary background. Your Instructor will evaluate how well you have reproduced the figure, and how expressive your painting is.

Lesson Twenty-Four - Graduation Painting
This final Lesson will take you on a journey through the Lessons, Assignments, and evaluations of your entire Course. It’s an opportunity to remind yourself of what you enjoyed, what you found difficult or troublesome, problems you learned to solve, and areas which still seem to present stumbling blocks. You’ll look at your body of work in terms of these major areas: color relationships and color mixing; making use of shapes and values; arranging objects in a picture; paint handling; expressing form and space; and drawing. As you do your practice work for this Lesson, try to give particular attention to those fundamentals that you need to strengthen most. For your Graduation Assignment, you can submit a painting of any subject. The most important thing is to choose something that deeply interests you – a subject that has real meaning to you. Your Instructor will review your painting using a checklist of all the elements that you have studied, so that your final evaluation will serve as a reference point for you as you continue to develop your own work as an artist.

Landscape Course Lessons

A landscape painting by FAS Guiding Faculty Member Mark English

Color harmony
Creating texture
Keying your colors
Watercolor textures
Review painting
Exploring your subject
The color scheme
Mood through composition
Creating depth
Painting sunlight
Figure or animal in a landscape
Choice painting #1
Choice Painting #2
Graduation painting

Lesson Sixteen - Exploring your Subject
Exploring the scene before you start to paint is a habit that you should acquire. All too often there is a tendency to set up the easel the moment you come upon an interesting subject. Perhaps just a stone’s throw away there exists a much more exciting picture possibility. In this Lesson, you’ll learn how to assess such possibilities in whatever aspect of the outdoor world is interesting and available to you, whether it be scenes of nature or the landscape that man has constructed. You’ll develop the habit of sketching as you go, training not only your eyes to observe but also your hand to reproduce. You’ll learn, too, how to organize and plan your landscape scenes, rearranging reality if necessary to come up with a composition that’s visually exciting and expressive of the emotions you want your viewers to share with you, the artist. For your Assignment, you’ll submit four views, in photo or drawing format, of a scene that you have explored, along with a composition drawing based on one of the views. Your Instructor will be concerned with how well you have composed the elements of your scene and used tone to show the value pattern of your composition.

Lesson Seventeen - The color Scheme
In this Lesson, you’ll consider the fact that nature contains many variations of a single color, and you must learn to tell them apart. As a landscape painter, you’ll often be faced with a scene that, at first glance, seems monochromatic. You’ll learn to recognize the subtle color differences, and how to emphasize or exaggerate those differences in order to create more interesting color relationships in your painting. By studying the work of the masters, you’ll see how you can introduce different hues of the same color, or juxtapose complementary colors, to create a richly varied surface. For your Assignment, you’ll make a painting based on a color photograph that we supply. This photograph presents an important color problem, and your Instructor will want to see how well you can create interesting and varied color relationships of the greens to produce a midsummer scene.

Lesson Eighteen - Mood through Composition
This Lesson teaches you to use the different ways at your disposal to help your paintings convey your feelings about the subject. Like the stage director or set designer of a play, it is up to you to communicate your feelings to the audience – not with words, but with visual impressions. Of course, many different elements come into play as you, the artist, choose among them for the most appropriate. Will you present the major elements of your composition in a distant view, or in a close-up? Will you use tangential lines to draw the viewer’s eye to the heart of the message? How will the colors, values, and lighting work together to convey the desired mood? The overall design of your scene must harmoniously represent what you have to say. For your Assignment, you’ll make a painting of any landscape subject, in which you express a specific mood or feeling. Your Instructor will evaluate how well you have used the elements at your disposal – the composition of the scene, the color scheme, the value key, and the lighting effect – to convey your feelings about the scene.

Lesson Nineteen - Creating Depth
As a painter you work on the flat surface of canvas or paper. Yet, through the control of color, value, placement, perspective, and detail, you can convey the illusion of three-dimensional forms and a sense of distance from foreground to background. In this Lesson you’ll review the principles involved in creating form in the objects you paint, giving them bulk and solidity. You’ll learn how to create the illusion of form in space, through use of light and shade as well as composition and arrangement. And you’ll work with perspective, the all-important element in creating valid and vibrant landscape paintings. For your Assignment, you’ll paint a landscape in which you clearly express the illusion of three-dimensional forms and a sense of depth from foreground to background. Your Instructor will be interested to see how well you have used the opportunity of creating form as well as how effectively you have managed to show the depth of your scene.

Lesson Twenty - Painting Sunlight
In this Lesson you will develop your ability to capture a feeling of sunlight in a landscape painting, by using color and value to express light and shade. You’ll study the effect of cast shadows and reflected light, which along with the parts of the scene that are clearly in light or in shade, present challenges to the artist which are critical to the success of landscape renderings. You’ll practice by painting directly from nature, and learn not to paint what you think a color or value should be, but to really look at your subject for information and make comparisons between one area of your subject and another. You’ll also review sections on color mixing and the use of color, in order to most effectively use the full spectrum of hues available to you. For your Assignment, you’ll make a painting of a landscape that conveys your impression of sunlight, preferably a scene with fairly large forms that will give you the opportunity to explore the light and shade areas more intimately. Your Instructor will want to see how well you can express full bright sunlight in a landscape scene.

Lesson Twenty-One - Figure or Animal in a Landscape
Even though you are primarily working with landscapes, there are times when adding figures or animals will contribute to your paintings. In this Lesson you’ll review the important basics of construction of human and animal figures, so that even though they are not the focus of your composition, they will add effectively to the story you want to tell. You’ll concentrate mainly on action and proportion, not on the details of anatomy, making “gesture drawings” and quick sketches to capture realistic likenesses. For your Assignment, you will make a landscape painting incorporating one or more animals, figures, or both. Though the landscape itself should dominate the picture space, the animal or figure may be the center of interest if you choose, or it may be a secondary, incidental element. Your Instructor will be concerned with how well you express the animal or figure in your painting, and how well you incorporate it into the landscape composition.

Lesson Twenty-Two - Choice Painting #1
In this Lesson, you’ll do two things: review past evaluations to discover your areas of weakness, and push yourself to the next level in your landscape paintings. If you have been doing most of your landscape painting in your studio, either from photographs, sketches, or memory, you’ll now be encouraged to move outside and work with the real thing. And if you’ve been working exclusively from nature, we’d like you to move indoors and redo some of those paintings, trying to approach the new painting with a completely fresh outlook – strengthening the design, the feeling you anted to convey, the color, the value pattern. You will learn much from these exercises if you have the courage to make corrections. Sometimes you may feel reluctant to make an adjustment, for fear the result might not be an improvement – but every successful artist often has to do exactly this. For your Assignment, you’ll submit a landscape painting, after having carefully evaluated it as your Instructor will do, to see if you have succeeded in capturing the scene and conveying your feelings about it, used color and values effectively, chosen the strongest composition, and included just the right elements to tell your story.

Lesson Twenty-Three - Choice Painting #2
Often, students complain that there’s nothing in their own area that would make a good subject. It’s the aim of this Lesson to teach you that, although nature doesn’t always present the ready-made subject, there is a wealth of material around you if you learn to see the possibilities. It isn’t a matter of what you paint, but how you paint it. Selectivity is important, and so is emphasis – knowing what to strengthen and what to subdue. Most important of all, it’s your interpretation of what you see that will lift it out of the commonplace and boring. So, you’ll stretch yourself to paint scenes that, at first glance, seem ordinary and dull; but by using the knowledge you’ve acquired through this Course, you’ll see how to make it as interesting as you can. For your Assignment, you’ll submit a painting of a scene that seemed initially to hold little promise as a subject. Your Instructor will evaluate how well you have used your selective eye to find and represent the interest hiding in that scene.

Portraiture Course Lessons

by Franklin McMahon

A painting by FAS Guiding Faculty Member Franklin McMahon

Color harmony
Creating texture
Keying your colors
Watercolor textures
Review painting
Drawing heads
Figure drawing
Painting the head
Choosing the pose
Features and expressions
Color effects
Lighting and clothing
Choice painting
Graduation painting

Lesson Seventeen - Figure Drawing
Paul Cézanne wrote, “The human figure is the culmination of art.” Certainly, artists through history have shared that feeling, and we want you to appreciate it, too. To be able to draw the figure well is a matter of careful observation and practice. There is no substitute for this. You will make many drawings of figures from photographs in your textbooks and wherever else you find them. In the early stages, your main concern will be to establish the proportions and action of the figure. Your textbook first takes you step-by-step through the basics of creating three-dimensional figures. Later, you will make a close study of anatomy, always continuing to practice as much as possible. In your drawings you’ll aim to express bulk and structure, movement and action. Learning these basics will enable you to observe your subjects with better understanding. For your Assignment, you’ll make two figure drawings. One figure should be seated, the other standing, in poses appropriate for a portrait painting. Your Instructor will primarily be concerned with your construction of the figure, your understanding and application of foreshortening, and the pose of the figure.

Lesson Eighteen - Painting the Head
In this Lesson, you will work on building the form of the head, establishing the front, side, top, or underplanes that describe the bulk of the head. With this basis solidly in place, your future portraits will be much more likely to achieve a satisfactory likeness and true description of the looks of your subject. You will study the drawing and placement of the individual features, following the step-by-step examples in your textbook. You’ll learn to use value changes in your drawings to show the essential planes that give the head form: the nose, the turn of the cheek, the mouth. You’ll draw as if you were sculpting a solid form in clay. In other practice drawings, you’ll use only the shadow patterns. For your Assignment, you will paint the head of either a man or a woman, clearly expressing its three-dimensional form. Your Instructor will evaluate your work on how well you developed the form of the head and its shape, and how you have used the background color and value to set off the head itself.

Lesson Nineteen - Choosing the Pose
Your earlier studies of composition will have prepared you to concentrate in this Lesson on the pose of your subject. The placement of the figure in the frame, the angle, the clothing, plus any additional objects and the background – all these elements must contribute to, and derive their meaning from, the presentation of the subject. You’ll want your chosen pose to reflect the character of your subject, and be appropriate to it. Also, if you’re painting from life, you’ll aim for a pose that’s comfortable and natural for your subject. Your practice work will focus on trying out a variety of portrait compositions, as well as closely studying the work of master artists who have specialized in portraits. You’ll see, for example, how an effective portrait composition will constantly take the viewer’s eye back to the head and face, and how the placement of the figure in the frame can give a subtle message about the sitter. For your Assignment, you will paint a full-length or three-quarter-length portrait. Your Instructor will evaluate your ability to compose a painting and pose the model, as well as your use of color and value, and how well the background relates to the entire picture.

Lesson Twenty - Features and Expressions
There are many hurdles to be gotten over in the process of learning to paint successful portraits. Even the slightest change in the construction of the features can distort the head, or completely change the appearance. So it’s important to observe very carefully. The artist Robert Henri wrote, “Five minutes’ consideration of the model is more important than hours of haphazard work.” Your textbook presents detailed drawings of the things to look for in the features, but there’s no formula for constructing them. Each person’s individual differences will require an individual approach. You will practice the basic forms, and then expand your work by drawing your own features as observed in a mirror. Concentrating on features, you’ll do portraits of older people, since their faces often have more pronounced character and therefore it’s easier to get a good likeness. For your Assignment, you’ll do two head-and-shoulder portraits. Your main concern will be to paint the features expressively, keeping in mind what you have already learned about expressing the solidity of the head and placing the features. Your Instructor will be looking to see how well you construct and paint the features.

Lesson Twenty-One - Color Effects
In this Lesson you will be primarily concerned with the use of color to achieve flesh tones, and the relationship between background color and flesh color. You’ll study the basics of color once again, working towards using color to achieve the most subtle and effective results. In your practice, you’ll discover that a color doesn’t mean anything until you put others around it. You’ll work in all different areas of your portraits so you can see how the colors look next to each other. You’ll begin to learn through observation that skin tones can be rendered by a surprising range of colors, from nearly white to deep purplish browns. You’ll work using color to express the complexion of your individual subject, as well as to create an overall impression or color theme that reflects the personality or character of the person. In this case, you can even depart from reality to achieve the desired effect. For your Assignment, you’ll submit a head-and-shoulders portrait in order to concentrate on the painting of the face. Your Instructor will evaluate how you have used color to reveal your subject’s likeness and character.

Lesson Twenty-Two - Lighting and Clothing
In this Lesson, you can expand the horizons of your portrait paintings by incorporating a variety of settings. For example, you can try outdoor settings, and experiment with the different effects produced by natural lighting. In addition, you’ll learn to enhance the depiction of your subject by effective representation of his or her clothing. Cloth, by itself, is without any particular form or character, but in use it becomes “alive”. This action imparts life to a painting, as well. Just as you studied the ways to give a figure three dimensional form, you’ll now learn to clothe that form in shapes and folds that will give it even more substance. Similarly, you’ll study the use of lighting to achieve patterns that draw the viewer’s eye to the important elements of your painting. For your Assignment, you’ll paint a portrait of someone you know, and include an appropriate setting and clothing. Your Instructor will be concerned with how well you have combined these important elements into a successful portrait.

Lesson Twenty-Three - Choice Painting
As you near the end of your Portrait Course, you’ll want to solidify and gather all the elements you’ve been working on. In addition to studying the relevant sections in your texts, you’ll want to spend as much time as you can painting portraits. The real value of practice at this stage is the experience you will gain by applying the knowledge you have studied. In your practice paintings, work on capturing the essentials of your subject, then move on to another. Learn to spend enough time getting your model to be at ease and establishing the pose. Work on getting the major forms sketched in early. You’ll learn to solve the big problems first, before you carry the painting too far. For your Assignment, paint a finished portrait, of the opposite sex from the previous Assignment. The choice of composition is up to you. Your Instructor wants to see how you would use the things you have studied to express your feelings about the person you paint.

Lesson Twenty-Four - Graduation Painting
This final Lesson will take you on a journey through the Lessons, Assignments, and evaluations of your entire Course. It’s an opportunity to remind yourself of what you enjoyed, what you found difficult or troublesome, problems you learned to solve, and areas which still seem to present stumbling blocks. You’ll look at your body of work in terms of these major areas: color relationships and color mixing; making use of shapes and values; arranging objects in a picture; paint handling; expressing form and space; and drawing. As you do your practice work for this Lesson, try to give particular attention to those fundamentals that you need to strengthen most. For your Graduation Assignment, you can submit a portrait in any style you choose. Your Instructor will review your painting using a checklist of all the elements that you have studied, so that your final evaluation will serve as a reference point for you as you continue to develop your own work as an artist.