Date: Thursday 9th January 2025

Subject: Monkeys

Medium: Graphite & Watercolour

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

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

A workshop kit containing everything you need is available to purchase for this course for £11.99

Suitable for: Beginners and advanced artists.

Location: Live via Zoom – instructions sent after booking.

Time: 7.00pm-8:30pm GMT (Please be ready with your materials by 6.45pm)

Price: £99

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8 PLACES REMAINING

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A new year, and a new wildlife art adventure begins!

Primates – the order of mammals which includes monkeys and apes (including ourselves of course), are many and diverse; over 500 species of primates exist on the planet, with new species continuing to be discovered.

To try and sketch, let alone paint, such a huge variety of animals from lemurs to old world and new world monkeys, and of course the great apes, would naturally be a massive undertaking. In an ad hoc series, we can at least focus on sketching, painting and learning about a handful of representatives from the various families.

This first course will find us dipping into the large world of small primates – monkeys, following the

popular format of creating three graphite and watercolour paintings over six lessons; each of the three subjects split into two parts; part one sketching, part two painting.

This format not only removes the pressure of sketching and painting an animal from scratch in one

session, but also allows for a week to refine, or even redraw the subject before adding colour.

Out of over 300 species of monkey that exist today, I have chosen three of the more colourful and unusual to begin our primate journey.

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Lesson 1 - Thursday 9th January -  Japanese macaque - Part 1 - Sketching  

Also known as a snow monkey, the Japanese macaque lives in the most northerly and coldest habitat of all non-human primates. They are also known for taking baths in warm springs as well as having quite distinctive red faces.

In part one, we will go through the techniques of sketching a portrait of a snow monkey relaxing in a

warm spring. The main focus of the sketch will be the features – especially creating the somewhat blissful expression that we can all relate to when relaxing in a nice hot bath.

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Lesson 1 - Thursday 16th January -  Japanese macaque - Part 2 - Painting 

In part two, we will look at glazing transparent layers of watercolour over the sketch; this is the ideal technique for creating soft fur textures. By slightly increasing the pigment content of the glazes, we can add a visually stronger colour to the face and the eyes, without losing the translucent effect that watercolours are renowned for. We will also enhance the atmosphere by creating a soft focus, cool blue background.

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Lesson 3 - Thursday 23rd January -  Golden-headed lion tamarin - Part 1 - Sketching 

Tamarins are one of the smallest monkey species; most of which have wonderfully coiffured hairdos or facial hair. The golden-headed lion tamarin, as the name suggests, has a lion-like mane of golden hair, contrasting with its black body fur with hints of blue and purple. 

In part one, the primary focus again will be sketching the almost grumpy-looking features of this squirrel-sized monkey. Then we will look at how to create the overall shape of the mane before refining the texture with pencil and kneadable eraser. The final step will be to create the darker tones of the face and body prior to painting in part two.

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Lesson 4 - Thursday 30th January - Golden-headed lion tamarin - Part 2 - Painting 

Creating a soft focus jungle background will be the first step of this week's session, using the wet-on-wet technique.

Glazing layers of paint over the tamarin, from vivid base colours to more subtle hues, will create a soft

look and feel to the fur. Finishing details will be added using the graphite pencil.

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Lesson 5 - Thursday 6th February - Snub-nosed monkey - Part 1 - Sketching 

One of the more unusual-looking species has to be the snub-nosed monkey - so named for fairly obvious reasons.

The critically endangered Myanmar snub-nosed monkey is our final subject of this series, and the unusual features are once again the main focus of part one.

Stubby noses, with forward facing nostrils and dark eyes give these monkeys an otherworldly appearance; to me, they look like a race of strange little forest people.

Very dark eyes and nostrils are in stark contrast to the full lips and soft fur; which we will soften with

some paper towel blending techniques.

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Lesson 6 - Thursday 13th February - Snub-nosed monkey - Part 2 - Painting 

We will begin part two by painting transparent glazes of green foliage in the background, which will provide a soft contrast to the blues, purples, pinks and pale oranges in the monkey's fur and skin.

This strange-looking monkey's distinctive eyes and nostrils will be detailed and darkened further with the graphite pencil after painting.

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There is a kit available to accompany this course, which includes:

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• 2B graphite pencil

• Kneadable eraser

• Set of 7 colours: burnt umber, natural grey, French ultramarine, cadmium yellow, cadmium orange, red and violet.

• 4 x A4 sheets of watercolour paper

• 2 x A4 sheet of cartridge paper

• Reference photos (3) emailed before the class, or included in the kit

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** You will need a round watercolour brush. I generally use an SAA #6 'worker' brush, which is a good

all rounder for painting both details and larger areas of colour, and some spare/scrap paper (e.g. cartridge – included in the set) to test your colour strength, mix and brushstrokes **

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​​** Kits are posted out approx. 1 week before the course starts **