Realistic Embroidered Portraiture: Tell Stories with Color

Get to know mixed-media artist and your teacher for this course, Nneka Jones. She talks about her creative journey that began in Trinidad and Tobago and led to her working with internationally-renowned clients. Discover the influences that inspire the work she creates.

Dive into the materials needed for this course, from scissors to embroidery thread. Then discover color theory and learn how to identify tints, shades, tones, and gradients in thread, before seeing how they can evoke different emotions in portraiture. Explore how portraiture has evolved over time and how to portray stories and emotions through your subject.

Nneka guides you through selecting the right reference image for your portrait, before showing you how to edit it to create your monochromatic color scheme. Create a color map to identify changes in skin tone using digital tracing software in Illustrator. Then print and transfer your image onto your canvas in preparation for your embroidery.

Time to start sewing! Start by setting up your workstation. Then explore the concept of color blocking, using your map from earlier in the course as a guide for your stitches. Look at the importance of color blending for realism, and learn how to create the illusion of gradient through back and forth stitching. Add highlights to your piece to emphasize certain features of your subject. To finish the course, Nneka shows you how to put the finishing touches to your portrait, through blending, color, and texture.