FACE

FASCINATION

...for those who are ready to move beyond their fear of faces.

FACE FASCINATION

$247USD

Face Fascination is organised in weekly increments across 4 fun-filled weeks. Find out more below and join us now!

"Our faces are the doorway to our stories and I have always been intrigued by the stories we carry. The older I become the more I realise that there is so much more in those stories that connects us than there is to separate us..."

I'm ready to PAINT! >

So who exactly is Face Fascination for?

You can roll your eyes or laugh out loud or crinkle your nose or any of the above if you recognize yourself in this list.

You desperately want to try faces but there’s no way you’re going to do it in front of anyone else.
You’re overly self-critical and you tend to give up on yourself too soon.
You’re a total beginner with a whole bunch of enthusiasm and/or a shy curiosity.
You’re a long time painter but feel the need to try some fresh new approaches.
You are both fascinated AND intimidated by the thought of painting and drawing faces.
You see the beauty in all faces and are drawn to the stories they tell but doubt your own ability to convey that beauty.
You want to work with a teacher who will gently guide you to find your own creative strengths.
You want to loosen up and not be so uptight in your art making.
You’d love to paint more but need a little nudge from a supportive guide and community.
You’re excited by the thought of being able to find your own way of painting/drawing the human face with confidence and individuality.

“Until you see beauty everywhere, in every face, until then, you are blind.”

- Kamand Kojouri

What will you be creating?

Here are just some of the lessons!

What's Inside Face Fascination?

Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4

Week 1

Fun Faces

In this lesson we’re going to have a blast creating fun, playful characters. This will be a great one to return to at any time if you’re feeling challenged in later lessons, just for a reminder that faces don’t have to be scary, and that you can have fun as you are creating them, amusing yourself with different expressions and inventing stories to go along with them.

Warming Up

Let’s take the Picasso image and turn it upside down. This tricks our brain into taking a more right brain view and looking at the lines, shapes and spaces in between as abstract ideas rather than recognizable features that we think we “know”. When the image is turned the right way up our left brain wants to recognize and label each feature and with that comes all of our old brain recordings playing in a loop. “ I can't draw noses”, “I never get the lips right,” that kind of thing. Can you see how that might hold you back?

Letting Loose

In this tutorial we are going to simplify the form of the face by using whatever reference photos we have chosen as a jumping off point to begin to get a little more familiar with the ways we can work with the human face, and to see if we can have some fun with it AND develop some different methods to move forward and try new things.

Small Studies

What I want to do in this lesson is to break down several facial features so we can begin to demystify them and train our brains to think of them in terms of line, shape and tone rather than naming them as eyes and lips and ears, etc.

Week 2

Monoprint Magic

One of my favourite techniques is to create basic monoprints (or monotypes) using transparency film sheets or a piece of glass. It’s been quite some years since I’ve played with this technique so I’m really excited to share this lesson with you all!

Picasso Inspired Faces

I know that sometimes my teachings may appear as serindiptous and haphazard. In my mind, one thing is always jumping from here to here to here. Ideas are coming out of the ether, but ideas are also coming out of things that have come before, things that I’ve explored before. My mind thinks, I did this here and now we can take it this other way. What if I took this image and did…? And in that spirit, with this tutorial we’re really going to loosen up and get a little crazy.

Emerging Faces

I’m really excited in these next two segments to show you ways in which we can create backgrounds that have the potential for us to work into and perhaps have faces emerge from. The way this started for me is that I will often play around with different ideas that don’t quite work out OR I’m trying new things that are outside of my norm which don’t fit into any particular series I am working on.

Abstract to Portrait

In this lesson we’re going to create an abstract background which will provide us with a great background to look for opportunities to incorporate both realistic portraiture and/or faces from our imaginations.

Week 3

Different Directions

What I want to do in this lesson is to talk about what is important about a face, or the way an artist decides to describe that face. I can spend hours and hours doing a realistic sketch, but there’s something about very loose, almost unfinished work, that has a mystery that has been pulling me in for the last several years.

Pretty in Pink

In today's lesson we’re working from a reference image where the subject is looking straight at the camera with a direct gaze.

Esperanza Dreams

I’ve decided to work with a reference image this time but I want to show you how you can use any photo to launch into something completely different and new in this colorful portrait!

Working with the Grid

One of the best ways to attain a likeness of a subject when you’re embarking on portraiture is to create a grid, which makes it easier for you to break down the image into smaller chunks and areas. In this tutorial I’m going to share with you an exercise I did while I was studying for my fine arts degree.

Week 4

A Little Nostalgia

In this exercise we're going to make a series of very quick sketches using these reference images but we’re not looking for a likeness. We’re looking to create new characters who will begin to tell a story.

Portrait of Ben

In this lesson we work on a portrait of a handsome young man named Ben. His lovely mum, Leah, sent me this image when I did a call out for portraits on Facebook some months back. Leah shared with me that she felt that this image really captured Ben’s strength and wholeness.

Portrait of Megan

Thanks so much to all who emailed me with wonderful photos for the Face Fascination Contributors Competition. The second winner was Kristie who sent me this beautiful image of her daughter Megan along with a heartfelt story of love and connection between the two of them. I see so much strength and vulnerability in this image and I hope that together we can capture that.

Portrait of Jacob

In our last lesson I wanted to go BIG! I’m working on a large piece of cheap drawing paper with various types of charcoal and our handsome model is our daughter Santana’s lovely partner Jacob.

Here's what I want you to know...

When you take a class with me it’s not even just about the art. It’s about the whole shebang – Art as a metaphor for life.

When I first started making art at the beginning of the century (I just love saying that) I gravitated immediately to the human face. Eager to learn and explore I moved away for a little while into abstraction and intuitive painting but something is calling me back. And my sweet students have been begging me also... "Please make a class on faces!!" And so for you, dear creative, I have done just that.

As creative seekers, artists, poets, art lovers of all skills and levels we can bring so much beauty to the global table by exploring the human face. Together we will use charcoal, ink, acrylic paint, pencils, pens and pastels to explore loose expressive sketches, character studies, whimsical characters, exuberant abstractions and mixed media portraits plus a whole lot more!

Face Fascination is a class with:

Quirky faces. Nostalgic faces. Imperfect faces. Angelic faces. Unusual faces. Beautiful faces. Wise faces. Quick, loose and easy faces and faces that take a little time. Faces emerging from abstract backgrounds and faces that command the whole space with no need for distraction. Faces that tell stories and faces that make us guess.

You get 16 different lessons and 20 video tutorials!!

Tracy you are so inspiring! Thank you for challenging me! No more faceless figures for me. I love experimenting with all of the different techniques. I so adore you & all you create!

- Jen Lados

Frequently Asked Questions

What supplies do I need?

We don't want you stressing too much about the supplies for this course. Many lessons can be adapted to be worked with whatever you have at hand. That being said, here are a few things Tracy uses throughout these lessons:

Watercolour paper pad, oil pastels, soft pastels (including white), assorted inks, transparency film sheets or a piece of glass for monoprints, acrylic paints, bamboo skewers, various brushes (one small detail, one wide flat 1″ wash brush, medium watercolour brush), patterned napkins, gel medium, rubbing (isopropyl) alcohol, kneadable eraser, white and black charcoal pencils, white gel pen, black uniball vision elite pen, willow charcoal and regular charcoal, lead pencils.

How long do I have access to this course?

This course is currently a self-paced class. Once purchased, all lessons will be yours forever! The videos are downloadable for offline browsing or you can stream via our class website.

Are there captions/subtitles?

We suggest using Chrome to view these videos if you wish to view captions or translate them into another language. There are live caption and live translation settings automatically built into Chrome.

For a full tutorial on how to do this, here's a video!

Is this course suitable for any level?

Absolutely!! I have been teaching my in person and online classes around the world for the past six years! Both beginners and more experienced painters have enjoyed epiphanies in creative process, shifted perspectives and enjoyed learning new techniques. Mostly though I have come to realize that what I am teaching is about how to see the creative possibilities inherent in every moment and then to learn ways to process and translate those moments in our own artistic voice….AND to FREE UP and not be STUCK!!

Is this course different to your in person workshop and/or the projects in your book?

All content in the Face Fascination E-Course is fresh and new. I like to keep things moving and get bored easily so this means I’m always changing things up and finding new inspiration and new ways to create. I hope I can pass that on to you!

Can I exhibit or sell the work I create in this workshop?

One of the main intentions in my courses is to help you find ways to connect with a style all of your own. So, with this in mind, I’m happy for you to show and sell original, innovative work created. If, however, you feel that you want to follow along more closely and produce pieces very similar to those within the projects that is all good, but I would ask that you don’t put those pieces out to exhibit or sell if they are close copies of my work. I trust that your heart will tell you what is too close. We also ask that you understand that these are Tracy's copyrighted techniques and may not be taught or packaged as a class by any individual other than Tracy without express consent. ♥

Can I get a refund?

We're happy to offer a 7 day change of mind policy if you have not yet logged into your account. Login details for this class are sent automatically after purchase. As all the lessons are downloadable, we are unable to offer refunds on purchases if you have already logged into your account. Please ensure this class is for you before purchase, any questions before committing can be directed to [email protected] ????

Are you ready to tackle your fear of faces?

Join us for Face Fascination today!

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Example student works~