Take your landscape painting skills to that Old Master level of quality
Improve your figure painting skills to achieve the feel of a painting created hundreds of years ago
Discover an exciting way to combine these two art forms and create something that is truly breathtaking
Painting the Figure in Nature gives you all the tools, all the theory, and all the techniques you need to produce your own masterpiece.
Let's have a look at what's inside each day:
Day 1
When you combine figure painting and landscape painting, you come away with something that can REALLY take the viewer's breath away. Ryan has a few theories about why this is, and he'll share them with you in his exclusive interview with B. Eric Rhoads.
It's an hour long, but we highly recommend that everyone watch this before they begin painting in order to understand the thinking behind the painting process. It's a rare glimpse into the mind of a master. After you watch the interview, Ryan starts out Day 1 by helping you prepare your materials and explaining how to "see" your composition as you begin to create it.
He talks about working with a live model and the benefits of using photography when you paint...
He then helps you understand the lines, the forms, the lighting, and all the various parts that come together to give your viewer the strongest emotional impact when painting a figure...
Next he shows you how to carve, mold, and "reveal" the various elements of your landscape with the same techniques the Old Masters used...
Essentially, Ryan will teach you how to choreograph your own dance between the landscape and the figure.
You'll also discover:
Ryan's palette and why he chooses his various and somewhat unusual pigments
Which brushes he uses and how he chooses and prepares the right surface for his canvas
How to create preliminary sketches to work out the right poses for your figure drawing
How Ryan uses various sketches to establish movement, balance tones, create the various elements of the scene, and better define the work
How to use photography to examine the dynamic interaction between the figure and nature
How to understand color harmonies, value harmonies, and the basic overall tone of the painting
What you should know about choosing the right size for your composition
How Ryan works with undertones to create a sense of atmosphere
The key to maintaining a sense of clarity as your work progresses
How air temperature will affect the portrayal of features like trees, rocks, and the human anatomy
How to consider your work from the perspective of the viewer
Working with texture — why it's so important and how your canvas and brush choices affect it
The common mistakes beginner and intermediate painters make and how to avoid them
When to step back so you can "see" the final painting in your mind's eye
And we're just getting started!
DAY 2
This is where "the trains come into the station" and you complete your figure and landscape painting journey.
Here Ryan helps you move from the broad strokes to adding the details and fine adjustments...
Not only does Ryan give you the tools you need to paint your own masterpiece figure painting within a landscape, he explains the theory behind each decision he makes and how you can apply this to your work in the future.
You'll also learn:
How to look for the right things to modify, simplify, adjust, and enhance in all of your paintings from this moment forward
How to use anatomical landmarks to guide your adjustments to the figure
Key insights into how lighting will affect your brushstrokes
How to bring clarity to the different landscape elements and develop your figure so the solutions reveal themselves
How to look for opportunities and make corrections that improve your painting's impact
Changing values and thinking about planes to establish unity and improve your composition
Defining the edges of the figure, then adding the details that bring elements of the landscape and the human body to life together
The small adjustments that make your figure more dynamic
How to eliminate or add information as needed to retain a sense of unity within the figure and the overall composition
How to "soften" elements of the landscape when it's appropriate so you guide the viewer's eye along the proper lines
How to paint reflections of the sky, trees, rocks, and the figure on water
When to refer to your drawings to keep you on track in your painting
How to add textures as you are finishing your painting so that it is an object to be viewed and not simply an image
Making the key decisions that "ground" your figure and attach it visually to the various landscape elements
Understanding the underlying anatomy of your figure and how it works with the 3D curves and forms of your composition
How to think your way through the details as you add them
...and that's just a small taste of what you'll get in these videos.
Would you like to know how to do something VERY few painters today know how to do?
All you need to do is ask yourself these critical questions:
Do I want to dramatically improve my figure painting skills?
Do I want to take my landscape painting skills to the next level?
Would I like to follow a living master, step-by-step, and create my own beautiful figure drawing within a stunning landscape?
Would I like to learn the approach taught in the French academies over 100 years ago?
Do I want to transition from being an average painter to producing exceptionally high-quality artworks?
Painting Classic Portraits
With this exclusive video training, you will learn:
The "secret" skin tone formula and how Ryan discovered it by accident — it happens to be the same formula classical masters used centuries ago, but had been forgotten over time
How to get your viewers to project their own emotions onto a painting, instead of feeling the model's emotions (and why this is critical to creating a great piece of work)
Why creating a portrait is like building a house (and how to make sure you have a sturdy foundation that stands the test of time)
The three different stages of creating your drawing — and exactly why you need to follow each one in order if you want to create a beautiful finished product
There is nothing that compares to the joy artists feel when they've painted a beautiful portrait of someone special. Just imagine painting an incredible portrait of such high quality that you don't hesitate for one moment to show it off, either giving it as a treasured gift or selling it for top dollar.
For many painters, portraits are off-limits — they can be too difficult and require a lot of time, only for the artist to be unhappy with the results. Capturing lifelike features, flesh tones, and expressions can be frustrating, and difficult to correct along the way.
There is now a way to learn portrait painting that is easier than ever and will take the mystery out of this beautiful art form. You will want to discover these secrets for yourself right away — and now you can.
Ryan is best known for his arresting portraits that capture the attention of anyone passing by.
His style and technique are unmatched.
From how he prepares his canvas
and mixes his paints
and develops his painting over several sessions
pushing it forward bit by bit until it's finally complete.
But what makes Ryan rise above the rest is not just his technique
it's his entire approach to portraits.
"Be always ready to make slight notes of postures, groups, and incidents. Store up in the mind ... a continuous stream of observations from which to make selections later." — John Singer Sargent
You see, the way he approaches portraits is one that few artists speak about, but it's something that can change your portrait skills overnight — whether you're brand new to portraits or you've been painting them for years.
But what does that mean?
Well, according to Ryan, a portrait begins long before you ever meet your model.
It begins the second you decide you're going to paint a portrait.
"I do a lot of different works, but the purpose behind it is the distinguishing factor." — Ryan S. Brown
Instead, Ryan believes in starting from a concept that guides every single brushstroke you make.
This concept is the emotion you want to evoke
the feeling the painting creates
the impact it has on the viewer.
Once this is decided, you use composition, values, and colors to make the concept come to life.
And today, you've got an incredible opportunity to learn from the master himself.
In this masterful 13-hour video, Ryan walks you through his exact process for painting arresting portraits that convey an energy, feeling, and liveliness that seem to jump off the canvas.
Let's take a closer look at what you'll learn in this video:
Why, even though your drawing is one of the most important parts of your painting, you want to free yourself from its constraints when you begin painting — it's counterintuitive, but critical to your portrait
How the skin tone of your model is like the musical notes in a symphony — and why the beauty of your portrait depends on finding the perfect notes in the right moments
The simple yet fascinating tool Ryan uses to identify mistakes when he knows something is off but can't quite figure out what
Why you should always grade different parts of the face with different colors, even though it's all a single skin tone in real life (and what happens if you don't)
How the molecular differences between different types of paint affect your final painting (this one thing explains the challenges so many amateur painters face)
Why Ryan sometimes takes over 300 photos of a model before even beginning his drawing
How your peripheral vision can help you perfect the values across your painting
The common traps that cause you to paint an "average" painting, and how to avoid them
Why the single most important part of your painting happens before you ever touch the canvas (and how that dictates every stroke you make once the painting begins)
Why most art school students are terrible at mixing paint to make flesh tones — and what you can do to mixfarbetter
The natural mistakes our eyes want to make when creating a painting, and how to avoid them
Why you should be thinking about the emotional content of your painting just as much as you think about the visual content
Why you must have photos and studies with you as you paint your portrait, even though you have a live model in front of you
The natural facial proportions and measurements you can use to paint accurate faces every time
Why every piece of your painting has "weight" and how understanding this weight is crucial to creating a vibrant, moving painting
How to use your eye like an artist, instead of a student, and how this one shift will change your painting forever
