Portrait & figure in different media- 6 weeks
Start Date: Tuesday 18/03/2025
Time: 06:30pm
Duration: 2 hrs
Price: £180.00
Ability: All Welcome
Tutor: Siglint Kessler
Tickets Available: 6
About this course
This evening course will run from 18th - 25th March with a two week break for easter and resume 22nd April - 6th May 6.30 - 8.30pm
THIS COURSE IS NO LONGER TAKING BOOKINGS
local parking free from 6.30pm
It is also running on a Saturday morning starting 1st March for 6 weeks 11.00 - 1.00pm
This drawing course led by experienced children’s book illustrator and interior designer Siglint Kessler, offers a fun and engaging way to build your skills in drawing the human face and figure, with room to explore animal figures too! Perfect for all levels, this hands-on course balances technique and creativity in our inspiring working studio in Twickenham.
What you'll learn:
This isn’t a life drawing class, so no need to worry about live models. Instead, we’ll use photos and take inspiration from famous artists' work. It’s a supportive, hands-on environment, perfect for growing your skills and trying out new techniques!
You’ll get the chance to experiment with different media, from black and white to vibrant colours—pastels, watercolours, acrylics, paper cutting, collage, and even combining these. We’ll explore both realistic and playful ways to apply colour, opening up lots of creative possibilities.
We’ll start with simple sketches using pencil and charcoal, gradually adding light and shadow to bring depth and life to your work. You'll learn how to observe details like proportion, body language, and movement, and think like a sculptor as you “construct” shapes on the page. Once you've got the
basics, we’ll also play around with distortion to add extra expression.
Course agenda:
Focused on observing features, movement and body language of people and animals using photographs or other printed reference. There is access to some printed reference material in the studio but please bring as much as you have or would like to use.
- The head part 1
- Profile sketches using paper shapes to observe a variety of features
- Main: Portrait in profile, detailed drawing trying to capture likeness from a photograph (charcoal or pencil)
- The head part 2
- Quick 90 seconds sketches of heads from magazine photos
- Main: Portrait in front or three quarter view (coloured pencil / pastel) Attention to shadows and their shape
- Body language
- Whole figure and body language, play with paper puppet to sketch movement
- Process and methods of drawing: mid point, help lines, directions, trusting your eye, comparing sizes, negative space, search for shapes
- Small sketches with the above methods
- Direct cutting with scissors
- Main: Full figure drawing or painting (black and white or colour, media of choice)
- Movement
- Figure in movement - dialogue, walking, dancing, interaction
- details of hands: blind drawings / continuous line
- Figure and its cast shadow
- Animals
- Main: Depict movement in a more detailed work, using any media
- Extreme perspectives + abstraction
- Looking at exaggeration, distortion, grimasse, foreshortening
- Using collage as possibilities into abstraction, adding meaning or additional layers.
- Main: Remove yourself from depicting reality by using extreme perspective or translating elements of collage into your picture
- Narratives
- Inspiration from artists’ work who use two or more interacting figures to create a narrative
- Compose your picture using personal photographs
- Preliminary sketches from different angles before settling for one
- Main: start a personal picture using memory, family or childhood photographs, abstraction, bringing in outside or symbolic elements
Materials supplied: limited selection of media
What to bring:
A3 hardback block or sketchbook
Soft pencils (2B to 7B)
Charcoal
Kneadable putty rubber
Watercolour or any other coloured media you have: pastels, pencils, acrylics,
Inks
Selection of brushes
Collection of papers: magazine or book pages, burnt, printed, found paper,
wrapping paper etc.
Photographic portraits that you might like to draw from - your own family,
found, historic…
About the instructor:
Siglint Kessler is a versatile freelance artist with a rich background in
children’s book illustration and interior design. Her work gives her a strong
foundation in drawing from life, composing imaginative scenes, and a deep
understanding of space, volume, and colour. Currently, Siglint is a resident
artist at Redlees Studios in Isleworth, where she has dedicated much of her
recent practice to the art of ceramics.
As an art instructor, Siglint embraces a wide range of approaches and
techniques. She combines clear instruction with a spirit of experimentation,
encouraging her students to explore their creativity freely. Whether guiding
them through her own methods or promoting the beauty of chance
discoveries, Siglint fosters an environment of learning that is both structured
and open to artistic exploration.
Event FAQs
“Taking the time to learn in the inspiring environment of Colne Road Studios was such a treat! The group was welcoming and supportive and Rachel is an extremely talented and generous teacher, sharing her skills and knowledge to give us fresh perspectives and a wealth of useful advice and feedback. I felt my ability and interest in drawing had been revived after many years dormant, learning how to observe as well as how to draw. I would encourage anyone willing to pick up a pencil to have a go, and have already signed up to Rachel’s next course! “CB March 2025
A CPZ is in force from Mon to Sat 8.30 – 6.30pm
Limited paid spaces available in surrounding roads with Ring Go cashless Parking
Max stay 4 hours during operational hours
Holly Road Car park, behind Marks & Spencer TW1 4HF
Mon to Sat – 8am to 6.30pm.
This car park is accessible and free to park in outside of these hours. Max stay 4 hours during operational hours – walking to the Studio approx 9mins
At the moment the courses at Colne Road Studios are designed for adults over the age of 18 . The aim is to create a relaxed environment, provide a bit of an escape and switch off from every day responsibilites. We are not able to accommodate children in our classes, nor do we provide children’s classes at this time.
To secure a course, please book at least 8 days before the listed course start date.
Any course with no bookings 8 days prior to it’s start date will then be removed from the website .
Courses with fewer than 3 participants may be cancelled, with 5 days’ notice given to those who had enrolled.
You will be notified by email if this happens, unless you would like us to text you instead, but please let us know.
A refund for the full course value will then be made.
Please bare with us . This might take 5-10 days to come through.
All of our longer courses are exchangeable up until 28 days prior to the start of the course. After this, you are able to change your booking to a different course for a £20 admin fee. Please note that from 14 days prior to the start of the course, your booking is non-refundable and non-exchangeable.
Our refund policy is strict because it enables us to pay ourselves and our tutors a fair wage, and remain accessible as a studio.
Every time we are asked to to accommodate a refund request, we would be forced to lower our staff wages or increase our prices – both of which we really want to avoid. We hope you understand that this is why there are no exemptions to our refund policies.
What if the course is cancelled by Colne Road Studios ?
Courses with fewer than 3 participants may be cancelled, with 5 days’ notice given to those who had enrolled.
You will be notified by email if this happens, unless you would like us to text you instead, but please let us know.
A refund for the full course value will then be made.
Please bare with us . This might take 5-10 days to come through.