Let's go!

Write your awesome label here.

Write your awesome label here.

Write your awesome label here.

Write your awesome label here.

Designing a Portrait

🧠 Think like a master, paint with thoughtful intent. In this 1.5+ hour demo, Josh Clare dives into the portrait design strategies used by Anders Zorn, showing you how to structure your own work with strong value patterns and smart compositional moves. 

  You’ll learn how to:
🎨 Analyze and deconstruct master portraits to understand what makes them visually compelling
🛠️ Use the “oil lift-out” technique to build clear value structure before detailing
📐 Establish harmony between form, light, and composition to create stronger portraits
💡 Translate learned design principles into your personal work — not just copying, but adapting

Perfect for advanced artists who want to deepen their portrait foundations through master-informed design and confident, deliberate technique. Runtime: 1.5+ hours

  • Josh Clare

    Instructor

  • Advanced

    Difficulty
Meet your instructor

Josh Clare

Josh Clare grew up drawing and was rarely without a pencil and paper, but it wasn’t until he began studying art at BYU-Idaho that he began painting. That first oil painting class included a trip to the galleries in Jackson Hole (his first visit to an art gallery or museum) and completely changed the course of his life.
Josh has been supporting himself and his family with art since 2007 after graduation and he thanks God every day for that remarkable blessing. He figures that if he can paint all day, every day, for the next 20 years, eventually he’ll paint something pretty decent.

More courses by Josh

Try these next