This workshop will be a process and preliminary work focused class that will take place over the course of two weekends. The objective of the workshop will be the creation of preliminary work needed to execute a finished outdoor composition involving a clothed figure. Two Saturday afternoons will be spent out “in the field” working from a live model to create sketches, develop color studies, and gather reference images (photographs). Two Sunday afternoons will be spent working in-studio from the created reference materials to develop a well thought out, smaller scale, full-color composition. The goal by the end of the workshop will be for students to have on-hand the necessary preliminary work and knowledge to create a finished outdoor figurative composition back in their own studios.

Andy will contact the students closer to the time of the workshop to briefly go over the supply list and location for the outdoor portion of the workshop.

Dates: Saturday–Sunday, May 24–25 and Saturday–Sunday, May 31 – June 1
Length: 4 days
Time: 1:00pm–5:00pm

If you'd like to learn more about the convenience and possibilities of digital tools like Photoshop, then this workshop is for you. Christine will teach you some of the essential digital skills she uses for her digital and traditional art making. Learn about different color modes for making art for print or on screen, “frankensteining” your reference, using a pencil drawing as a base for a digital painting, altering your sketch digitally to explore composition and value design, and drawing and painting digitally. We will not be using any AI/ML image generation tools. You will also be given suggestions to continue to practice on your own. About a week before the workshop, registrants will receive access to the workshop files.

The majority of our projects will be done using Photoshop. I recommend using the 7-day free trial of Photoshop for this workshop. If you choose to purchase a Photoshop plan, be sure you understand the subscription agreement (some are monthly and some are an annual commitment with fees for canceling early). We'll also look at alternatives to Photoshop that cost less.

Please direct questions to Christine.Mitzuk@TheAtelier.org

Some technical assistance will be available. The workshop does not include any software or hardware.

Requirements: You must:

Strongly recommended: If using Photoshop on a laptop, a Wacom drawing tablet or similar is strongly recommended. Christine uses a Wacom Intuos (small size, price starts around $70.00). Some local resources include: Best Buy, Micro Center, Device Pitstop.

Christine has been using Photoshop since the mid 90s, first as a student at the U of MN, then through her graphic design career, and painting digitally for over a decade. She continues to use it as a professional artist and illustrator as part of her traditional painting process and for digital paintings.