Drawing Animals from a Photo Reference
with Suzann Beck
Experience Level: Beginner, no prior experience needed
Saturday October 5, 9am-3:30pm (1 session)

Ages 18+ (Please contact us at dsegerstrom@paramountarts.org if you have a younger student interested in participating)

Drawing Pet Portraits in Pastel Pencil Drawing your pet is easier than you think! Create a “head and shoulders” portrait of your pet from one of your own photos with the forgiving medium of pastel pencils—they’re easy to control and easy to layer. The workshop will feature best practices and a demonstration in the morning session with hands-on student work in the afternoon. Students will learn how to transfer an initial drawing to pastel paper and how to build pet fur effects in a step-by-step process. Attention will be paid to drawing accuracy and rendering light effect.

Reference Photo: Please plan to bring a high-quality reference photo. Make sure it’s a full-size, full-color hard copy photo of your pet that shows the head and neck as we’ll be doing a one-to-one transfer. Be sure the photo has a head size of 4 to 5 inches to give you plenty of room to work. Look for a photo that shows good light and shadow on the fur. from. Look for a photo that is sharp and clear and shows light and shadow on your animal well.

Materials List, please also bring the follow:

• Notebook and pen/pencil for taking notes.

• Soft Vine Charcoal and a small brush with fairly stiff bristles.

• A kneaded eraser and a hard white eraser.

• The easiest papers to use for this technique are smooth-finish pastel/charcoal papers or fine-grit sanded papers like Clairefontaine Pastelmat, Sennelier La CartePastel Card, or Ampersand Pastel-bord (choose 800 grit or higher). Tinted papers work best such as light gray or tan to medium gray. Make sure the surface of the paper is smooth and not too bumpy—AVOID felted papers that have chicken-wire like dents, or laid finishes that have line-like texture.

• A large piece of tracing paper roughly 4 inches larger than the size you want your final drawing to be.

• A few sheets of economical sketching paper, 14” x 18” or so, (to protect your drawing)

• Masking tape or clips to secure your paper.

• A large drawing board, if possible.

• A very sharp hand pencil sharpener (these dull very quickly so a new one for this class is must). Pastel leads are very soft and fragile.

• A small drawing board and tabletop easel, and a dust tray made of stiff paper or split paper towel cores to put under drawing board.

• Please bring an assortment of Pastel pencils, we welcome the following brands:
Koh-I-Noor Gioconda, Faber Castell Pitt Pastel, Stabilo CarbOthello.

Please bring light, medium, and dark values in the following colors.
Black/Grays/White are a must!
Browns/Tans/Golds
Rose/Mauve/Pinks/Purples
Red/Oranges/Peach
Blue: Deep/Medium/Light
Deep Magenta
Dark and Med Green

Studio Practices- What to Expect While You Are Creating with Us!

The Paramount Center for the Arts welcomes all people to the Studios with the expectation of inclusion and respect towards all, including yourself, fellow students, instructors, staff and volunteers.

Instructor Prep Time: Please allow your instructor time to prepare your classroom; if you arrive more than 15 minutes earlier than the class start time, please explore one of our onsite exhibition spaces or wait in the Lobby in the Visual Arts Department.

Cleaning: Please help keep the Studios a welcoming space by cleaning up your area before departing the building.

Food and Beverage: The Visual Arts Department offers a Lobby Area for students and instructors to enjoy food and beverages. There is an onsite microwave and refrigerator, along with vending machines. For your safety, we ask that you please do not eat in any of the Studios.

Supplies and Materials: For the safety and wellbeing of all visitors to the Paramount, we ask that materials that are used in the studios are the recommended brands and grade, as described in the materials list, or are approved by Paramount Staff.

Weather Closures:  In the event of severe weather, the Visual Arts Department will update the phone messages on the Information Desk (320) 257-3125, announce closures on the Paramount website homepage, and will communicate via email to any students whose class meeting time is impacted by the closure