Alla Prima Figure Painting (Online Course)
Sandra Sanchez
Sundays, 6 PM – 8 PM ET – please adjust for your timezones
July 12, 19, 26, August 2, 9, 16, 23, 30 2026
8 weeks – Tuition $515
Plus over 12 hours of recorded demos. Each week’s corresponding demo is provided a week before each live class session.
There is a homework assignment due the first class.
Limit: 10 students per section
Take this class:
- To capture the likeness of a figure in an efficient manner.
- To build an organized practice for painting within a limited timeframe.
- To explore the aspects of figure painting on a week by week, painting by painting basis.
- If you have foundational experience painting or drawing the figure in the academic tradition.
Is this class for me?
- Some oil painting experience is recommended.
- Taking GCA’s Painting Orientation Seminar is helpful if you are new to GCA.
- Some drawing experience, especially in the Academic method, is always useful for painting classes at the GCA.
How often is this class offered?
- This class is offered once or twice a year.
Class Format Notes:
- 2 hours of pre-recorded demos distributed weekly. The first demo is distributed the week before the first live class. Homework is due on the first class.
- 2 hour live critiques class.
- Students work on their weekly assignment outside of class time.
- The class will be conducted on the Zoom platform and is a live online experience.
- The pre-recorded demos will be shared via a private video link on YouTube. YouTube is free but will require an account to view the video.
- This class also uses Google Classroom to distribute materials. Watch this video for more insight. All of these services are free but require registration.
- It will be necessary for students to have access to a computer, tablet or smartphone. The recommended device is a laptop or desktop.
- Every online class is recorded.
- Critiques are only given during the live class time.
- Attendance at every live class isn’t mandatory.
- Absentee students can still submit their work at least 15 minutes before the live class starts and the instructor will critique the work during the class. The critique will then be viewable in the recording.
- Students receive access to the class recording within 24 hours of the class finishing. The recording gets posted into the google classroom.
- Access to the recordings is available for the duration of the class plus an additional 30 days. There are no extensions.
Course Description
Figurative art is one of the most enduring practices, used to convey history, allegory, or simply to depict our everyday lives. A mastery of the figure unlocks sharper observational skills, a stronger compositional instinct, and an overall sense of self-confidence in one’s artistic abilities.
This course equips the alla prima painter to tackle the figure through discussions on gesture, anatomy, block-in, proportion, value, and color using narrative figures across a variety of poses. Because of the direct painting approach used in alla prima painting, students will learn to paint a complete figure sketch in a single sitting.
Beyond art fundamentals, the course also covers how to use time efficiently in quick sketch settings, abbreviate complex details into beautiful, simple brushstrokes, palette organization, and maintain a clean, professional result in an alla prima painting.
This is not an absolute beginner course. Students are highly recommended to take at least one figurative or an alla prima course before taking this class.
A Weekly Breakdown of the Class is as Follows:
- Introduction to the class. Drawing in paint: the block-in using raw umber
- The figure in value using the grisaille method. Learn to organize the palette in a systematic fashion
- Flesh tones using the Zorn palette. How to simplify colors for a cohesive figure sketch
- Portraits in the context of a figure
- Painting the figure: Back poses
- Painting the figure: Reclined poses
- Painting the figure: Figures with drapery
- Putting it all together: The narrative figure