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FREE Portrait Guide

START Program

Build a strong foundation in Realist Portraiture. Learn proportion, structure, likeness, and skin tones through step-by-step demos and guided exercises. Study on-demand, at your own pace — with lifetime access to revisit whenever you need.

START PROGRAM

What’s included with your enrolment:

  • ✅ Immediate access to the full START Program

  • 🎥 25+ hours of Step-by-step video lessons (self-paced)

  • ♾️ LIFETIME ACCESS to all course content

  • SUBTITLES IN 70 launguages

  • 📥 Downloadable references & practice exercises

  • 💬 Support via email 

  • Membership to the Artist Community
  • Pay in full (save $$) or monthly
  • Students discounts on art supplies and future products

What happens next:

  • You’ll receive an email with your login details after checkout

  • Log in to your student dashboard to begin anytime

 

Below is a preview of the curriculum.

For any questions, email learn@rossoart.net

Here's the full curriculum

  1. Program Overview

    1 lesson
    1. Program Overview

  2. MODULE 01: The Foundations of Realist Portraiture

    19 lessons
    1. Chapter Overview
    2. Foundations of Realist Portraiture

    1. BUILDING A SOLID STRUCTURE

      1. Getting Proportions, Likeness, Depth right: an intro
      2. General Axes
      3. SKULL ANATOMY FOR PAINTERS
      4. Understanding the Planes of the Head
      5. How to Identify the Planes: Using the Head-Study App
      6. Quick recap with practical excercices

    2. SURFACE: LIGHT & COLOR

      1. From structure to Surface - Intro
      2. Understanding the Light
      3. Why VALUE Matters
      4. Getting the VALUE Right is simple!
      5. How To Group Value Correctly
      6. How to Avoid Overworking: VISUAL HEARARCHY & FOCAL AREA
      7. TRY THIS with your work
      8. EDGES: what they are and why they matters
      9. How to use EDGES in Landscape and Portrait painting
      10. How Light Affects: Color
      11. Let's put all this to work

  3. MODULE 02: Drawing Realist Portraits

    12 lessons
    1. Before We Start: Materials and Studio Set Up PART ONE
    2. Before We Start: Materials and Studio Set Up PART TWO
    3. Drawing Irene
    4. Drawing Sarah

    1. Drawing Ella in Charcoal

      1. Drawing With Charcoal - Intro
      2. ELLA PART I
      3. ELLA PART II
      4. ELLA PART III
      5. ELLA PART IV
      6. ELLA PART VI
      7. ELLA PART VII

    2. PRACTICE AT HOME: Creative Exercises And Assignment

      1. Creative Exercises And Assignment

  4. BONUS MODULE: 5 mins videos on additional drawing topics

    11 lessons
    1. Chapter Overview
    2. Drawing the Eyes - Uxua
    3. Drawing the Eyes - Esme
    4. Drawing The Eyes - Marta
    5. Recap / How to Practice Eye Studies
    6. Drawing the Nose part one
    7. Drawing the Nose part two
    8. Drawing the Nose part three
    9. Drawing the Mouth part one
    10. Drawing the Mouth part two
    11. Drawing the Mouth part three

  5. Before We Paint: Understanding COLOR

    6 lessons
    1. An Intro to Color
    2. The Three Dimensions of Color: Hue, Value & Chroma
    3. Colors Do Not Exist in Isolation: Light and Relativity
    4. A Practical Approach to Mixing Skin Tones
    5. How to Make Skin Tones Look Vibrant
    6. Recap: The Golden Rule of Mixing Skin Tones

  6. MODULE 03: Portrait Painting in oil (White & Pale skin)

    24 lessons
    1. Overview of the lesson
    2. An introduction: direct vs indirect painting

    1. Before We Start: Surface, Composition & Transferring Our Drawings

      1. How to Start Your Portrait- Irene
      2. Tracing Your Drawings
      3. Transferring Your Drawings

    2. Before We Start: Creating A Colour Stusy Using The Zorn Study

      1. Color Study Intro
      2. Zorn Palette: Mixing Demo
      3. Color Study Irene Part I
      4. Color Study Irene Part II

    3. Start Painting: Blocking-in

      1. IRENE PART ONE - Blocking In
      2. IRENE PART TWO - Adding More Definition

    4. Phase Two: Get the Likeness Right

      1. Intro: Rendering
      2. Using The Mirror
      3. Rendering Part I
      4. Rendering Part II

    5. Pushing the Portrait Further: Finer Details and Rendering

      1. Pushing The Portrait Further: Intro
      2. Pushing The Portrait Further: Remix Your Colors
      3. Pushing the Portrait Further: Oiling Out
      4. Pushing the Portrait Further: Irene - Final Push

    6. Finishing Touches: Adding an Abstract Background & Varnishing Your Work

      1. Finishing Touches: Background
      2. Finishing Touches: Varnishing Your Work
      3. Finishing Your Work: Concluding Notes Irene

    7. Appendix:

      1. A Review of Oil Paint MEDIUMS
      2. PRACTICE AT HOME: creative exercises and assignment

  7. MODULE 04: Portait Painting in Oil (Olive & Brown skin)

    15 lessons
    1. Before We Start: Preliminary Thoughts on Composition
    2. Before We Start: Mixing Skin Tones for Light Brown/Olive Complexion

    1. Let's Start Painting: Blocking-in

    2. Painting Phase Two: Modelling

      1. SARAH MODELLING PART I
      2. SARAH MODELLING PART II
      3. SARAH MODELLING PART III

    3. Painting Phase III: From Modelling to Rendering

      1. From Modelling to Rendering - Intro
      2. From Modelling To Rendering Part I
      3. From Modelling To Rendering Part II
      4. From Modelling To Rendering Part III
      5. From Modelling To Rendering Part IV

    4. Painting Phase 4: Chest, Dress, Hair

    5. Painting Phase 4: Chest, Dress, Hair

      1. Chest
      2. Bodice
      3. Hair

    6. Final touches & Backgrounds

      1. Final touches & Backgrounds

    7. PRACTICE AT HOME: creative exercises and assignment

      1. PRACTICE AT HOME: creative exercises and assignment

  8. BONUS: Mixing Skin Tones For White, Brown, Black Complexion

    8 lesson
    1. Chapter Overview

    1. Colour Mixing Demo

      1. How To Organize Your Palette
      2. Realistic Skin Tones Build Up Slowly, over time
      3. Mixing Skin Tones : White Pale Skin
      4. Mixing Skin Tones: Olive: Light Brown Skin
      5. Mixing Skin Tones: Dark / Black Skin
      6. Concluding Notes
      7. PRACTICE AT HOME: creative exercises and assignment

  9. BONUS module: Painting Hair

    15 lessons

    1. General Guidelines and Color Palette For Different Hair Types

      1. What to "Look for" when painting Hair
      2. Hair Colour Palette

    2. FOCUS DEMO: Painting Blonde Hair

      1. Painting Blonde Hair
      2. Painting Flowing Red Hair — Full Module (Locked)

    3. FOCUS DEMO: Painting Bangs

      1. Bangs - Intro
      2. Bangs - Part I
      3. Bangs - Part II
      4. Bangs - Part III
      5. Bangs - Part IV

    4. FOCUS DEMO: SHORT HAIR & BALD STYLE

      1. Intro
      2. Bald Hair Part I
      3. Bold Hair Part II
      4. Short Hair Part I
      5. Short Hair Part II

    5. PRACTICE AT HOME: Creative Exercises And Assignment

      1. Creative Exercises And Assignment

  10. Merging Abstract with Realism (PART I)

    1 lesson
    1. An introduction to my Ground-Up Method

  11. ART SUPPLIES & STUDIO TOOLS

    4 lesson
    1. A Review Of Oil Paint Mediums

    1. Brushes & Brushwork

      1. Brushes - Intro
      2. Brushes - A Review
      3. Brushwork

  12. Conclusion: Your Path Ahead

    1 lesson
    1. This was only the START: Continuing your journey with RossoArtSchool!

  13. SHARE YOUR STORY!!

    1 lesson
    1. Share Your Artistic Journey