01The most common angle
Male head in 3/4
We start with the angle you meet most often: construction, big shapes, finding the character.
Marathonstarts in 30 days
Portrait painting
8 weeks of practice with Azat Nurgaleev: every participant makes at least 8 finished portraits — from simple to complex, from anatomy to color
256participants in the previous cohort
- October 26
- run starts
- 8 weeks
- ends December 20
- Mon, Tue and Sat
- streams at 21:40, 14:00 and 20:00 MSK
- from $21
- participation plans
01
Grand prize of the marathon
partner — Huion
Kamvas Pro 20
A professional Huion pen display to get fully into the work. 16.7 million colors and 120% sRGB coverage keep your work true to life.
- 19.5″ Full HD IPS
- 120% sRGB
- 8192 pressure levels
- AG anti-glare glass
The tablet goes to the best participant at the end of the run.
02
Sound familiar?
The portrait is your favorite subject, but something isn’t clicking
This is what people bring to reviews most often. The marathon is built around these points: we take them one at a time and test each one in practice every week.
01 · common complaint
“My color goes muddy”
I keep mixing and the hues only get duller. I can’t tell at which step the color loses its purity
02 · common complaint
“My portraits are flat”
the likeness is there but the volume isn’t: the face doesn’t turn in space, the light falls at random
03 · common complaint
“It comes out differently every time”
one portrait works, the next one doesn’t. There’s no order of work I can repeat
04 · common complaint
“Anatomy trips me up”
I can see something’s off in the proportions, but not where. I fix it blind and make it worse
05 · common complaint
“I’m learning in scraps”
I’ve watched a lot, but it never added up to a whole approach to the portrait
03
What changes in 8 weeks
01 · skill
A clear order of work
Where to start, what comes next, where to stop. One way through the piece that repeats on any portrait
02 · skill
Clean color
Where color loses its purity and how to keep that from happening. Light, halftones, reflected light — worked through in practice
03 · skill
Anatomy of the head
The skull under the form, the planes of the face, how the head sits. You start to see why a portrait “doesn’t look like them”
04 · skill
Character, not a copy
Male and female faces, older portraits, textures. Learning to convey a person rather than copy a photo
04
Who this marathon is for
Who it suits
01 · level
Beginners
You’ve tried portraits, but it comes out differently every time. You want to understand how it works
02 · level
Advanced
You draw confidently, but color and texture are hard. Time to break through that ceiling
03 · level
Illustrators
You need living faces for your characters — with character, not traced from a reference
What you’ll need
- Any mediumtablet or pencil — work in whatever suits you
- Post the week’s piece before the Saturday review
05
How a week goes
Monday, 21:40
Main stream
Topic of the week: Azat paints live, explains his decisions and gives the assignment.
Tuesday, 14:00
Practice session
Live practice — the main piece of the week, painted together.
During the week
Your own work
You paint your assignment, apply what’s new and get the piece ready for review.
Saturday, 20:00
Work review
Feedback stream: we review participants' work live.
Every week
You see your progress
Every week a new topic, a new skill. Over 8 weeks — real growth, from simple to complex.
Format: every lesson has theory, a walkthrough of examples and a practical assignment. Work digitally or with traditional materials — whatever suits you.
06
The marathon program
8 weeks — one subject a week
01
02Color and symmetry
Male head, front view
We work with color in a front-view portrait: details, shapes, composition.
03Silhouette and volume
Male head in profile
Silhouette, character, volume and space, using a male head in profile.
04Texture and form
Portrait of an older person
We work with textures, the folds of the form, and see where the skull comes through in a portrait.
05Going deeper
Portrait of an older person 2
We continue last week’s subject and take the portrait of an older person further.
06Character and emotion
Female head in 3/4
Character, emotion, proportions and color — the main points of this week.
07The portrait series
Female head in profile
We continue the portrait series and build confidence in portrait painting.
08Likeness and color
Female head, front view
How to keep a portrait recognizable and still make it interesting in color and texture.
07
Marathon materials
what to draw with and what to paint from
08
Who runs the marathon
Artist, founder and creative lead of Skills Up School
Graduate of the Stieglitz Academy of Art and Design, majoring in communication design. Drawing the human figure became the center of Azat’s work back at the academy.
Studied drawing under A. S. Spitsin. Additional painting courses with S. P. Mosevich. Has taught the fundamentals of drawing since his third year at the academy. Has trained thousands of students, from beginners to advanced.
Works where traditional and digital art meet — from academic drawing to bold stylization. With his team he created the comic book “Stars”, printed in 1,000 copies.
“I’ll show you how I paint a portrait myself: where I start, how I build the color, where I stop. A new topic every week, plus a review of your work.”
Azat’s work
Portrait, anatomy, figure — what the marathon is about.
Portrait on blue 
Gentleman in a bowler hat 
Portrait in a hat 
Male figure 
Male back 
Dark female figure
09
Participant bonuses
besides the run itself
- 01Grand prizeA Huion graphics tablet for the best participant at the end of the marathon.
- 02Huion promo codesSpecial discounts on Huion graphics tablets for marathon participants.
- 03School promo codesDiscounts on courses at Skills Up School, the school of drawing and digital art.
10
Participation plans
Starts October 26, ends December 20. Streams and reviews stay in your account.
One-time payment
Marathon streams
The marathon itself: streams, the weekly programme and recordings. The lesson archive, mini-courses and ref packs are not included.
$21for the whole marathon
- All marathon streams
- Weekly programme and tasks
- Stream recordings
- No lesson archive, mini-courses or ref packs
Most people take this
Subscription
Club
The marathon with practice and the whole workshop. Unlimited seats.
$33per month
After the marathon — $30 a month
- Everything in Marathon streams
- Anatomy lecture and a practice session
- Friday stream and Saturday feedback review of other participants
- The whole workshop: lesson archive, mini-courses, ref packs
One-time payment
With Azat’s feedback
Everything in the Club until the marathon ends, plus personal review: once a week Azat reviews your work on a stream.
$136for the whole marathon
Seats left: 14
- Everything in the Club until the marathon ends
- A weekly stream where Azat gives feedback on your work
About the marathon
The marathon runs for eight weeks, from October 26 to December 20, and takes portrait painting from the most common angle to the hardest one. Every week works the same way: Monday at 21:40 the main stream, where Azat paints live, explains his decisions and hands out the assignment; Tuesday at 14:00 live practice, the main piece of the week; you paint on your own until the weekend; Saturday at 20:00 the participants' work is reviewed live. The stream recordings stay in your account.
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The order of the topics answers the question of why a portrait doesn’t look like the person. First a male head in three-quarter view — the angle you meet most often — then front and profile, where symmetry and silhouette show up. Then two weeks of older faces: on an aged head the bony landmarks of the skull and the surface texture read most clearly. The final three weeks are female portraits: character, emotion, likeness and color.
By the end of the run every participant has at least eight finished portraits and, more importantly, one repeatable way of working: where to start, where to build the color, where to stop. Muddy color and a flat face aren’t a property of your hand, they follow from the order the patches go down in; on the reviews you see it right away, because your work is reviewed alongside other people’s, and half the group has the same mistakes.
Any medium is fine: tablet or pencil — what gets reviewed is construction, form, color and texture, and none of those depend on the tool. There is one requirement: one piece by Saturday. There are three ways to take part: the run’s streams only, the Club plan — together with the lesson archive, the mini-courses and the reference packs — or with Azat’s personal feedback.
FAQ
What happens if I miss a stream?
The recordings of the main stream, the practice and the Saturday review stay in your account. Missing a stream costs you one thing only: not everyone gets their work in for the review in time, and the review is exactly why it’s worth going through the run with everyone else.
Do I need to be able to draw before it starts?
The first weeks start from construction and large patches, so people who have only recently taken up portraits take them too. It helps to go through the drawing fundamentals in the catalog beforehand: hatching, value scales, simple solids. Without that, the notes about the terminator and construction on the review will sound like a foreign language.
Can I take part if I only work traditionally?
Yes. The technique is yours: pencil or tablet — what gets reviewed is construction, proportion, color and texture, and none of those depend on the tool. Just photograph the work and send it in from your account.
How much time do I need per week?
The main stream and the practice run about three hours together, plus one piece for the assignment. Four to five hours a week in total; the older portrait in weeks four and five takes more, and it’s better to split it across two sittings.
How much does it cost to take part?
Three plans. “Marathon streams” is a one-off payment per run for the marathon itself. The Club is a subscription: the marathon plus the video lesson archive, the mini-courses and the reference packs; you can cancel from your account, and after the marathon it costs less. “With Azat’s feedback” is a one-off payment per run: everything in the Club until the run ends plus a weekly review of your work. Prices are in the plans block on this page.
Can I join after October 26?
Yes, the weeks that have passed stay available as recordings. The reviews cover the current week’s work, so it’s better to catch up in parallel: watch what you missed and paint the assignment that’s running right now at the same time.