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Short Course

Portraiture

  • Duration

    8 Weeks

  • Cost

    £270

  • Tutor

    Lexi Strauss

  • When

    Friday Afternoons

A charcoal illustration of a woman with her hand on her shoulder. She is turning her head to the side and has a tattoo on her wrist. Artwork by Daniel Lee.

Whether you’re a complete beginner or just brushing up existing skills, this fully comprehensive portraiture course will build confidence through solid exercises and enjoyable experiments in portraiture technique.

Course Overview

This course is designed to develop your knowledge and confidence in portraiture, with a strong focus on drawing this term. These are guided sessions in a social environment, where all creative approaches and techniques are welcomed.

There will be plenty of support and guidance and individual students will be encouraged to explore and develop their own styles, developing an understanding of line, tone, and mark-making to bring depth and character to your portraits.

You’ll be encouraged to experiment with a range of techniques and materials. Working with graphite, charcoal, ink and pastels for those interested in incorporating colour. You’ll investigate facial structure, anatomy, and the nuances of capturing emotion, whilst exploring the fundamentals of capturing likeness and proportion with expression.

The classes offer a supportive and dynamic environment to explore both traditional and expressive approaches to portraiture. Basic materials will be provided, but please feel free to bring your own materials and guidance will also be offered on additional supplies to suit your personal artistic development.

Students should have some previous experience, or have completed one of Lexi’s introductions to life drawing, drawing or painting courses.

What we do...

A loose sketchy pencil drawing of a man holding a cigarette.
A group of people sat around a portrait model. They are all sat at drawing desks and are focussing on drawing the woman in front of them.
A yellow painting of a man reclining.
A loose pencil sketch portrait of a person wearing glasses.
A painted portrait of a young person with curly pink hair.

Venue, Dates, Times

Term starts on 2nd May. There will be 8 sessions, and there will be a half term break on the week of 30th May. The last session will be 27th June.

All sessions will be held at our College Road Campus. Sessions will start at 1.30pm and will finish at approximately 4pm.

About the Tutor

Photo of Lexi Strauss painting a colourful painting. She is wearing a neon pink beret and is smiling at the camera.

Lexi Strauss

Lexi, an MA Painting graduate from the Royal College of Art (2014) and Fine Art graduate from Hereford College of Arts (2011), is a painter and performer known for her theatrical installations and art clown performances. Her work bridges art, theatre, and comedy, often exploring themes of humour and trauma—a focus recently supported by Arts Council England funding.

Her current project features portraits of her vibrant clown community. Lexi has exhibited nationally and internationally, including at the John Moores Painting Prize and Jerwood Drawing Prize, and her work is part of the Women’s Art Collection at Cambridge University. She’s been recognized with nominations for Saatchi New Sensations (2014) and Bloomberg New Contemporaries (2013).

A painting of a man sleeping and a shadow of a person being cast on the wall behind where he sleeps. The painting is atmospheric and warm.
A painting of a couple in head coverings cradling a bulldog.
A painting of a young girl

Short Courses FAQs

What age do I have to be to do a short course?

Unless otherwise stated, our short courses are suitable for 16+. 

We recommend anyone aged 16-17 is accompanied by someone 18+ who is also a paying participant. 

What do I need to bring with me?

Basic materials are provided on all of our short courses, and you will be advised on any additional materials you may want to buy for personal projects whilst on the short course. 

Make sure to bring some water, and dress appropriately for using college equipment (for example, no open-toed shoes, long hair tied back when using workshop equipment, and no highly flammable clothes if using fire).

Do I need to have had experience?

All of our short courses, unless specifically stated, are suitable for beginners or people with a little experience. There will usually be a mix of abilities in the group.

How many people are in the class?

Group sizes vary course to course, but we keep them small where possible so you get as much tutor time as possible. At the moment, the largest short course group is 15 people.

Do I get a certificate?

Courses like these can look great on your CV and are good for professional development. Therefore, we award certificates at the end of the course, provided that you attended enough of the sessions. 

Our short courses are non-credit bearing programmes. 

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