Man in a Blue Smock, Paul Cézanne c. 1896-97, oil on canvas, 25 x 32 inches
“I learnt a great deal of stuff that I might never have discovered or only stumbled on over an extended period – years! I am now persuaded that the iPad is a viable sketching from life implement. Until today I had my doubts. And the ability to replay so easily is FANTASTIC. Great course Jeremy. I was both interested and impressed by the work presented and the way people are imaginatively exploiting the iPad for different purposes. Inspiring – there was a real buzz in the group as the potential started to seep through. Wonderful! As always a lot of fun.”
Victor Lunn-Rockliffe, London
Thursday, 28th December, 2017, 2pm – 5:30pm, £115 (includes entry to Cézanne Portraits and tea)
National Portrait Gallery, St. Martin’s Pl, London WC2H 0HE, UK (nearest tube is Leicester Square on Piccadilly Line)
Enjoy an Informal Afternoon of Sketching Portraits on your iPad!
The iPad is a is a highly portable pencil case, paintbox, sketchbook and canvas all rolled into one and ideal for sketching portraits on the go. Experience the ease, fun and fulfillment of using your iPad to sketch with the minimum of fuss and no mess! This informal portrait sketching afternoon will focus on use of the premier pro sketching and painting app, Procreate. On the technical side, you’ll learn how to open a new canvas, specify it’s size, fill it with a background image, choose, control and customize the different types of brushes, record and replay your drawings, adjust color, brush size and opacity, and work with the basics of layers, and save stages of your drawings as they develop. You’ll also get assistance and tips in preparing your iPad for optimum performance and learn a simple workflow system for organizing and saving your artwork images and background/texture photos within your photo album structure. On the artistic side I will share my approach to making quick portrait sketches that capture a subject’s character in a loose expressive way. We will meet at 14:00 in the Portrait Café, a relaxed cafe on the lower floor of the National Portrait Gallery. I’ll start there with a demo and introduction.
We’ll then visit the acclaimed Cézanne Portraits exhibition for inspiration and practice. We’ll then end the afternoon back in the cafe for sketching more portraits, drawing upon the inspiration of Cézanne and the earlier demo.
Notice the way in the Man in a Blue Smock (shown above) Cézanne differentiates the background (actually one of Cézanne’s first works of art, a screen) from the subject, uses the powerful vertical in the composition, and the accent of the red scarf. The more you look at this painting the more you see. This painting is on loan from the collection of the Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas. It’s worth visiting the Kimbell page for this painting and listening to the two minute recording. It quotes Cézanne as saying that “A painter must consider every brush stroke, must do everything with much reflection, because every color touch must contain air, light, the object, the plan, the character, the drawing, and the style, all that which constitutes a painting.” Even his terminology – “color touch” – conjures up the picture of how carefully he observed and then translated that observation into color and form on his canvas.
During this Tea ‘n’ Pixels, as well as us enjoying learning from the example of Cezanne’s portraits, I’ll also share my own personal approach to portrait sketching and painting, something I have loved for many many years and something which I do regularly as part of my Live Event Painting work. Here are a few examples of recent portraits I’ve made on the iPad (using Procreate app), all drawn from life.
Jun, Jeremy Sutton, 2017, iPad Pro, Apple Pencil, Procreate
Annie, Jeremy Sutton, 2017, iPad Pro, Apple Pencil, Procreate
Patience and John, Jeremy Sutton, 2017, iPad Pro, Apple Pencil, Procreate
(click here to see the time-lapse replay of this portrait plus a few more portraits from Patience’s Alice in Wonderland themed birthday party)
Tea ‘n’ Pixels is for everyone: from those with no prior formal art training to full time professional artists, from those new to the iPad as well as experienced iPad artists.
Scene at Leicester Square, London, depicted on the iPad using Sketch Club en plein air.
Tea ‘n’ Pixels: iPad Portrait Sketching with Procreate 4
What experience is needed?
All levels of experience are welcome, from those with no art training and new to the iPad, through to professional artists.
What to bring with you
This is a hands-on class. You’ll need to bring an iPad (preferably iPad Pro and Apple Pencil) with the latest version of Procreate installed. For more information and links on apps and styluses please see my iPad art tools page.
Video showing an earlier Tea ‘n’ Pixels London
Below are photos from when I previously taught an earlier iPad sketching workshop at the V&A (2015).
Thank you for running such a wonderful session – the smiles on people’s faces as they left said it all. Thanks again for all your hard work in getting the most out of the day.
Alex F.
Team Leader, Digital Programmes
Victoria & Albert Museum
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