The following interview took place between January – July, 2026.
Irene Crusca, Melbourne Painter, interviews founder and director of Skill-Based Art: A Learning Resource for Art Students & Artist-Teachers (SBA)™, Emilio Longo. This interview was undertaken as research towards Irene's 2025 Sir James Gobbo Italian Australian Foundation Fellowship, Viva L'Atelier: Reviving the Classic Tradition of Portraiture.
The Fellowship program is delivered in partnership with the International Specialised Skills Institute (ISS) to support traditional Italian artisan and restoration skills.
What, in your view, are the fundamental skills and knowledge required by a representational visual artist?
For a representational visual artist who endeavours to create drawings, paintings and/or sculptures that contend with the masters of the past, they must firstly have a great degree of patience and humility in order to understand and ultimately accept that the road to mastery is long and tiresome. Achieving results will require a great deal of persistent practice and grit—it’s a hard road. They must do away with the idea of creating ‘Art’ from the get-go and be concerned more so with the pursuit of craft. Their preoccupation in the beginning should be with creating studies (and lots of them at that). They must accept that many of these studies will probably not see the light of day as they are merely exercises in craft and the results of long, arduous hours spent drawing, painting and/or sculpting directly from life, in a controlled lighting environment.
In the beginning, years of drawing in pencil should be one’s focus. The usual academic process of training is to begin with ‘drawing from the flat.’ Essentially, this involves creating copies from engravings and the drawings of the masters in order to begin analysing angles and seeing shapes in a like-for-like manner. Many contemporary studio schools or ‘atelier’ style schools are using the engraved plates from the Charles Bargue drawing course, which are the best set of drawing models available today from the 19th century.
The next phase of training would involve ‘drawing from the round.’ Historically, this typically involved copying plaster cast fragments of Greco-Roman and Renaissance statues, using the Sight-Size approach to measuring. These copies would usually be completed in pencil or charcoal (the latter being a good intermediary step before moving into monotone painting). Working from plaster casts provides multiple benefits; they are static and therefore don’t move like a life model does; they are usually white making the study of light’s effect on form far easier to observe, rather than if the subject was coloured and lastly, the casts are essentially copies of some of the finest pieces of sculpture made throughout the history of Art. Therefore, they teach the student aesthetic appreciation and ultimately instil in them a sense of ‘good taste.’ In this phase of training, monotone painting is usually introduced and the student begins painting plaster casts using black (or brown) and white oil. Traditionally, this is known as painting en grisaille.
The final stage of training is called ‘drawing from the live’ and involves working from the live human figure in a long-pose format (commonly, a ninety-hour pose). Firstly, the model would be drawn in pencil or charcoal, then painted with monochromatic oil and finally with a limited colour palette in oil.
Following the 19th century academic approach outlined above should form the bulk of the student’s training, however, it can be supplemented with study of pictorial design (composition), anatomy, memory drawing, colour theory and the materials of the artist and their use in painting practice.
If working full-time for 8 hours a day, the student can expect to see admirable results and develop confidence in 3-5 years. To achieve a higher level of efficiency and ultimately mastery, 10-15 years of practice is necessary. In saying this, realist drawing, painting and sculpture is a heartbreakingly difficult art which requires a lifetime of practice in order to grasp fully. Put simply, the more time and effort one puts into their practice, the faster they are likely to see results.
Given that many sitters for portrait commissions are likely to have limited time to sit, what are the most important skills artists need to develop to produce satisfying likenesses?
Portrait painters that face the dilemma of dealing with sitters who have limited availabilities should focus on capturing as much of the sitter’s likeness in the sessions they have with them, working directly from life. With limited time, the priority should be on capturing the linear and tonal drawing, specifically focusing on the lighting direction and how the elements of light (core shadow, terminator, reflected light, highlight, mid-tones and cast shadow) are present on the sitter’s face. The painter may choose to make some written notes to help remember how exactly these elements of light are present. Also, multiple drawing studies of the sitter’s face and individual features should be prioritised in the life sessions so they can be referred to when the sitter is absent.
To supplement the life sessions and the aforementioned drawing studies, the painter may choose to rely on photography as a tool (not as a replacement to the life sessions) to fully realise the sitter’s likeness. This is a contentious issue as some traditional realist painters detest the idea of using photography in the process of painting a portrait. Having an understanding of how to use a DSLR camera will benefit the painter, particularly knowing how to control ISO, aperture and shutter speed in order to capture the sitter in a similar lighting condition as to working from life. Of course, there is no real substitute to working from life, however, it’s important to think of the photograph for exactly what it is; a tool to help you achieve the sitter’s likeness. At no point should the painter copy the photograph mindlessly. The photographs are helpful resources to refer to when overpainting the portrait and capturing the skin tones and complexions of the sitter’s face. In saying all which has been explained above, I’ll return to the point that the painter’s aim should always be to capture as much detail as possible from the sitter, from life.
Someone, whether a student or artist, approaches you for advice on becoming a realist portrait artist. What guidance would you offer? Think about how long it took you or a peer to develop into a skilled portrait painter.
Firstly, my advice would be to spend considerable time drawing. Many students want to advance to painting too quickly without having spent at least 3-5 years drawing solidly from life. As I’ve emphasised, the academic process requires time, practice and perseverance. Taking short cuts isn’t advised as if one progresses too quickly into portrait painting without having solved basic problems in drawing, they will likely become deeply ingrained habits that are harder to break later on. The late Boston Impressionist painter, R.H. Ives Gammell comes to mind. In his 30’s, after working for a decade as a painter and receiving some success, he took a two-year hiatus to refine his draftsmanship by returning to study drawing with his teacher, the legendary William McGregor Paxton. Gammell realised there were issues with his drawing that needed to be resolved in order to improve his paintings.
Secondly, spending some time studying facial anatomy and morphology in order to understand the underlying structure of the face (the skull, cartilage and muscles) will aid the student in drawing the portrait from inside out, to essentially understand how what lies beneath the skin is working together to affect the outward appearance and form of the face. To supplement the study of anatomy and morphology, one can study the planes of the head as well. The Asaro Head is a useful sculptural resource that is commonly used for this practice.
Thirdly, studying art history is important to develop a broader understanding of painting, in particularly the history of portraiture. It’s essential to understand the different processes of painting a portrait that have been used by artists throughout history. Direct or ‘wet-in-wet’ ('alla prima' as the Italians term it, or 'au premier coup' as the French do) and indirect (the Flemish method). Studying the work of a broad range of portrait painters and becoming familiar with their technique will help in developing a personal aesthetic sensibility. Further to this, the student can attempt the traditional practice of creating master copies of painters’ work that they feel most drawn to in order to understand more about their painting technique.
What is your view on the observation that skill-based training for many artists is occurring mainly outside mainstream tertiary visual art courses – that is, in the ateliers, studios and private colleges, both in Australia and overseas?
The main issue lies in the fact that the tertiary visual arts institutions don’t see value in offering skill-based training, as they are primarily conceptual schools. Therefore, they maintain that teaching skills can potentially inhibit a student’s creative potential. Oftentimes, these institutions uphold the belief in ‘post-medium’ art, therefore, they are not concerned with building students’ knowledge of the traditional fine arts (drawing, printmaking, painting and sculpture).
Hypothetically speaking, if these institutions did come to their senses and offer skill-based training as part of their offerings, the issue of timing will arise. Such institutions are usually accredited and are mandated to get through a certain number of courses in their programs, in order to remain accredited. Skill-based training is labour intensive and requires a tremendous amount of time to get through the curriculum. In universities and Tafes, they would struggle to find the time to get through the training, while still getting through all the mandated modernist curriculum that they usually offer.
At a minimum, there should at least be an opportunity for the students to be introduced to skill-based training by partaking in elective courses that present traditional studio practice to them, which will help them realise that there are artists today who can still draw/paint/sculpt like the masters of the past did. Having skill-based training completely absent from university and Tafe programs seems like a disservice to the student. They really shouldn’t have to travel internationally to receive this type of education. It needs to be more accessible.
What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of this?
By including skill-based training into University and Tafe programs, in my opinion the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. Students are essentially being exposed to a broader understanding of creative practice which will benefit them in developing their own visual language and aesthetic sensibility in the long run.
One of the criticisms of atelier style schools is that students graduate from the program with all their work looking the same, or with them not really having developed a personal ‘voice.’ If these very students were integrated into a course similar to that which is offered in a University undergraduate or postgraduate art program, they would be exposed to a broader cultural syllabus which may benefit them in developing ideas behind their artworks sooner, rather than later.
In saying this, we can’t overlook the fact that atelier style schools are essentially ‘rendering schools’ which are usually solely concerned with forming students in technique and not necessarily in philosophy or history which help to build a student’s intellect. The benefits of committing entirely to an atelier style school is the intensive studio time one has in developing their craft, without the added distraction of having a multitude of classes to attend throughout a weekly schedule. This is usually the case with the typical Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) programs that are offered in universities.
Another disadvantage with atelier style schools is that they tend to not be accredited which requires students to pay their fees upfront rather than subsiding them to a later date. Especially for the schools in Europe, these fees can be quite significant. The ideal art school should offer both; solid skill-based formation which is coupled with a comprehensive art history program, along with critical and theoretical studies.
Can you explain why this diminishment and even absence of traditional skills in Australian TAFE and Tertiary visual arts degrees has occurred? Can you see a time when these skills will be returned to the tertiary art curriculum?
There are multiple reasons as to why teaching academic drawing, painting and sculpting skills have fallen out of favour in tertiary Visual Arts programs throughout Australia (and abroad). Firstly, the art world places a tremendous emphasis on ‘progress’ which alternative art practices are a result of. As such, tertiary institutions don’t see value in re-hashing that which has been taught for centuries. They are more concerned with innovation and postmodern philosophy. What is missed is the fact that representational art is a visual language and not another ‘ism’ or movement that comes and goes. The visual language of drawing, painting and sculpture is something which is steeped in culture and rich in heritage, akin to chamber music and ballet. In fact, many progressive critics still see value in these art forms, however, why isn’t it so with the visual arts? There is nothing wrong with presenting new ideas which speak to the twenty-first century, however, trying to present these ideas through visual modes that lack clear communication ultimately leads to the message being lost.
When a student enters a visual arts degree program, skill-based training is ‘assumed knowledge.’ The institutions maintain that students should have learnt technical skills in high school, therefore, they don’t bother basing any of their curriculum on skill attainment. The issue here is that many students didn’t receive skill-based training in secondary school as their art teacher most likely didn’t receive the training themselves. And the lecturers in the universities probably didn’t receive it either, which makes them not qualified to teach it at a tertiary level.
Some argue that another reason as to why traditional visual arts training fell out of favour in tertiary institutions is due to competition for accreditation from traditional liberal arts courses. In order for art to remain as a subject to be offered in tertiary institutions and to continue to receive government funding, the focus needed to shift away from ‘craft’ to embracing modern ideas, a sort of material philosophy, if you will. Therefore, tertiary art programs had to move away from skill acquisition to embracing postmodern ideologies in order to be deemed an ‘intellectual’ field, or else they would be at the risk of having their funding cut.
Traditional skill-based training in the visual arts will only be returned to tertiary visual arts curriculum when culture begins seeing the value in teaching it. This is precisely why it is important that traditional realist artists exhibit their work (and preferably teach) so art critics and historians, as well as the public at large can be exposed to this kind of work and become aware that there are contemporary artists today who can draw, paint and sculpt in a manner similar to the great artists of the past. Educating the public about this emerging contemporary realist art tradition is critical to ensure its survival into the future.
Do you think portraiture necessarily requires training through an accredited visual arts degree pathway? Can you explain why or why not?
If we take the historical perspective then no, portraiture doesn’t require training through an accredited visual arts degree pathway. As we have been discussing, students will simply not receive ample technical training in a university. The master-apprentice system has served as an effective framework for training portrait painters for centuries. If the student genuinely wants to learn to paint portraits in the style of a painter they admire (who is still alive), they are best to seek the painter out themselves and ask if they would be willing to apprentice under them. This form of on-the-job training is highly efficient in learning a master’s painting style. A typical example is John Singer Sargent who famously trained under Carolus-Duran for four years. This formation was essential for Sargent to develop his signature alla prima method of painting portraits, which are revered for their technical brilliance today.
A visual arts degree program can help a portrait painter with understanding how their work relates to the world of figurative art today. It will be useful in helping the painter build a critical relationship with contemporary culture, in turn, helping them to develop a theoretical underpinning and philosophy for their portraits. This is necessary if the painter desires to enter the elite contemporary art world and have their work accepted by the art cognoscenti who inhabit that particular scene. However, it’s important to note that the type of traditional painters we are discussing would probably have little interest in exhibiting their work in such a scene.
Both avenues explained above have merit. However, if one desires to get really good at painting portraits, then history shows us that apprenticing under an accomplished portrait painter will see them make progress far quicker than studying in a visual arts degree program. However, will this same student doing the apprenticeship under a master painter develop a critical relationship with the broader world of contemporary art? Probably not. This is where the university art degree programs have the advantage.
Is there anything else that should be added (or even taken away) from the visual art curriculum (at whatever level) to help with this ambition of producing highly skilled representational painters and/or portrait artists?
One of the objections that the ‘atelier trained’ art student faces is that their work lacks content and meaning. As such, much of the atelier graduate’s work looks indistinguishable from one another. This is to be expected from atelier style schools, as we have discussed, they are primarily concerned with teaching rendering skills through an intensive studio-based program that typically lasts between 3-5 years. Due to the intensity of the training, there is little time left to focus on building the student’s intellect and aesthetic sensibility, which is ultimately where they will draw their inner ‘voice’ from and develop a unique body of work. To address this issue, some atelier schools are making efforts to introduce subjects concerning cultural studies, the classical tradition and humanities to supplement the rigorous technical training. Recently, the Grand Central Atelier (GCA) in New York introduced the Bruce Cole Humanities Initiative which will provide an opportunity for artists and scholars to come together and build dialogue around how the humanities can enrichen the prevailing ‘atelier movement.’
Initiatives like this are long overdue and exposing up-and-coming atelier trained art students to a broader cultural program can only benefit their intellectual and aesthetic development in the long run. Many of the atelier schools are doing a great job of producing technically proficient painters. Now it’s time for these schools to begin building their students’ intellect so they can create realist art that speaks to the twenty-first century.
A potential risk with this model is that the introduction of these supplementary courses will take away from the intensive studio time of learning how to draw, paint and sculpt to a very high level. It comes down to a balancing act. Priority should first and foremost be on developing one’s craft and then using it to serve a greater purpose.
What is the most important lesson you have learned during your years of painting portraits?
Identifying a single important lesson that I have learnt in regards to painting portraits is difficult, as the art of portrait painting takes many years of persistent work in order to develop proficiency. There is this fantasy that there is some book out there that will help one discover the magic of painting masterful portraits. In my experience, there isn’t just one lesson we need to know, there are many. Knowledge becomes compounded over the years and the rate of progress can become slow once one plateaus at a level of technical ability that is within their grasp. There is only so far one can go on their own. Therefore, reading about the techniques used by painters that one admires is just as important as carrying out master copies of their paintings. Sometimes painters have very unusual ways of explaining technical concepts, however, they really ‘click’ when one is actually painting and putting them into practice. Simple aphorisms such as “there are no straight lines in nature,” “nature is full of lost and found edges” or “we don’t see everything entirely in focus” can really help one make breakthroughs and take their realism to another level of fidelity.
Another important lesson for portrait painters is to try sculpting a portrait in clay. Learning to physically ‘feel the form’ and to ‘draw in space’ will take a painter’s work to a whole new level. Even if the painter has no interest in producing sculpture, they should try to force themselves to sculpt as a purely academic exercise. The produced sculpture may never see the light of day, however, the fruits that will come from the exercise will see their drawings and paintings improve in leaps and bounds.
Can you recall a significant turning point in your years of visual art practice, when you felt you had achieved a higher level of confidence and/or mastered the process and representational skills required?
When I first started teaching high school Art, I quickly realised that students judged whether one is a ‘good’ art teacher or not based on their drawing ability. Therefore, my credibility was on the line and I had to demonstrate that I could actually draw and not just talk about it. Students are always asking for help with drawing something which they can see in their mind but can’t realise on paper. There is also limited time in classes due to the nature of how high schools operate, not to mention that there are twenty-five students in the class. Therefore, learning to block-in a drawing quickly (sometimes without a reference) so the student can then build on the foundation of the drawing, is an area of my practice which I’ve definitely developed a higher level of confidence in. I’m notorious for being a very slow draftsman and painter, so I really needed to learn to work a lot faster for the sake of helping my students. Learning to talk and draw also took some getting used to. Oftentimes we intuitively know why we do something in the drawing process, but learning to articulate your vocabulary around it can be tricky. However, repetition is the mother of skill and as a high school art teacher, you are most certainly repeating explanations and demonstrations daily. Therefore, it’s inevitable that one’s draftsmanship will improve, as well as the ability to articulate oneself while drawing. My students have really helped me with this, so I have them to thank for it.
I definitely haven’t mastered any of the representation skills required to make fine realist drawings and paintings. It’s a life-long process and I often tell students that a lifetime of drawing and painting is necessary for it to become like second nature to you. It’s also important to mention that since founding SBA in 2017, any time I have outside of teaching Art full time at a local high school has been allocated to working with artists to build more resources for SBA. This has left very little time for me to focus on developing my own drawings and paintings. I’m yet to find a balance between running SBA and maintaining my own practice. It surely requires sacrifice, but I like to think that I’m creating a legacy which will outlive me and hopefully help those interested to learn more about the methods and ideals of pre-twentieth century drawing, painting and sculpture.
*Disclaimer: The views expressed by the Fellow are their own and do not represent the views of the International Specialised Skills Institute, the Italian Australian Foundation, or any affiliated organisations.