Category: Online Courses

Course Outline Description: 

Study elements of Islamic illumination design. Learn to trace and transfer the design. Paint the motif following steps of centuries old traditional illumination art using gouache paints. 

Materials required for this course:

1. Hot pressed, smooth finished paper (Arches, Fabiano Artistica, Daler Rowney, Wasli or any good quality paper available just make sure it is thick and smooth)
2. Tracing paper (motif should be traced beforehand)
3. steel spoon, coin
4. Paper tape
5. Pencils H,2B
6. Gouache paints (red, blue and white)
7. Gold gouache paint/poster color/gold pallate (important)
8. Black ink (calligraphy/sumi/black watercolor)
9. Watercolors
10. Fine tip Round Brushes (0,1,2)
11. Water container, color palette, paper towels
12. Tea stain (2-3 tea bags dipped in half cup of hot water. Cool it down before the session
13. Flat brush (1-2inches wide)

Course Outline Description: 

Students will decipher the hidden geometry behind this biomorph design and combine it with freehand drawing following the geometric framework.

Materials required for this course:

1. A3 paper (hot press)
2. A4 paper (sketch pad quality)
3. A3 tracing sheet
4. 6H pencil
5. HB pencil
6. Compass
7. Ruler
8. Eraser (zero size)
9. Masking tape
10. Paints – gouache or watercolors
11. Water container 
12. Palette or a white ceramic plate
13. Paint brushes 1, 2, 4
14. A small metal spoon 

Course Outline Description: 

We will be looking at how the same basic design can be tessellated with a square, triangle and a hexagon, and then painted with cool and warm balance of colours.

Materials required for this course:

1. A compass (recommended compass is the Rotoring Master Bow)
2. A ruler
3. Range of Pencils (6B-4H)
4. Tracing paper 5. Zero Eraser or equivalent
5. Optional ‒ Coloured pencils.
6. Optional ‒ Fine line drawing pens (useful to have, but not essential)
7. Canson paper or any water colour paper
8. Water colours or gouache paints
9. Masking tape
10. Watercolour brushes #1 and #4
11. A4 printer paper for blotching and testing
12. Water container with water. 

Course Outline Description: 

Employing a combination of freehand and geometric elements, students in this class learn to draw and paint the Tree of Life depicted in the stone carvings on the tomb of Jam Nizamuddin II, found at the Makli Necropolis (1510) in Thatta, Pakistan.  

Materials required for this course:

1. Heavy water colour paper- hot or cold press; as per individual’s preference. Water colour paper will need to be tea stained before class commences (Please find attached YouTube link on how to stain paper. Don’t worry if it looks patchy and isn’t very evenly stained). 
2. Alternatively, students may use any buff/stone coloured watercolour paper (Canson Mi-Tientes is one option) 
3. Tracing paper  
4. Pencils, 2B and 2H or H 
5. Masking tape 
6. Water colour, fine hairbrush. Natural hair preferred. 0, 1 and 3 (Winsor Newton 7 Series; tutor recommended) 
7. Watercolour or gouache paints (burnt umber, ultramarine & white) 
8. 2 Jars of water  
9. Tissue or blotting paper 
10. Compass, ruler and eraser 

Course Title:

Flower of Makli – drawing and rendering a biomorphic pattern from the tomb of Jam Nizamuddin.

Course Outline Description: 

The students will make an 8-fold grid and further divide it into 16-fold. They will divide the radius into 3 sections and make two smaller circles inside

the large circle. They will then use 1/8th of the grid to make the petals. This design will be rotated and traced on to the rest of the grid. The central flower will be drawn with 12-fold symmetry. The finished design will be transferred to tea stained 300gsm hot pressed paper and rendered with pencils.

Materials required for this course:

1. Cartridge Paper (A4 minimum) from sketchbook should be fine.
2. Tracing sheet
3. A4 300gsm hot pressed paper (tea stained) for transfer and rendering.
4. Compass and ruler
5. Pencils HB to 4B, Eraser
6. Paper tape

Course Outline Description: 

Learn to draw, tessellate and paint a six-fold geometric construction, variations of which can be found across simple and complex designs within Islamic art and architecture.
In this course, you will learn to draw and evolve a simple six-fold pattern into the complex tessellation form as seen in the shrine of Shah Rukne Alam in Multan. You will also learn to paint the pattern with water colour or gouache in a way that is able to recreate the effect as visible in the traditional colours of the art and architecture of the region.

Pattern detail:

• Multan, Mausoleum Rukn-e-Alam
• Multan (Punjab, Pakistan),
• Mausoleum of Shah Rukn-e-Alam
• (built 1320/24 under Sultan Ghiyas-ud-Din Tughluq; transfer of the remains of Rukn-e-Alam, saint of the Sufi order, in 1334; octagonal brick building with decorative tiling and dome).

Materials required for this course:

1. Drawing paper – size a3 (since the pattern is tessellated a larger paper size is preferable)
2. 2H or HB pencils
3. Good quality compass
4. 6- and 12-inch ruler and eraser
5. Paper (the tutor will be using A4 paper – 8.3 x 11.7 inches (Preferably Arches or Canson watercolour paper or any water colour paper (300g)
6. Water colours or gouache paints 
7. Tracing paper (this is essential)
8. Masking tape
9. Ruler (30 cm is ideal)
10. A standard compass (we recommend Rotring, Ecobra or Staedtler)
11. Pencils (2H and 2B)
12. Eraser and tissue paper or cotton cloth
13. Pencil sharpener

Course Outline Description: 

Learn to draw tessellate and paint the tile from Wazir Khan Mosque using any 2 combinations of your choice (black and white or shades of blue)

Materials required for this course:

1. Drawing paper – size A3 x 2
2. Water colour paper x 1
3. Tracing paper A3 x 1
4. 2H 2B or HB pencils 
5. Good quality compass 
6. 6- and 12-inch ruler and eraser 
7. Marker or fine tipped pens 
8. Water container 
9. Masking tape 
10. Colour palette 
11. Spoon or coin 
12. Paint brushes 1, 2 and 5 
13. Paints-gouache or Watercolours 
14. Piece of cloth

Course Outline Description: 

In this course we will begin with a single eight-fold rosette and learn to tesselate four of them into a square tile formation, allowing the internal pattern of stars and octagons to automatically emerge.  A variation of this tessellation can be found in the wall ornamentation at the shrine of Sachal Sarmast, in Daraza Sharif, Sindh. 

Materials required for this course:

1. Drawing paper – size a3 (since the pattern is tessellated a larger paper size is preferable)
2. 2H or HB pencils
3. Good quality compass
4. 6- and 12-inch ruler and eraser
5. Colour pencils or fine tipped marker for outlining. 

Course Outline Description: 

Paint the pattern with shell gold or gold poster paints or gold gouache on a coloured paper (black, blue, grey, dark red and etc. A4 size) preferably canson. Learn how floral/ biomorphic designs can be used in Illumination manuscripts, with the help of simple geometry.

Materials required for this course:

1. colour paper (canson, pastel paper smooth paper)
2. Tracing paper with the pattern traced on it with any HB pencil for drawing 2B.
3. Steel spoon, coin 
4. Paper tape
5. Brushes 0,00,1
6. Paints: shell gold (if available) gold poster colour or gold gouache 
7. Paints: shell gold (if available) gold poster colour or gold gouache 
8. Tissues 
9. Compass, ruler and eraser
10. soft pastel or pigments powder for carbon the design.

Course Outline Description: 

We will be looking at how the same basic design can be tessellated with a square, triangle and a hexagon, and then painted with cool and warm balance of colours.

Materials required for this course:

1. A compass (recommended compass is the Rotoring Master Bow)
2. A ruler
3. Range of Pencils (6B-4H)
4. Tracing paper 5. Zero Eraser or equivalent
5. Optional ‒ Coloured pencils.
6. Optional ‒ Fine line drawing pens (useful to have, but not essential)
7. Canson paper or any water colour paper
8. Water colours or gouache paints
9. Masking tape
10. Watercolour brushes #1 and #4
11. A4 printer paper for blotching and testing
12. Water container with water