Portrait Drawing Into Monochromatic Painting

Develop your portrait drawing skills and discover how drawing can evolve into painting in this two-day workshop led by artist Michele del Campo. Through demonstrations, guided exercises, and personalized feedback, students will explore the fundamentals of portraiture, beginning with expressive line drawing and progressing to monochromatic painting. The workshop emphasizes observation, facial structure, proportion, and the use of line, tone, light, and shadow to capture the likeness and character of the human face.

Day 1: Portrait Drawing and the Language of Line

Students will explore two contrasting approaches to portrait drawing: one controlled and stylized, emphasizing structure and order, and the other spontaneous and exploratory, embracing movement and creative freedom. Working with pencils or pens, participants will experiment with different ways of using line to interpret the face, develop their observational skills, and establish a strong foundation for the transition from drawing to painting.

Day 2: From Tonal Drawing to Monochromatic Portrait Painting

Building on the previous day’s drawing exercises, students will translate their understanding of facial structure into tonal painting. Using black and white gouache or acrylic paint, they will mix a range of grays and learn to identify and reproduce the tonal relationships that define the face. Working with a flat brush on heavyweight watercolor paper, students will develop a monochromatic portrait, using light, shadow, and tonal contrast to create volume, depth, and three-dimensionality.

Throughout the workshop, Michele will offer individual guidance, demonstrations, and constructive feedback, with opportunities for direct corrections and group critiques. This supportive approach encourages students to refine their drawing skills while gaining confidence in translating line and form into painted tones.

By the end of the workshop, students will have explored the creative journey from portrait drawing to monochromatic painting, deepening their understanding of proportion, structure, line, and tonal values. The skills developed can serve as a foundation for further exploration in portraiture and other artistic disciplines.

About the instructor: 

Michele Del Campo lives and works in Miami. He grew up in San Nicandro Garganico, a small town in Southern Italy. Isolated in the countryside, he would spend his leisure time drawing and painting. At 18, he moved to Milan and then to the UK to become an artist and discover a bigger world. He continued living in multiple cities and countries, adapting to different environments and meeting people from all walks of life, which enriched the narrative of his painting. 

Michele holds a Fine Arts degree and an MFA from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (2007, Spain), and a BA(Hons) in Illustration and Printmaking from the University of Dundee (2001, UK). His paintings have been exhibited in art galleries and institutions around Europe, United Kingdom, United States and South America, earning him awards such as the BMW Painting Prize in Spain, the Premios Luces in Peru and the Oil Painters of America Prize in the ARC Salon, among others.