Portrait Drawing Course

£120.00

Join Lewis Meda in an online Portrait Drawing course. In this course you will learn how to build confidence in drawing the portrait using the Reilly Abstraction. You will then learn how to develop that solid foundation into a full finish.

Each demonstration is usually between an hour to 2 hours in length, depending on the focus of the class. Students will be provided with a demonstration video weekly, along with the reference photos used in the lesson. There will be a portrait drawing assignment set every week.

Lewis will then provide a critique video every week, where he will trace over the students drawings, showing them where their drawings could improve in order to take their ability to the next level. Students are encouraged to send in any questions they may have with their assignment submissions, and Lewis will do his very best to answer them in the critique video.

For your own benefit, please read through this entire page, and watch the videos below if you aren’t familiar with the Atelier method of drawing!

Course Start Date: 7th July 2025

Course End Date: 3rd August 2025

Join Lewis Meda in an online Portrait Drawing course. In this course you will learn how to build confidence in drawing the portrait using the Reilly Abstraction. You will then learn how to develop that solid foundation into a full finish.

Each demonstration is usually between an hour to 2 hours in length, depending on the focus of the class. Students will be provided with a demonstration video weekly, along with the reference photos used in the lesson. There will be a portrait drawing assignment set every week.

Lewis will then provide a critique video every week, where he will trace over the students drawings, showing them where their drawings could improve in order to take their ability to the next level. Students are encouraged to send in any questions they may have with their assignment submissions, and Lewis will do his very best to answer them in the critique video.

For your own benefit, please read through this entire page, and watch the videos below if you aren’t familiar with the Atelier method of drawing!

Course Start Date: 7th July 2025

Course End Date: 3rd August 2025

Equipment List:

The following is an equipment list of items needed during this course.

  • Charcoal Pencil. (Conte a Paris 1710b pencil OR Wolffs Carbon 6b pencil)

  • Kneaded Erasers (Faber Castell recommended)

  • 18x24” Smooth newsprint. (UK students can get pack of 500 from Jacksons Art supplies (64x90cm 45gsm) and cut to size.

  • Razor blades to sharpen pencils.

  • Sanding block to sand pencils once sharpened.

  • 18x24” hardboard to clip your paper onto.

  • Bulldog clips x2-4

  • Ipad/tablet to show your reference, or printer to print your reference.

  • Drawing horse, or a chair to sit on and either a table/chair to lean on.

An Introduction to the Atelier Method

In the video below, I go through how to set up your station, why and how we utilise the kind of charcoal pencil we use, and a few warmup exercises you can use before every drawing session!

How to sharpen your pencil

Below is a video that shows you how to sharpen a charcoal pencil using the Atelier Method. This method enables you to mimmick painting with a pencil, using the side of the pencil as well as the tip. This method of drawing is used in this course, so please try to adopt this method before the course begins.