Ever wanted to create expressive portraits but felt intimidated by the idea of drawing a face from scratch?

In this class, we’ll skip the pressure and jump straight into the fun part: self-expression through portrait art. You’ll learn simple tracing techniques—“cheat codes” artists have used for centuries—to transfer a photo into a portrait foundation. From there, you’ll build on that structure with color, texture, and your own creative style.

The class starts with guided steps to help you transfer and build the portrait base, then opens up into a more exploratory creative session where you can experiment with materials and expressive marks.

No fancy tools or technology required—just a printed photo, pencils, and whatever art materials you enjoy working with.

This is a low-pressure, creativity-first class designed to help you create something meaningful without getting stuck on technical perfection.

Materials Needed

Participants should bring:

• A printed photo of the portrait subject (yourself or someone else)

• Pencils and eraser

• Carbon paper or transfer paper (if available)

• Your preferred art materials (paint, markers, colored pencils, pastels, etc.)

• Paper, canvas, or another surface to create on

No digital tools or special equipment required.