Sweet Sirens Early Bird Pricing Ends June 1st

Sweet Sirens runs for 2 weeks from June 3rd through June 15th with 2 live demo days via Spreecast.com  (Can’t make the live classes? They are recorded so you can replay them at anytime.) This live workshop is regularly priced at $70 but if you sign up through the Early Bird link, you can choose your price: $30, $50, or $70.  (There are only 10 spots in each price point and Early Bird Pricing ends June 1st. If you want in, reserve your space asap!)

I’ve taught these techniques and this class to over 100 beginning and advanced artists, from ages 6 – 86 so if you think that you can’t do it, you’re too old, too young, or that “art is for other people” you’re wrong! You can paint, and I’ll show you how–

You’ll receive printable pdfs, videos, and have 2 live lessons to teach you:

• How to draw front view and 3/4 view faces 
• How to draw arms
• How to paint arms
• How to draw hands
• How to paint hands
• How to draw torsos
• How to paint torsos
• How to paint diverse skin tones
• Fine Art painting techniques adjusted for beginners
• all wrapped up a very fun Mermaid Painting project

You’ll learn a lot of otherwise really boring technique stuff and apply it to your own Sweet Siren – which you will learn to draw and paint from start to finish with me. Have you taken a class with me? You know how much fun you’ll have already! If you haven’t – be prepared. You’ll learn a TON about drawing and painting while having a blast doing it.

We start out with a lot of drawing. (We eat the frog, so to speak) You’ll get all the boring lines and measuring stuff out of the way first. There are a lot of PDF lessons, worksheets, and templates to get you going. (You only have to work on what you choose– the lessons are yours to keep to practice at your own pace.) Then we move on to putting it all together- it’s a lot like the hokey pokey except this time you get a Mermaid when you put it all together ^_^.
We’ll even go into lessons on shading, a bit about color theory, and you’ll learn how to spiff up any hair or faces that you’ve been drawing.
Suck at hands? No worries! We cover drawing and painting hands too — hands can be very overwhelming but we will have enough practice to get you to really understand the concepts.

Then it is onto our fun painting project!

I offer a done-for-you mermaid template but you will have all the lessons you need to draw your own. If you’d rather jump into the drawing bits slowly, and get into the fun bits (the painting!) I’ve gotcha covered. You’ll get a template that you can customize and use over and over again.

I’ll share with you a 3 part process to set up your palette to paint anything that you’d like, quickly and easily. Plus you’ll have access to me via our Facebook group: all you need to do is tag me during class and I’ll answer your questions and help troubleshoot your mermaids during office hours.

Sound fun? (If it doesn’t… I’m surprised you read this far!) We’ve got a specific timetable set up for you with live classes and a group with me, lessons are delivered via email, in a Facebook group, and you’ll have your own class webpage to pick up anything that you may have missed.

Let me wrap it up for you really fast, you will learn:

How to mix different skin tones and how to paint them start to finish.
How to draw, shade, and paint hair – natural and fantasy styles.
How to draw, shade, and paint 3/4 faces.
How to draw, shade, and paint torsos.
How to draw, shade, and paint arms.
How to draw, shade, and paint ***HANDS***!
How to draw, shade, and paint mermaid tails.
How to accessorize your mermaid with earrings, necklaces, flowers, and different tops.
How to create different body shapes and sizes: if you’d like a curvy mermaid, a slim mermaid, or an in-between mermaid – you’ll be able to draw your own and know all the proportion rules on how to do so!
Plus we are ending the proportion drawings lessons with a fully customizable mermaid themed painting project.

This live class is regularly priced at $70 but if you sign up through the Early Bird link, you can choose your price — $30, $50, or $70.

Sweet Sirens runs for 2 weeks from June 3rd through June 15th with 2 live demo days via Spreecast.com  (Can’t make the live classes? They are recorded so you can replay them at anytime.)

The post Learn how to draw torsos, arms, and hands with Sweet Sirens! appeared first on Kat can Paint.

You can buy Everyday Angels and get one free:

http://katcanpaint.storenvy.com/products/1199674-everyday-angels-whimsical-angel-painting-miniclass

Or you can buy Let’s Draw! and Paint! Glamorous Faces and get one free:

http://katcanpaint.storenvy.com/products/1087446-lets-draw-and-paint-glamorous-faces-how-to-draw-a-face-and-how-to-paint

Holy Awesome Deal, Batman! So that is one miniclass for you and one for your mama – then you two can have an art day together!  I’d offer my son to make y’all breakfast in bed, but he is 4, and you’d get playdough.  It’s the thought that counts, right?

<3 Kat

PS  Mix and match the deal however you’d like — btw, if you want one Everyday Angels and One Glam Faces be my guest.

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I finished editing my videos for Terrified Heart!  You can view the entire painting process from start to finish in real time (I created a play list for you to watch them all!) It is about 2 and a half hours of painting, but if you ever wanted to watch how exactly I create a painting it is perfect!  Get some coffee or tea and popcorn and watch me paint!

Or grab your sketchbook or your own painting and watch while you work!

We started here:

And we finished here:

Want to see what happen in the middle?  That is in the videos.  I have them sorted separately as Part 1 of 3, Part 2 of 3 and part 3 of 3, or bundled into a playlist st for ease.  Just hit play!

Talk to you soon!

<3 Kat

The post Behind the Scenes Painting Progress : Terrified Heart finished! appeared first on Kat can Paint.

Behind the Scenes Painting Process!

Want to see the process of me painting a piece for my new collection from start to finish?  My new painting, Terrified Heart, is a 12″ x 12″ acrylic on canvas and I’m taking you through it while I make all the decisions and paint all the layers.

She is inspired by the Edgar Allen Poe poem and PoE song, Terrified Heart:

Sometimes I’m terrified of my heart and its constant hunger for whatever it is it wants

the way it stops

and starts

It all starts with a sketch.  I made this drawing with 4B pencil on printed cardstock in my Smashbook.

I start everything with the 8 Steps that I teach. The first painting layer is an underpainting, or the Burnt Sienna glaze layer.  I loosely paint in the features and shadows that I see in the drawing.

Messy desk shot?  Of course I took one:

My paints are all lined up here, my cup and brushes are there with a random pair of scissors, there is a paper plate for color mixing..plus all the other things that my desk holds.  Wall o’ paintings in various states of ‘finished’ to the far right.

After the Burnt Sienna layer is the red glaze layer… I added Yellow Ochre and Ultramarine Blue to her, too, and those colors are also added to this red glaze layer too.  Then I deepened the shadows on her left (our right) side with Burnt Umber.  I added the same colors to the background to keep color moving around the canvas so it has a cohesive look and for texture I used a palette knife to apply Titan Buff as my first skin tone layer.

Working shot- I use my #12 Filbert and a #3 Filbert plus my palette knife for all of the painting.

Background color glazing started.

I’m experimenting with faux encaustic techniques, suspending my acrylic colors in Acrylic Glazing Liquid and spreading it with my palette knife for the background and colors emerging from her hand.

At this point the canvas is very very wet, tacky in a lot of places, and I need to let it dry thoroughly before I paint anything else.

If you’d like to see more, I recorded the entire process in real time, and the video is about 45 minutes long. Please excuse the not-so-great free instrumental music.

<3 Kat

The post Behind the Scenes : Terrified Heart Painting Process from Start to Finish Day 1 appeared first on Kat can Paint.

If you click the image it will take you directly to DickBlick.com, but I don’t get any money from them if you purchase, I just really love these art supplies.

My Favorite Art Supplies

I collected my favorite art supplies via DickBlick.com if you were having a hard time tracking down the materials that I use or if you just wanted a closer look.  The most important here for painting faces and skin tones are the Jo Sonja retarder medium and the filbert brush. The right kind of extender/retarder — very liquid/fluid, and a new springy brush will make a lot of difference in your paintings, I promise!  If I were to pack an art travel bag, these are my must-haves.  (I do love a lot of art supplies, though.)

• My #12 Filbert, Phillip J. Blendy plus a couple of thin round brushes round #0 and round #2  or script liner brushes.
• Clear Gesso
• My Yellow pad of watercolor paper
• My trusty set of Prismacolor verithins, plus the skin tone colors that I use: Beige Peach, Blush Pink, Cream, Ginger Root,  Dark Umber, and Sienna Brown. 

• Golden Fluid Acrylics watermedia set plus a container of Golden heavy body Titan Buff.
• and extender/retarder medium.

The clear gesso is my favorite new find right now, I use it over everything to create a surface with enough tooth to paint or draw over. <3  It is really fun for backgrounds to create a lot of layers of paint, or to paint over magazine pages, or faces over collage that you would like the collage to show through. You’ll ruin a brand new brush with clear gesso, though, so use an older brush: the sandy particles get stuck in your bristles and split the hairs of your brush.

Do you have any favorite art supplies? Feel free to share with me in the comments.

Have fun getting creative!

<3 Kat

Did you know that you can join me for a free workshop and painting party monthly? Newsletter subscribers hear about them first!

The post My Favorite Art Supplies appeared first on Kat can Paint.

Olaf Hajek

http://olafhajek.de/

Inspired by:  Unconventional portraiture, lush saturated colors, patterns, texture.

Hikari Shimoda

“この星の子ども8” Children of this planet 8
2012
530×455mm
oil on canvas
個人蔵 Private collection
hikari shimoda
http://hikarishimoda.com/

Inspired by: Candy-colored creepy-cute.  Amazing use of bright colors and painterly details mixed with comic illustration.

I’m loving the symbolism, lush colors, the hard edges, the simple planes of the face and flat shapes next to realistic painted details, multi-layered build ups of paint, neon bright colors, the need to look at the piece several times to ‘read’ it… Innocence, quiet strength, transformation, and dripping.

Who are you inspired by right now?

The post Two Artists that I am really inspired by right now appeared first on Kat can Paint.

I have now reached the age where everyone in my family stops aging. HA!

If you hop on over on my birthday, April 5th, you can get 29% OFF everything in my Storenvy shop.  Thanks for taking part! The sale is now over.

Check it out here: http://katcanpaint.storenvy.com/

I am still brain-deep in making videos and working on the Fab Faces Free class, but I will be back soon with new tutorials and videos.

<3 Kat

The post It’s my BIRTHDAY! HappyBirthday gets you 29% OFF in my shop [The Sale is Now Over] appeared first on Kat can Paint.

You’ll already find a lot of step-by-step visuals and I’m adding video in April (YAY!)  but sometimes I forget what it is like to be a beginner.

So, for all of you beginners out there that are feeling a bit overwhelmed I’m organizing my tutorials for beginners and advanced artists – there will be two versions so that you can find where you are and jump right in.  If you are a beginner as you progress you can come back to the text and revisit the advanced level instruction without feeling overwhelmed.

I’ll leave the higher level information in there for everyone who wants it but now there is a simplified beginner version too, this way my classes are a bit easier and at-your-own-pace.

Quick Example (without photos):

Painting skin tones is something that gives everyone a headache, even if they have painted for *years* everyone likes to brush up on their technique.

I teach a glazing technique in my 8 Steps to Perfectly Painted Skin tones and I wanted to share the process with you.

You need only a few bottles of paints, one medium, and some brushes.

I use the Folk Art brand of hobby acrylic because they have a Fine Art line of colors and they are the best quality, most inexpensive craft acrylics that I know.

Tutorials for Beginners Instructions:

(Just an example! The real tutorial would have photos!)

• The colors you’ll need are: red, burnt sienna, french vanilla, black, and white.
• You will need a drying time extender to slow the drying speed of your acrylics and help them glide over your canvas and other layers easily.
• I also recommend a filbert brush (size 12) and a round brush and liner brush.

1. On your portrait/whimsical face you will outline all of your features and shade your first layer of skintone with burnt sienna with your round brush. 
2. Mix your red with enough extender to make it really thin. Paint in the lips and blush the cheeks with your thin red paint.
3. After your red is dry paint over your face with the french vanilla to blend and bring all of the shadow and blush together with the filbert brush.
4. Outline your eyes with black with your liner brush, and paint in the irises whatever color you’d like.
5. Add a dot highlight of white to the lips and eyes with the liner brush.

Advanced Instructions:

(These are just an example — the real tutorial would have photos ^_^)

• The colors you’ll need are: red, burnt sienna, burnt umber, french vanilla, black, and white.
• You will need a drying time extender to slow the drying speed of your acrylics and help them glide over your canvas and other layers easily.
• I also recommend a filbert brush (size 12) and a round brush and liner brush.

1. On your portrait/whimsical face you will outline all of your features and shade your first layer of skintone with burnt sienna with your round brush. Let dry.
2. Outline the darkest features and contour with burnt umber. Let dry.
3. Paint your first skin tone glaze over the entire painting using your filbert brush and french vanilla.
4. Mix your red with enough extender to make it really thin. Paint in the lips and blush the cheeks with your thin red paint.
5. Glaze a tint of your french vanilla and white as a highlight.
6. Your second coat of skin tone is a scumble, a smooth semi translucent layer painted on with your filbert brush.  This layer smooths any imperfections.
7. Add a dot highlight of white to the lips and eyes with the liner brush.
8. Outline your eyes with black with your liner brush, and paint in the irises whatever color you’d like.

Any extra information or advanced tips and tricks will be located at the end of the tutorial.

Make sense?

Awesome!

Talk to you soon,

<3 Kat

The post Organizing my Tutorials for Beginners and Advanced Users appeared first on Kat can Paint.

Introducing Let’s Draw & Paint! Gorgeous Girl! A year long drawing and painting workshop with me, Kat McBride. You’ll get 12 months of  Glamorous Faces and Gorgeous Girls for $197 

Want more confidence painting faces, arms, and hands? No stress drawing or painting full bodies, or creating your own characters? You’ll learn a simple, proven method for painting beautiful faces and all the tools and techniques to create them in your own style.

• You’ll be a part of a private classroom, online group, monthly video chat.
• You’ll receive one project a month and two workshops during the year. 
• That is 10 mini-classes and two full classes for $197. 

• I charge at least $20 each miniclass and $75 for a workshop, if you bought my classes separately that would be over $340 a year. (Without the feedback, video chats, and group support.)

Holy Math, Batman!

Okay, I’m not trying to sound like an infomercial here, I’m just trying to tell you that this is the best deal EVER!

I’ll share my glazing technique for painting perfect faces, how to create proportionate full bodies, and everything I know about painting whimsical characters and backgrounds with acrylics.

You’ll learn how to draw and paint advanced hair, hands, eyes, arms, legs, tails, and wings.  Plus there will be lessons on creating a story with characters and background, painting fabric, using doodling techniques, and creating whimsical-realistic portraits from your photographs.  There will be a lot of projects for beginners and advanced artists alike – you’ll have a lot of choose from.

You’ll receive monthly classes with PDF and video instruction. They will be delivered in a private classroom and you’ll be notified via email when a new one is available.

I’m going to break it down for you just a bit more.

If you are a beginner I will have templates and patterns at the ready. If you like to use instruction more as a guide I’ve got you covered, too, there will be more than enough step-by-step drawing and painting information available that you can run with the technique and girls listed to create your own version.

I have a thing for cleverly worded titles and alliteration but here is what you will learn how to draw and paint (plus some!)

Pirates, Angels, Goddesses, Muses, Princesses, Vampires, Witches, Ghosts, Good Fairies, Bad Fairies, Mermaids, Whimsical portraits of you or your loved ones, Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella, Snow White, Rapunzel, Girls with birds, Girls with cats, Girls with your personal favorite animal… I almost went into a Dr. Seuss rhyme here, but didn’t – you’re welcome.

Really, if this list doesn’t already convince you to join me for a YEAR of painting whimsical gorgeous girls…

You’ll also be able to participate in a video chat each month, receive lots of feedback and support in the Facebook group, and have a place to share your art work.

•  We’ll cover a lot of painting mediums: acrylics and various mediums, extenders, metallics, glitter, paint over collage, ink, marker, doodle painting, paint pens, watercolors,
• And I’ll share how to paint on several surfaces: canvas, paper, gourds, paper mache, paper clay, fabric, and wood.
• You’ll even be able to make your holiday + Christmas gifts with a monthly lesson dedicated to beautifully themed paintings for ornaments, greeting cards, and personal art gifts. 

I’m a classically trained painter and portrait artist and I hacked the fine art techniques that I learned in art school to teach you how to draw and paint a beautiful stylized person. I know what it is like to struggle with spending hours working on a piece and the feeling that something is “off” about your face, hands, feet… then you want to ball up the paper and throw it in the trash. We are going to stop that from bothering you with a solid foundation of techniques that won’t bore you to tears or make you feel like you are completing a geometry assignment instead of creating art.

  The site will stay open until May 2014, that is an entire year of art classes for the very affordable price of $197.

Frequently Asked Questions:

I’m a beginner, can I still take this?  YES! Please join me, I made a lot of awesome resources and tutorials geared towards beginner artists.

But- I’m terrible at drawing/painting faces/hands/bodies!  You are in the right place. I am a portrait artists and I excel at simplifying the steps to drawing a painting faces into easy to follow tutorials.

Do I need to do all of the projects?  Nope, you can download and keep the lessons for yourself to do whenever you’d like. We will have a guided project on the video chats and in the group, so participate when you can.

Do I need to have Facebook? I’m allergic.  ^_^ I understand – you can get all of your lessons on the private class website and participate via video chats and demos without logging into Facebook.  Everything official will be communicated via email.

Can I share my work on my blog/twitter/Facebook/etc.  Go ahead! But please do not share classroom passwords or content.

Can I sell my work that I make in your class?  Absolutely! If you have an Etsy/Ebay/Storenvy etc shop feel free to create original work using everything that you have learned. (But the same rules apply, please do not sell passwords or content.)

It’s (insert month here) Can I join now? Yes, class may have already started but you can jump in at anytime and still get all of the lessons.

What is your refund policy? There are no refunds. Please buy with confidence, I pour my heart and soul into all of my classes and you can see that this yearlong classroom is full of amazing projects and content and really worth the $197.  I know you’ll love it and please understand that your purchase is final, thank you.

Class starts April 22^nd 2013 and lasts an entire year for only $197 These classes separately would be over $340.

Hope to see you there!

Any questions? Email me at katcanpaint@gmail.com

<3 Kat

The post Let’s Draw and Paint! Gorgeous Girls Year Class appeared first on Kat can Paint.

To celebrate my birthday I’m hosting a week long classroom where you’ll learn how to draw and paint the most gorgeous whimsical face you have ever created.

(I’ll be 29, and to be honest, last year’s birthday kind of sucked. We had just moved away from all my friends and loved ones to a rural area and I don’t own a car. This year? ART PARTY!)

Would you love to draw and paint your own Glamorous Faces but just don’t want to do it on your own?

Do you learn better from watching videos and demos combined with workbooks?

Would you love answers to all of your technique questions, live support, recorded demo videos, and a live classroom?

  Seriously, we are putting a lot of love into this  week:

• Share your work and get immediate feedback.
• Chat and connect in our private Facebook group.
• Watch, participate, and chat live during 6 live-streaming video demos.
• Over 9 hours of live video classes available to you, with recordings if you can’t make the classes.
• Submit questions and get real answers about materials, supplies, and painting techniques.
• Learn my easy drawing and painting techniques to draw and paint a gorgeous face from start to finish.

• ALL FOR FREE.

I’m a classically trained painter and portrait artist and I hacked the fine art techniques that I learned in art school to teach you how to draw and paint a beautiful stylized face. I know what it is like to struggle with spending hours working on a piece and the feeling that something is “off” about your face. We are going to stop that from bothering you with a solid foundation of techniques that won’t bore you to tears or make you feel like you are completing a geometry assignment instead of creating art.

You’ll gain more confidence in drawing and painting your own faces from scratch and get a simple step-by-step process to recreate your own whimsical faces outside of the classroom.

 Do you want to join a free week-long workshop to learn how to draw and paint your own Glamorous Faces?

 Yes? YES!!

 Let’s do it together! Click here to register.

All you have to do is enter your name and email address I’ll send you an email with the Schedule, Supplies, and Basic Techniques Overview, plus a link to the private Facebook group.

It’s that easy! Click here to register. (Registration ends on March 27^th, and this is the only free workshop I’m hosting this year – so don’t wait.)

<3 Kat

The post Let’s Draw and Paint Glamorous Faces Workshop ( a free art workshop from April 8th – April 11th) appeared first on Kat can Paint.