Online Atelier of Juan Martinez. Academic style training for artists based on 20+ years of teaching, study, and practical picture making.
Juan was instrumental to my growth as a painter, and I would not be the artist I am today without his guidance. He's not only a great teacher but very fun and interesting with knowledge in topics beyond the visual arts that relate directly to them. He is possibly an ancient wizard, despite his age claims, he looks not a day over 40.
I had the great pleasure of working with Juan during his tenure at the Academy of Realist Art here in Toronto. The school offered a one-week course in 'alla-prima portrait painting' with senior instructor Juan Martinez and I immediately signed up. I had been a drawer for the past 50 years, so I was relatively new to painting having only started to paint in 2003. I felt that an intensive portrait painting workshop with one of the ARA’s principle instructors would be helpful in broadening my abilities.
Day One of the workshop began with a 3-hour demo by Juan and I immediately knew I was in the right place. Not only was he a superb painter, but his explanations of the process of painting were clear and well-directed to the various student levels in the room. His understanding of light and shadow and (more importantly) his ability to pass this understanding on to his students was remarkable. Over the week I found Juan to be an excellent instructor with personal, individual help for every student and an easy-going charm in the classroom. Would I sign up for the course again? Absolutely.
Juan Martinez is not only a modern master, but he is a truly skillful teacher. I studied with him early on in my art training and over the years the guidance and knowledge I received from him has been invaluable. I now work in film producing photo real digital characters, sets, and props. Through Juan's careful and rigorous instruction I developed the foundation skills as an artist. Juan taught me a sensitivity to light, proportion and composition which are the universal tools in creating powerful imagery.
Congratulations!!! I just watched your Vimeo production this weekend. Excellent! Although we have worked together for a while, I still got many new ideas and reinforcement on older concepts. It pulls everything together. Your style comes across as friendly and open as if it was a personal one on one demonstration. You explained the why and how and when of the progression but also gave permission to evolve a personal approach later when these fundamentals were embedded. This video is different from others in that it provides clear explanations of the methods with excellent visuals so we can see it actually happening. The close-ups of the palette mixing and paint application were the best I have seen in any video. There were great tips and visuals on brushwork variations that are now clearer to me. Your natural and friendly explanations made it very personal and sincere. The length is just right.
All the best.
I watched your new video just now. Having done a couple of workshops with you I knew it would be good, but it was so much more. It is excellent! I learned much more than I thought I would and it was amazing to see the portrait come to life. This was like a refresher course in one video. I will definitely look at the video again (and again). Thank you!