Portrait in Oil Pastel

Oil pastels are one of the most immediately satisfying media in art: richly pigmented, blendable, and completely forgiving. No drying time, no solvents — you work directly and expressively. In this class, Igor Naskalov uses them to guide you through painting a portrait in color.

Working from a partner’s pose or a photo reference, you’ll establish the main shapes of the face, layer and blend skin tones, and use contrast to make the portrait feel alive. Oil pastel’s tactile quality produces results that look stunning even for first-time users.

What you’ll learn

• How to lay in the main shapes and tones of a face
• Blending oil pastel for smooth skin tones
• Using warm and cool color to describe light and shadow
• Finishing: detail, contrast, and edge control

What to bring

• Oil-based pastel set (12+ colors, include skin tone range)
• Primed cardboard or canvas board A3/A4
• HB pencil and eraser
• Photo reference of a face, or work with a partner in class

Class size: 8–12 students (minimum 5 to run) · Ages: 12+ · Languages: English · Russian · Italian

Who is Igor Naskalov?

Igor Naskalov is a classically trained Russian painter and one of the foremost instructors of Old Masters techniques working today. He currently serves as Chairman of Painting at the Russian Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture in Moscow – the same institution that has trained generations of Russia’s finest artists – where he also leads student programs at the State Hermitage Museum.

Igor’s teaching takes him across the world. He has led workshops and masterclasses at the Florence Academy of Art in Italy and the Dutch Atelier of Realist Art in Haarlem, Netherlands, working with serious students of painting from Europe, Russia, and the United States. This summer, he completed a program at the Hermitage Museum with 22 students before bringing his work to South Florida.

He is the co-author of Drawing Drapery, an academic instructional book on the history and classical technique of depicting textiles — a staple subject in the European painting tradition.

Igor teaches in English, Russian, and Italian, and his classes are designed to give students of all levels a genuine experience of how the great painters of Europe actually worked — not a simplified version of it, but the real thing, adapted to where you are right now as an artist.