Let me explain what the course is all about...
Your Coach
My name is Christopher Fornataro and I will be your coach for this course. I paint many different subjects but I have always felt portraits were my strong suit. Unlike most portrait painters, I learned the bulk of what I know through online courses just like this one. I feel this gives me more insight on what it's like to learn painting on your own. I have been painting portraits for over 15 years.
The Power Of Portraits
I enjoy painting all subjects but being able to paint portraits is like having a super power of some kind. In the digital age we live in most people won't look twice at a photo but a painting will bring people to tears. I've seen it happen many times.
My skill set as a portrait painter has benefited me more than any other painting skill. It helped me make extra money through commissions, give the best gifts, and most importantly it allowed me to capture those I loved forever.
This is a portrait I did of my grandmother for my mom when she passed away. That portrait was displayed at her funeral. My mom is one of four sisters and the old saying goes "if you give one sister a painting of her mom the others are going to want one too." I ended up painting my grandmother three more times for each one of my aunts.
Student Testimonial
"You will be shocked at what you can do, yes shocked at the progress. I have purchased other portrait painting courses online. There is no comparison." - Christina
Don't Be Afraid To Start!
In 2020 I took on a student who wanted to get better at portrait painting. It was a great learning experience for me as a teacher. In that year I figured out first hand what worked and what didn't in terms of teaching portrait painting. My student improved more than what I even thought was possible in a year. Keep in mind this was done all online. I never met the student in person. Having gone through this experience I felt I knew exactly how to build a portrait course to give the rest of my students the same breakthroughs.
This is one of his early portraits of Al Pacino that we now call "Alien Pacino." He went from that to being able to capture an exact likeness as seen in the Bill Murray portrait. Now he has family and friends asking him for portraits!
Student Testimonial
"I’ve gotten compliments from friends and that’s very encouraging. Some have asked me to do their portraits" - Elaine
I Have Done The Hard Work For You
The hardest part about learning to paint portraits is figuring out what to focus on learning. What works and what doesn't. I must have spent thousands of dollars on materials, instructional videos, and workshops to learn how to paint portraits.
I took fifteen years of portrait painting experience and taught it to a student through a lot of trail and error in one year. Now I have boiled portrait painting down into its most essential concepts, ideas, and exercises in a 6 day course.
Portrait painting is a complex skill and the best way to learn a complex skill is to break it down into sub skills and focus on one at a time. That's what I have done with this course. Each section focuses on one key aspect of portrait painting and at the end the student puts it all together in a final portrait painting.
A Proven Method Of Learning
I ran a test group of students through this course and I was blown away by the improvement they made in just 6 DAYS. I myself have never improved as much as they did in a 6 day period.
Tammie
This is a great course if you have tried a few portraits and given up because getting a likeness seemed out of reach.
I have tried portraits and in spite of putting a lot of time and effort in to them they were mostly weak or even sent to the dumpster.
I loved how this course practiced basics in exercises that all related to one face. I liked the very structured tasks of working out colors, comparing values in black and white, doing a small version first, how to measure features of the face, and learning planes of the face. I learned from the theory talk and also demos.
-Tammie
Nicollette
"Wow, I've learned SO MUCH in this course! I'll definitely return to it time and time again. "
-Nicollette
Kim
I know it’s not perfect looking but holy cow did I learn a lot in this class!
-Kim
Nikki
"This class was incredible! I think the difference for me was the lessons. Chris is a true teacher while others I have watched are all demos. It includes lessons for you to complete that accompany the lectures. It really cements the concepts in your mind. This class pushed me forward in my painting in just a few days and I can see a big difference. In my opinion, the best class out there!"
-Nikki
Sonny
"I have painted portraits before but have struggled with the process. Taking Chris’s course, I have learned about value shapes, plane changes, softening transitions, pushing the darks, etc. I liked how he broke down the course into different segments...This course is great for all levels of painters including those that do other paintings besides portraits. What I have learned here I can use in landscape paintings as well."
-Sonny
Michelle
"I can't say enough how fast I've grown in taking this one course from Chris. I've always struggled with portraits, over thinking and over complicating them. The steps he explains and the exercises we went through really clicked for me! I highly recommend this course and I can't wait to sign up for the other courses."
-Michelle
Course Curriculum
Student Testimonial
"In the harsh reality of art being a marathon rather than a sprint, this course did offer me a refreshing shot of Gatorade ... laced with a little something extra."
Materials
I have tried so many different kinds of materials for my portraits over the years. I like to keep things simple so I have boiled them down to only my favorites.
My Portrait Palette
I'm a big fan of using just the primaries and white but for portraits I like to add a few more colors to my palette.
The Masters
Through out the course I reference some of the best portrait painters of all time like John Singer Sargent.
Learn From Other Students
One of the greatest benefits to taking an in person class is being able to see other students work being critiqued. Since I had a test group of students go through the course I was able to use their work in critique examples throughout the course. This way you get one of the best benefits of an in person class from a course you can do on your own time from the comfort of your home.
THREE COURSES IN ONE!
You are able to go through the whole course THREE times with THREE different models! In all the online painting courses I have taken I have felt like I was getting into the zone just as the course was over. That's why I made this course one you can repeat two more times. There is NO TIME LIMIT on the course so you can go through it at your own pace and as many times as you like. It's a course you will return to again and again.
Bonus Shapes Exercise
The purpose of this exercise is to try and get you to look at portraits differently.
Since you have gone through the course and have practiced with the ideas of shapes, planes, values, and color, this exercise should help you understand those ideas further.
This should also help give you insight into the process of working from big shapes to small shapes.
Bonus Tutorial!
At the end of the course there is a bonus tutorial! This was one of my most popular portrait tutorials from my Patreon page.
So all together that is 4 portraits in 1 course!