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Practical Color Theory For Portrait and Figurative Artists (Udemy.com)

Simplifying the complexities of depicting human skin tones

4.6
90 reviews

Created by: 8D Studio

Last updated January 2022

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What you will learn

  • Understanding how to think about Color as an artist, and not about paints or paint names (or other colorants)
  • The "truth" about skin tones for the artist
  • A simple, easy-to-use Color Theory that can work for most genres or themes, not just for human subjects.
  • Better Portrait and Figure painting
  • Practical understanding of color, which means using it in practice, not just in theory!

How it compares

Against the other 413 rated Udemy courses in Graphic Design on CourseDuck:

  • Rating4.6 out of 5higher than 65% of them
  • Reviews90#319 of 414 by number of reviews
  • Length5.3 hourslonger than 52% of them
  • Last updatedJanuary 2022earlier than 77% of them

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Course Description

This lecture series is intended to provide anyone interested in the human subject in art with a guide for assessing and understanding skin color. An added bonus is that the same concepts and ideas put forth in this course will help anyone in their understanding of nearly any color, not just skin tones. Although Color Theory is a vast and complicated subject, and this course narrows in on skin color, that is itself very broad and far-ranging, so there is plenty to go through. The course focuses primarily on presenting the most useful aspects of color theory for representational artists and provides a logical and simplified vocabulary for that, namely: hue, value, and chroma. More specifically, you will learn how to use this "language" when considering or describing the  nuanced world of skin tones without relying, for example, on names of paints (as opposed to names of colors). Paint names can be surprisingly misleading since the same paint from one manufacturer can look quite different from the paint with same name from another. The concepts presented will be useful for artists in any medium.

Through lecture and demonstration, including some exercises that subscribers may wish to try on their own, this course will develop a theoretical framework for the artist. But, as the title implies, it will be more than theoretical because the knowledge gained can and, perhaps, ought to be put into practice and used every day.
Read More All Levels All Levels product length iconTime: 5.3h

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Instructor Details

8D Studio

Produced and developed by 8D Studio

Juan Carlos Martinez is a Multi-award winning Artist and Art educator for more than twenty years. Recognized as a Living Master by the Art Renewal Center, Juan is known for his Portrait and Figurative works. His works and commissions hang in public as well as private collections in Canada, US, and Europe. As an educator, Juan was a Senior Instructor at the Academy of Realist Art in Toronto and conducted workshops Internationally. He authored several articles for major art publications. Juan frequently lectures on technical or art historical and other matters relating to representational art and its grand traditions. Today, Juan continually develops his body of work and maintains an influence as a teacher and mentor, and as a commissioned portrait painter. He also welcomes inquiry regarding available work, commissions, or about instruction, lectures, and workshops.


Norman Choo is an Interactive Media Developer, Artist, and owner of 8D Studio.

Together, we offer online learning at ThothStudio.

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Reviews

4.6

90 ratings on Udemy

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By Celena Polena on 12/9/2025

Since I have taken university level color theory, I already know this stuff. My interest in taking this course is how to mix skin tones for portraits. The artist obviously knows what he is doing and I'm anxious to get into that practical knowledge.

By Paul B. Walker on 10/14/2023

A very nice course on color theory and how to apply it with portrait painting.

By Cindy L Bowers on 7/23/2023

Yes, once I speeded up playback. Thank you! Very informative and through. Explained in ways that made it easy to understand. Learning very useful tools! Can't wait to try them myself!

By Andy Wade on 4/25/2023

Really enjoying learning basic vital key information which has been missing in all other art classes I've attended in person so far.

By Pam Blevens on 3/26/2023

Great tutorial! Very good explanations & examples. I highly recommend this course.

By Ginette on 11/20/2022

L’enseignant explique très bien, est préoccupé par la clarté de ses propos. Très généreux et agréable.

By Angus Johnson on 9/1/2022

the detailed image from Ron Sherr was epic, showing the subtle transitions in form by progressing small value changes. The use of munsell and its application for finding a colour is a very good place to start. Excellent video....cheers

By JayRip on 1/28/2022

Again Juan does an excellent job at explaining and gets into great detail regarding color theory and has wonderful examples and visuals to assist with passing a better understanding on to the student. Showing examples of actual paintings with the light transitions was a big benefit for my understanding of the process. Great Class!

By Lens H on 10/17/2021

Great detailed explanations on color theory and how to apply that theory. As well as very useful practical tips

By Chris Cave on 9/17/2021

Concise & enjoyable to watch! Great way to explain a practical system for organizing many coloured mediums or many colours - especially for pastel or acrylic artists that may have many different colours to keep organized in their medium of choice.

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Overall Score : 92 / 100

Practical Color Theory For Portrait and Figurative Artists
Visit course on Udemy Write a review
  • Video Duration: icon 5.3h
  • Price: $49.99
  • Provider: icon Udemy
  • Updated: icon January 2022
  • Level: All Levels All Levels
  • Language: icon English
  • Certificate: icon Yes
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