Classical & Neo Indo-Persian Miniature Painting with Hoor Imad Sherpao
7 Sessions
Sundays, July 13 - August 24
12 PM - 2 PM
Materials included
This 7-week course offers a rare glimpse into the world of courtly ateliers from the 15th century, while also reimagining the practice in a contemporary context. This is the first time a course like this is being taught outside of the few traditional institutions in South Asia that focus on classical training. Miniature painting is a meticulous art form that typically takes years to master. However, in this fast-paced, immersive course, you’ll gain hands-on exposure to the lineage, language, symbolism and intricate techniques of Indo-Persian miniature painting, while also learning how to develop your own unique, contemporary voice within the medium.
This course is led by Hoor Imad Sherpao, an artist, researcher, and educator trained directly by a descendant of a Mughal courtly painter. One of the few female artists from her region to carry forward this practice, Hoor brings over 15 years of experience in art, research and storytelling to this course. Her work bridges the gap between ancient techniques and modern storytelling, guiding students to create work that is both rooted in tradition and boldly personal.
7 Sessions
Sundays, July 13 - August 24
12 PM - 2 PM
Materials included
This 7-week course offers a rare glimpse into the world of courtly ateliers from the 15th century, while also reimagining the practice in a contemporary context. This is the first time a course like this is being taught outside of the few traditional institutions in South Asia that focus on classical training. Miniature painting is a meticulous art form that typically takes years to master. However, in this fast-paced, immersive course, you’ll gain hands-on exposure to the lineage, language, symbolism and intricate techniques of Indo-Persian miniature painting, while also learning how to develop your own unique, contemporary voice within the medium.
This course is led by Hoor Imad Sherpao, an artist, researcher, and educator trained directly by a descendant of a Mughal courtly painter. One of the few female artists from her region to carry forward this practice, Hoor brings over 15 years of experience in art, research and storytelling to this course. Her work bridges the gap between ancient techniques and modern storytelling, guiding students to create work that is both rooted in tradition and boldly personal.
7 Sessions
Sundays, July 13 - August 24
12 PM - 2 PM
Materials included
This 7-week course offers a rare glimpse into the world of courtly ateliers from the 15th century, while also reimagining the practice in a contemporary context. This is the first time a course like this is being taught outside of the few traditional institutions in South Asia that focus on classical training. Miniature painting is a meticulous art form that typically takes years to master. However, in this fast-paced, immersive course, you’ll gain hands-on exposure to the lineage, language, symbolism and intricate techniques of Indo-Persian miniature painting, while also learning how to develop your own unique, contemporary voice within the medium.
This course is led by Hoor Imad Sherpao, an artist, researcher, and educator trained directly by a descendant of a Mughal courtly painter. One of the few female artists from her region to carry forward this practice, Hoor brings over 15 years of experience in art, research and storytelling to this course. Her work bridges the gap between ancient techniques and modern storytelling, guiding students to create work that is both rooted in tradition and boldly personal.
Week 1 – Introduction + Foundations
● Presentation: What is Indo-Persian miniature painting? (Mughal, Pahari, Deccan,
Persian, etc.), and how we’ll approach the classical and neo aspects over the course.
● Materials: Pencils, paper (wasli for future weeks), shells, burnishers, brushes (0, 2, 4, 6),
watercolors, gouache, reference images for each exercise and optional 24K gold leaf.
We’ll discuss sourcing, prepping, and using these tools.
● Activity: Intro to linework and pencil sketches starting with line work practice and second
half of class rendering either botanical motifs and traditional patterns. We will be
referencing historical works and studies from the Mughal era.
● Homework: Linework drills + materials prep (Pencil sharpening technique)
Week 2 – Figure Drawing in Miniature Style
● Activity: Learn to see the figure in miniature proportions. Stylized drawings, elongated
hands, expressive eyes, usually composed in profile. Significance of the foreground,
background and middle ground and how to compose using traditional techniques. A brief
introduction and presentation on the drawings from both Mughal and Persian schools of
art.
● Focus: Prepping paper (burnishing), understanding proportion and posture within the
miniature tradition.
● Drawing Practice: Figure sketches with pencil, introducing techniques from the ateliers of
the past and starting to paint the line work for these figures.
● Homework: Complete this figure study from a traditional reference.
Week 3 – Starting the Siah Qalam Technique (Black Ink), Borders, Continued Linework and Finishing Black & White Studies
● Activity: We look into borders, floral, geometric, intricate designs and learn how they
frame and guide the viewer’s eye. We can create our own or reference existing borders.
Think about manuscript illuminations and the layout of each folio. Talk about books of
paintings and how each book spoke of various
● Siah Qalam (black ink): Introduce brushwork for precise linework and create
monochrome compositions of either portrait, architectural or botanical study.
● Discussion: Traditional references, motifs, and personal interpretation.
● Homework: Continuing the study using traditional techniques.
Week 4 – Introducing Neem Rang Washes (Transparent Colored Washes)
● Focus: Neem rang which is the delicate layering of translucent watercolor washes over
drawings.
● Activity: Begin adding color to either same or new portraits, botanical elements, now
practicing precision and subtle gradations.
● Discussion: Color within Indo-Persian art, pigment sources, and their symbolic
meanings. How different colors represent different times of the day, moods (Ragamala
series, the red within Pahari paintings)
● Homework: Continue to apply neem washes to your work started in class.
Week 5 – Gadrang: Full Color, Backgrounds, and Tapai (color layering
techniques)
● Focus: Building up layers through tapai technique, deepening colors via introduction of
gouache this time, adding backgrounds, and integrating elements like landscapes,
architecture, or decorative motifs.
● Activity: Learn the tapai technique and create a base for the composition.
● Homework: Finish the full color miniature background foreground and middle ground with
base layers only.
Week 6 – Self-Portrait in Miniature: A Neo Take
● Focus: Applying all classical techniques with contemporary expression. Students will
create a self-portrait in miniature style, integrating their own symbols, stories, and
identities into the piece.
● Activity: Continue the drawing, line work, tapai layering color technique but also learn
how to render refine details via the dry brush technique with watercolor.
● Homework: Complete self-portrait.
Week 7 – Finalization, Finish, and Group Critique
● Activity: Final refinements, highlighting with gouache, optional gold leafing, and subtle
corrections (if needed)
● Group Critique + Discussion: Share works, discuss breakthroughs, challenges and how
each artist found their voice within the tradition + how they wish to continue it.
● Wrap-up: Document work for portfolios, consider framing choices and discuss next steps
for practice beyond the course. Preparation for Final Exhibition.
Presentation/Contextual Framework
1. Intro + History
2. Schools + Styles (Mughal, Pahari, Deccan, Persian, Jain, etc.)
3. Portraits + Museums, key works, collections, and where to see them
4. Neo & Contemporary Voices – how artists today reinterpret the form