This long-term program is designed to consolidate your knowledge and skills by guiding you through the process of painting an icon of Christ (Head and Shoulders). You will have the option to choose between two slightly different iconographic types. The course is open to all students who have completed “ Drawing Frontal Faces“ and “ Egg Tempera. Faces“.
Bringing together everything learned in previous courses, this program also introduces several essential new skills. You will learn, in detail, how to paint hair and beards, and how to harmonize all the individual elements of the icon. Each student receives personalized mentoring and comprehensive feedback on every exercise submitted.
We will guide you step-by-step—from initial planning and sketching to completing a finished icon of Christ. By the end of the program, you will have a deep understanding of the full process and methodology of professional icon painting.
See the work of students from our first Study Group →
For everyone who took “Frontal Face“ and “Egg Tempera. Faces“ courses. This program will connect your knowledge of drawing to the process of painting with egg tempera and to show you how to work professionally on an icon.
The program consists of 5 blocks of assignments. Most blocks contain 4 assignments and cost $140 USD or €120 EUR each, except for the last one (6 assignments) which costs $200 USD or €175 EUR. Payments are accepted separately for each block.
The registration payment covers the first five assignments scheduled for October and November 2026.
7 months / approximately 4 assignments per month. Assignments are published weekly. Three extra weeks at the end are allowed to finish the icon.
Explanations of each topic either in a 20 - 60 min Full HD video tutorial or text (PDF document), reference images. In total there are 9.5 hours of video tutorials.
All materials are shared with students in Google Classroom. All videos remain available after the end of the Course.
Learners are expected to share photographs of their drawings in Google Classroom Stream. Personal feedback from the instructors with their corrections / comments / recommendations is given within 48 hours (weekends excluded). Feedback is guaranteed for the whole period of the course either written in words or/and drawn directly on the uploaded image.
You will only need materials you used on courses “Drawing a Frontal Face” and “Egg Tempera. Faces”. Although we advise you to paint the final image on paper, you can use a gessoed board. I’ll give you all the details about the board size at the end of November.
You will need at least an hour per week for drawing (in October and November) and two-three hours per week for painting (November-February). We are not sure how much time you will spend working on the final project in March-April, because it also depends on you.
This Program starts on October 8, 2026 and will end on May 6, 2027. You will have approximately 4 assignments per each topic. Assignments are published on Thursdays. Some assignments will help to repeat what you already know, other ones will contain new information.
After the last assignment is published you will have two extra weeks to finish the icon. Images are accepted for two more weeks.
Access to the Google Classroom and the videos is for the online course participants only and must not be shared with anyone else in any form.
Oct 8, 15, 22, 29, Nov 5, 2026
Nov 12, 19, 26, Dec 3, 2026
Jan 7, 14, 21, 28, 2027
Feb 4, 11, 18, 25, 2027
Mar 4, 11, 18, Apr 1, 8, 15, 2027
Each month you will receive in average 4 assignments that include:
Optional:
The main explanations and instructions are given in the PDF file. A lot of explanations are based on the information from the previous courses. It is made to refresh your memory and drawing / painting skills.
All the new topics are illustrated with short video tutorials.
The homework for each assignment is given at the beginning of each PDF file.
We expect you to do your homework on paper of A4/Letter format and post it in the Google Classroom Stream.
If you are not satisfied with your drawing/painting and have not finished them, anyway share your drawing/painting at least once a week. Constructive feedback will help you to move on. If you are stuck and don’t understand how to proceed, post your drawing/painting with question(s) in the Stream. We are always ready to give a hand.
Please, post your drawings/paintings in Google Stream even if you are behind the schedule.
We kindly ask you to take photos of your drawings without distortion. When taking a photo, hold your cell phone or tablet parallel to the drawing. It will help a lot with your homework correction.
If you experience any technical difficulties with Google Classroom, please let us know via email. We will answer you as quickly as we can.
