VIC BEARCROFT WILDLIFE ARTIST

UK WORKSHOPS

Vic offers a variety of teaching workshops in different mediums throughout the UK. Subjects vary from wildlife paintings and portraits, to seascapes, people, children and pets. With mediums in pastel, pencil, oil, acrylic and watercolour, there's something to suit everyone.

At this point in time, most of Vic's workshops and courses are run online via Zoom, This means people all over the world can attend from the safety and comfort of their own home.

Vic's workshops are suitable for complete beginners and advanced artists, and you will learn a great deal about the subject and medium you're working in.

The numbers attending his workshops are kept fairly small. This ensures everyone gets individual tuition and guidance throughout the day so they can learn a lot about the medium they're working in and achieve great results.

2024 WORKSHOPS

Start date: Thursday 4th April 2024

Subject: Birds

Medium: Watercolours

Course length: 6 x 1.5 hour classes (9 hours total)

Included in the workshop: All tuition, reference photos (emailed), feedback and recording of the course.

A workshop kit containing everything you need is available to purchase for this course for £9

Suitable for: Beginners and advanced artists.

Location: Live via Zoom – instructions sent after booking.

Time: 7pm-8:30pm GMT (Please be ready with your materials by 6.45pm)

Price: £99

COURSE STARTED

Watercolour is without doubt a popular medium; but it can also be difficult to master. The pigment is

easily reactivated once dry, making it trickier than acrylics or oils to glaze several layers.

For me, working with watercolours is made somewhat easier when painted over a sketch or detailed

drawing, rather than directly onto a blank sheet of paper; once a mark has been made, it's very difficult to remove or paint over.

I personally find watercolours more fun to use when painting animals and birds – adding a few

transparent layers over a sketch or drawing. This technique generally gives me more control over this

otherwise hard to control medium.

In this course, we will be sketching and painting a selection of birds that you might see in and around

your garden or local green spaces, using just a few colours and a single brush. We will also be trying out a variety of background styles to compliment the subjects.

Lesson 1 - Thursday 4th April - House Sparrow

Subtle tones, colours and feather textures will be the focus in our first lesson. The distinctive markings of the male house sparrow in brown, black and grey will be set against a soft-textured background in shades of green. This is the ideal subject on which to practice painting feathers, without the need for mixing too many colours.

Lesson 2 - Thursday 11th April - Blue tit

This week's lesson is definitely colour-driven. The blue and yellow plumage of this popular garden bird cries out to be painted, rather than sketched in monochrome.

In addition to painting textures, this week we will look at colour mixing for painting those subtle yellow-greens in amongst the blue and yellow plumage.

Lesson 3 - Thursday 18th April - Little Owl

It is often difficult to see any kind of detail in the eyes of small birds, as they tend to be very dark. Larger predatory birds, such as owls, are a different matter. Those yellow irises and black pupils create a much more distinctive appearance to the face.

Aside from the owl's markings and feather textures in brown hues, the focus this week will be on the eyes and creating a characterful study of the little owl.

Lesson 4 – Thursday 25th April - Long-tailed tit

Probably Liz's favourite, long-tailed tits can be very difficult to study and photograph as they flit along the hedgerows and trees in small flocks.

However, they are quite adorable-looking, with distinctive black and white markings and soft rosy blushes in their plumage.

This week we will pay particular attention to 'feathering' to create soft edges between areas of tone and colour.

Lesson 5 Thursday 2nd May - Woodpecker

The great spotted woodpecker is often more likely to be heard than seen. However, they can occasionally be spotted in gardens and parks where there are suitable trees for it to find insects.

Mostly black and white with a splash of red around the rear, painting the woodpecker should present few issues. So, this week we will also be trying out the 'bloom' or 'cauliflower' technique to create a mossy branch for the bird to cling on to.

Lesson 6 Thursday 9th May - Robin

Our brief encounter with some of our favourite birds, concludes with perhaps the most recognisable of all, the robin.

It seems only fitting, since most of us grew up knowing robins from Christmas cards, that we create a

snowy setting for our final painting.

Brown, blue grey and red plumage will be offset by a textured background of blue and white to suggest the snow, perhaps adding a sprig of holly for a festive touch.

MATERIALS REQUIRED/KIT CONTENTS

2B graphite pencil
Set of 5 watercolours (burnt umber, natural grey, French ultramarine, cadmium yellow, red)
8 A4 sheets of watercolour paper
Reference photos (emailed before the class, or included in the kit)

*** You will need a round watercolour brush. I generally use a #6 round brush, which is good for painting both details and larger areas of colour ***

** Kits are posted out a couple of weeks before the course starts **

BIRDS IN WATERCOLOUR

Start date: Tuesday 2nd April 2024

Subject: Wildlife

Medium: Blue Ballpoint Pen

Course length: 3 x 1.5 hour classes (4.5 hours total)

Included in the workshop: All tuition, reference photos (emailed), feedback and recording of the course.

A workshop kit containing everything you need is available to purchase for this course for £6

Suitable for: Beginners and advanced artists.

Location: Live via Zoom – instructions sent after booking.

Time: 7pm-8:30pm GMT (Please be ready with your materials by 6.45pm)

Price: £50

COURSE STARTED

I'm sure, like me, many of you will, at some point, have doodled with ballpoint pens. There has been many a shopping list over the years adorned with patterns, faces and even strange creatures which have taken shape on the scraps of paper via the subconscious whilst deciding what vegetables I need.

How many of us, however, then go on to consciously sketch with ballpoint pens as an art form it its own right? I personally believe that there is a lot to enjoy and learn from the techniques of ballpoint pen sketching.

Sketching with a blue pen also gives a quality to your sketches which, for me, is unlike using, for example, a black pen or even a graphite pencil. This short 'taster' course will hopefully make you think about the humble blue ballpoint pen in a completely different light, as well as creating artworks that are just a touch different from the 'norm', as we explore the techniques of hatching, scribbling, blending, etc.

Lesson 1 - Tuesday 2nd April - African Elephant

We begin the course with an overview of the kind of marks we can make with a ballpoint pen and how to create and control a variety of textures and tones when sketching and shading, for example how to quickly suggest foliage for backgrounds and foregrounds.

Our main subject for this week is a vibrant cropped portrait of an African elephant. The textures of the elephant's skin makes it an ideal subject to let loose with scribble textures and overlaying tones.

Lesson 2 - Tuesday 9th April - Hare

This week's lesson will focus on scribbling techniques, which seem to work so well with ballpoint pens.

We begin with a few simple exercises in loose scribble and more controlled scribble hatching (shading), before going on to create an almost magical sketch of an American hare (jackrabbit) using both techniques along with a few details – much softer and more appealing than using a black pen.

Lesson 3 - Tuesday 16th April - Badger

Our final lesson uses all of the techniques used in the first two lessons to create a charming, storybook style illustration of a badger.

There will be scribbling, overlaying, directional hatching and scribble hatching to create fur texture, bark texture and background foliage; not forgetting the characterful badger of course!

MATERIALS REQUIRED/KIT CONTENTS

Cartridge Paper (130-150gsm) 6 Sheets
Blue Ballpoint Pen
2B Graphite Pencil
Kneadable Eraser
Reference photos (3) emailed before the class, or included in the kit

** Kits are posted out a couple of weeks before the course starts **

SKETCHING THE BLUES – TUESDAY TASTER COURSE

Book 'Sketching the Blues' Course

Date: Sunday 21st & Sunday 28th April 2024

Subject: Red Squirrel

Medium: Pastel on Velour

Course length: 6 Hours

Included in the workshop: All tuition, reference photos (emailed), feedback and edited recording of the workshop.

A workshop kit containing everything you need is available to purchase for this course.

Suitable for: Beginners and advanced artists.

Location: Live via Zoom – instructions sent after booking.

Time: 1pm-4pm GMT (Please be ready with your materials by 12.45am)

Price: £65

7 PLACES AVAILABLE

Textures, colour and lighting are the main elements in this 2 part workshop, not to mention

cuteness overload painting a red squirrel in pastels on velour.

The gorgeous red hues of the squirrel's fur are enhanced by the dappled green foliage in the

background; using my soft focus technique to create depth in the painting and bring the subject

closer to the viewer.

Because there are varied techniques employed to create different textures, details, highlights,

etc., the workshop will be run in two parts.

Part 1 - Sunday 21st April

The tonal sketch (underpainting) is the foundation of the whole painting, where shape and underlying form is created in monochrome. As this stage is so fundamentally important to the finished piece, especially creating underlying fur textures, we will be able to spend a decent amount of time in the first lesson creating this important foundation.

We will then aim to finish 80/90% of the soft focus background, using layers of tone and colour.

This will enable us to paint the squirrel in front of the background, whilst allowing is a little room

to adjust the lighting/colours later on if needed.

Part 2 - Sunday 28th April

With the tonal sketch completed and most of the background painted, we can turn our attention to the main subject.

We begin by applying the warm and cool base colours to the squirrel, the next important

foundation of the painting.

Then we will start adding more 'glazed' layers of pastel, refining colours, textures and details

steadily through these layers, with particular focus on the features and, of course, the bushy tail.

After that, we will sharpen up those final details which we decide are the most important, using

contrast, before adding our final highlights to complete the painting.

MATERIALS REQUIRED/KIT CONTENTS

Dark grey velour (25 x 35cm)
Black and white hard pastels
Orange, light brown, dark brown, mid green and yellow ochre soft pastels.
Reference photo

** Kits are posted out a couple of weeks before the course starts **

RED SQUIRREL IN PASTEL– 2 PART WORKSHOP

Book 'Red Squirrel in Pastel' Workshop

Order Red Squirrel in Pastel Workshop Kit

Start date: Thursday 16th May 2024

Subject: Asian Wildlife

Medium: Graphite Pencil

Course length: 6 x 1.5 hour classes (9 hours total)

Included in the workshop: All tuition, reference photos (emailed), feedback and recording of the course.

A workshop kit containing everything you need is available to purchase for this course for £10

Suitable for: Beginners and advanced artists.

Location: Live via Zoom – instructions sent after booking.

Time: 7pm-8:30pm GMT (Please be ready with your materials by 6.45pm)

Price: £99

11 PLACES REMAINING

My Zoom courses continue to take us to on journeys to various parts of the globe in search of wildlife to discover and sketch.

This time we will be visiting parts of Asia which harbour some of the most exotic, unusual and

endangered species on our planet.

This course will focus on the fundamental techniques of sketching wildlife with a graphite pencil. We will look at the use of basic shapes to quickly establish correct proportions. Shading - utilising techniques such as hatching, scribble shading and blending - will be closely covered in each of the subjects. These techniques will be important in sketching the various textures of fur and skin and scales.

Naturally, there will be particular emphasis each week on the features and 'character' of the animals

and, as we get to know the individual subjects through the sketching process, we will also learn something of their habitat, physiology, status and other facts.

After the course, you can discover and research even more Asian wildlife to add to your initial collection; the more you practice, the more your sketching will improve!

Lesson 1 - Thursday 16th May - Red Panda

Is it a panda? A bear? Perhaps more closely related to raccoons and skunks, the red panda, native to the Himalayas and parts of China, is a small bamboo-eating mammal, only slightly larger than a domestic cat.

The red panda is very distinctive, due to its colouring, facial markings and ringed tail.

The markings in particular will make for an interesting opening sketch of this rather cute little creature, resting on a tree branch.

In this first lesson, I will show you how to arrange the basic head and body shapes to create the pose.

Then we'll look at the scribble shading technique to suggest the dense fur texture and, of course, capturing the character of the red panda in the facial features and markings. Some optional subtle foliage textures in the background will add depth to your sketch.

Lesson 2 - Thursday 23rd May - Malayan Tapir

The Malayan tapir is the largest of the tapir species and the only one to be found outside of the Americas. Distinguishable by their fleshy prehensile noses, used for grasping leaves and as snorkels when swimming, tapirs seem to be somehow related to elephants, but are actually related to horses and rhinos.

The distinctive black coat with its large white patch behind the head, marks out the Malayan tapir from the other species.

This lesson mostly focuses on the arrangement of body shapes, including that unusual nose, which defines the character of this strange-looking animal. As the fur is very short, we will be using a hatching and blending technique to create soft mid tones and shadows.

A touch of foreground and grasses will help to anchor your tapir sketch to the ground.

Lesson 3 - Thursday 30th May - Komodo Dragon

It's difficult to imagine something more like a B-movie prehistoric monster than the Komodo dragon – the largest living species of lizard.

The Komodo dragon is indeed a fearsome-looking beast, with an equally fearsome reputation; but is that reputation justified? We will no doubt find our more as we sketch this giant among lizards – focussing on skin textures, as well as its classic stalking pose this week.

Lesson 4 – Thursday 6th June - Proboscis Monkey

Looking like a cross between a monkey and a tapir, the male proboscis monkey has a nose like no other primate. The strange appearance created by that rather large nose might seem rather comical to us, but to a female proboscis monkey, with her much smaller appendage, it must seem quite attractive.

This week's sketch is a portrait in profile – the best angle from which to show the unusual features of our male proboscis model.

Naturally, our primary focus will be on the shapes and proportions of the head and facial features, This will be followed by the different techniques needed to portray skin and hair. Definitely one for the family album.

Lesson 5 - Thursday 13th June - Javan rhinoceros

A smaller relative of the more familiar African rhinos, the Javan rhino has a single horn and a number of loose skin folds, which give the appearance of armour plating. Only the male has a horn – up to around 8 inches long – the female may grow a stump up to 2 inches. The folds in the otherwise hairless, thick skin, will be one of the main focusses of our sketching techniques this week; the other being the unusual arrangement of shapes and features within the rhino's head.

Soft and hard shading will both be used to convey the varying skin textures. A fairly strong outline will

lift this critically endangered rhino off the white paper, negating the need for background tones and

textures.

Lesson 6 - Thursday 20th June - Sunda Pangolin

The world's only scaly mammal is also the world's most trafficked mammal, for reasons we will discover in our final lesson.

The pangolin, covered in razor sharp scales to protect it from predators, is often called a scaly anteater. In fact, the pangolin is more related to cats and dogs than anteaters.

The pangolin's unusual appearance makes for an interesting subject for sketching.

This week, we will undoubtedly be pre-occupied with the scales that cover the entire body of the pangolin – with the exception of the soft underparts. I will, of course, point you in the right direction for portraying those many scales in a sketch, without getting unduly bogged down in unnecessary details.

As I am anticipating and hoping that you might want to sketch even more Asian wildlife and add to your collection, there is a kit available to accompany this course, which includes:

MATERIALS REQUIRED/KIT CONTENTS

2B graphite pencil
Kneadable eraser
A4 150 gsm sketchbook
Reference photos (emailed before the class, or included in the kit)

** Kits are posted out a couple of weeks before the course starts **

SKETCHING ASIAN WILDLIFE

Sketching Asian Wildlife

Order Asian Wildlife Kit

MORE WORKSHOPS AND COURSES COMING SOON...

Saturday 25th April 2020

Subject: Lion

Medium: Pastel on Velour
Length: 1-day

Included in the workshop: All materials, light refreshments, all tuition.

Suitable for: Beginners & Advanced Artists.
Location: Big Cat Sanctuary, Headcorn Road, Smarden, Ashford, Kent. TN27 8PJ
Times: 10am-4pm (arrive 9.30am)

Price: £120

2 PLACES REMAINING

Something new for me and hopefully for you, for the first of my Big Cat Sanctuary workshops in 2020; a full colour lion portrait in pastels on black velour.

The subject of this workshop is the handsome African lion, Kasanga, who you will get to meet and take your own reference photos, like this one, on the morning of the workshop.

The use of black velour gives much more depth of tone than other colours, such as the sand-coloured velour, as well as allowing you to create dramatic highlights that can give an otherwise ‘standard’ portrait much more atmosphere.

Whether you are an experienced artist or a beginner, Vic will guide you step by step through the process of painting with pastels on velour; how to create fur texture, realistic eyes, all important highlights and, of course, the special techniques required when using black velour.

As always, the big cat/art experience begins with a guided photography tour, starting at around 10am. This is a unique opportunity to gather your own reference photos of wide variety of big and wild cats at very close quarters for future use in your artworks.

The tour finishes at lunchtime, during which you are free to visit the on-site shop for souvenirs and enjoy your lunch under the watchful gaze of mountain lions and the famous ‘Maya’, whose enclosure is next to where we will be working.

The workshop itself begins after lunch and ends at around 4pm, after which you are free to admire and take more photographs of the beautiful Maya in the late afternoon light before leaving for home.

All materials and light refreshments provided. Please bring your lunch, an easel (table or standing) if you need one, and sensible shoes for walking around the enclosures (no sandals or flip flops please). And don't forget your camera!

The day will begin at 10am promptly, so please try to arrive around 9:30am.

For every booking, we donate £50 to the Big Cat Sanctuary. These funds help the sanctuary with upkeep and conservation projects.

LIVE ZOOM COURSE - PORTRAIT IN OILS

BIG CAT SANCTUARY LION WORKSHOP

Stating date: Thursday 7th January 2021

Subject: Portrait

Medium: Oils on canvas
Course length: 4 x 1 1/2 hour classes

Included in the workshop: All Tuition, Reference Photo (emailed), Recording of the Workshop.

Other Info: The portrait course kit is available to order in advance for this workshop

Suitable for: Beginners & Advanced Artists.
Location: Live via Zoom - Instructions sent after booking
Time: 7pm-8.30pm (Please be ready with your materials by 6.45pm)

Price: £60

COURSE STARTED

‘Portrait in oils’ is a complete course aimed at artists who want to learn or improve their oil painting skills.

Each lesson will focus on a particular stage in the oil painting process, using the techniques that I have used myself for many years.

Lesson 1 – Underpainting part 1

(7th January 2021)

We begin the course with probably the most important stage in any painting, a burnt umber underpainting, using the dry brush technique.

Once completed, the underpainting acts as a tonal foundation for subsequent layers, giving both basic details and all important tones to create form.

Lesson 2 – Underpainting part 2

(14th January 2021)

Once the burnt umber underpainting is dry, which will be just a few days, we can begin to create more subtle mid tones and key highlights.

This will be achieved by using varied mixes of burnt umber and titanium white, thinned slightly with linseed oil for easier control and flow.

Note: There will be a two week gap before the next lesson to ensure that the whole underpainting is completely dry before lesson three

Lesson 3 – Glazing

(28th January 2021)

Once the underpainting is completely dry, we can begin to add colour in the form of transparent glazes, a traditional oil painting technique.

Using the additional colours of cadmium red, yellow ochre and French ultramarine, thinned with linseed oil, we will ‘tint’ the underpainting with various colour mixes to create skin tones, and background.

Lesson 4 – Final details

(4th February 2021)

Using the rigger brush and thinned mixes of burnt umber, French ultramarine and titanium white, we will refine the portrait with finer details in the hair, eyes, nose and mouth, adding a few finishing highlights here and there.

Please note, the course is £60 per person, however, if more than one person is using the same Zoom connection, then the fee covers all participants from the same household.

MATERIALS

290gm oil painting paper (14x10 inches)
#6 oil/acrylic round brush
Watercolour rigger brush
Oil paints: Burnt umber, titanium white, cadmium red, yellow ochre, French ultramarine
Linseed oil.
Reference photo (emailed upon booking)

A kit is available for this course, which contains all the materials you'll need to complete the oil painting. Please take into account delivery times when ordering the kit. This kit is posted in a large postal tube.

The great things about Vic's Zoom classes is that you also receive a recording after each class/workshop. So, if you cannot attend one of the lessons, or would just like to re-watch the tutorial, you have the recording to watch as often as you like.