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Portraiture - Beginners
Funding area Creative Arts (Entry Level)
Check your eligibility
You must meet the entry requirements for the course
- You must be a UK national, or an Irish national, or an EEA national with pre-settled or settled status under the EU Settlement scheme
- You must have been resident in the UK or an EEA country continuously for the 3 years preceding the start date of your course. For learners living in the Greater London Authority area only you must have valid permission to live in the UK for at least 12 months in duration from the start date of your course.
- You must be aged 19 or over as at the 31st August 2024 for courses in the 2024/25 academic year
- You must agree to commit to and complete an Individual Learning Plan in agreement with your course tutor
Who can join this course
This is one of our Tailored learning Entry level (Beginners) courses. This course is for learners who have not studied with us previously in the same subject area at Level 1 or above.
Eligible learners may enrol onto entry level courses in this subject area up to a maximum of 120 guided learning hours in total.
Please refer to our Course details for the subject area, and guided learning hours assigned to this course.
If you have already reached the maximum guided learning hours in this subject area and level, you should look to progress to courses at Level 1 (Improvers).
This course is aimed at those new to Life Drawing & Painting, little or no previous experience of drawing the human form is needed. Those with some experience or have already completed Beginners courses should consider our range of Level 1 (Improvers) courses.
Is this course for me
Our Creative Intent
Creativity is an essential aspect of human expression and plays a crucial role in fostering well-being and a sense of purpose.
The ambition of the Kent Adult Education Creative curriculum is to engage the community through an energetic and diverse programme offer planned to meet the varied needs and interests of Kent’s communities, thereby ensuring high quality learning is delivered across the county in dedicated adult education centres, online and in neighbourhood settings.
Creative courses aim to build confidence through learning, allowing students to express themselves, think critically, and collaborate with their peers. By empowering our students to become confident, imaginative, and adaptable learners, we aim to develop students' curiosity, resilience, and adaptability, preparing them for future challenges, opportunities, and personal development.
Life Drawing courses will cover a range of approaches to life drawing, e.g. quick poses, exercises that help improve observation, drawing with positive and negative as well as more formal approaches to study proportion, tone, form, and flesh tones. There will be an opportunity to use and experiment with a range of media, both traditional and experimental, e.g. pencil, charcoal, paint, and ink. Come and grow your portrait drawing skills in a friendly, welcoming, and gentle environment. Learn
how to better see the structure of the head to improve your drawings, be inspired by portraits from both
historical and contemporary artists, draw a (clothed) life model, yourself in a mirror, and even draw
each other!
You’ll get the chance to
Make a self-portrait in charcoal to explore tone and structure
Make portrait sketches in a variety of drawing materials
Use creative drawing techniques to make your portraits more expressive
Use simple anatomy to help you make more convincing drawings
Explore how contemporary and historical artists have approached portraiture as a way of talking about
what it means to be human
You’ll have a chance to work with charcoal, pastels, felt pens, ink and acrylic paint, making mixed
media work that captures the face, but that doesn’t try to be photographic.
The class is a great, safe place to try drawing faces in a supportive and non-judgemental atmosphere.
It’s based on the belief that drawing is a process, that everyone can draw, and there’s no such thing as
a bad drawing. Beginners are welcome, but will need to be a bit brave - we won’t be covering basic
drawing techniques, but also we celebrate the wonky charm of every drawing.
There is no qualification for this course (but if you ask nicely, your tutor might make you a certificate,
because an artist did that for her once, and it gave her hope).