Portrait painting tips – Part 2

These are a few, very important tips when painting a portrait.

1. Firstly you need to paint the background, you may work into it later, however I believe that you must have something there to begin with.

2. Once you have your background sorted. You need to paint or draw in the proportions of the person. The features being in the correct place will make or break your end product.

3. Choosing the correct shades for the skin color can be difficult, if you make a mistake sometimes changing the color of the clothing or hair could make all the difference.

4. Remember to focus on the shadows and lines of the features that you are painting.

5. Keep painting! It’s amazing how people give up too early in the portrait process.

6. Paint the main color in and blend back into your work. Do not be afraid of a dry brush for a different effect or using a lot of paint.

7. Take time to stand back and look at your portrait from a distance, sometimes you have the correct effect but are too close up to see it.

8. Join a painting group for some constructive criticism. You never know, they may have some good ideas or may just make a comment that changes your perspective. Its also fun to paint in a group.

9. If you are having someone sit for you take a photo for comparison later.

10. Have faith in yourself and no matter what the critics say if you are happy with the end product then that is all that matters. Use your right for artistic license to change colors and enjoy the portrait painting experience.

Portrait painting tips – Part 1

I believe the portrait artist should learn to reveal the inner soul, this is what I term ‘Artists Vision’. True portraiture is not just a face reproduced.

To paint a portrait is one of the most challenging subjects for an artist. The feelings of exhileration to capture the expressions of the human likeness are wonderful rewards. Remember, an artist should not see wrinkles, only character lines. One should aim to produce a memorable likeness and mystique beneath that likeness. Every successful portrait is successful because of the rapport the artist build with the subject. I advise a ‘getting to know you’ period, prior to the beginning of the painting.

An artist should cultivate an inner memory file to store the attributes of their subjects. Those distinquishing characteristics that make up the individual.

Choose the most attractive and striking features, these will be dominant, focal points of the portrait; every nuance of the face and figure must be observed, but not necessarily painted.

The pose of your subject is important, it can say as much about the person as their facial expression. Remember that a well executed portrait will interpret the inner quality of the person.

To encourage ‘chat’ throughout the painting session is a good idea. Lead the sitter to talk about themselves: their work,hobbies,ambitions and achievements. These discussions usually bring some animation to their expression.

Every new subject is an adventure and challenge as no two people are exactly alike in appearance and temperament.

Enjoy your experience as a Portrait Painter.

Portrait painting tips – Part 7

Portrait art may seem daunting to young artists, even if it’s the art form they most desire to learn. Despite the stylized work done by famous cubists, impressionists, etc., what most people want when they commission a portrait is a good likeness that also allows the subject’s personality to shine through.

For the first part of this, I can offer a tried and true method, that costs almost nothing: Using photos in magazines (I suggest National Geographic because of the diversity offered there), choose one subject a day and draw it with an ordinary pencil in a large sketch pad or even on a sheet of typing paper. Do the best you can in no more than an hour. At the end of that time, put aside your effort, keeping it only for reference as you progress. The next day, try another. (Never return to a previous one to try to improve it; it has served its purpose.) Continue this way for 30 days.

Some rough guidelines to bear in mind as you do this: *Proportion is as important as shape. A person’s face is unique partly due to such things as a long or short upper lip (the distance between the bottom of the nose and the top lip), widely- or narrowly-set eyes, and so forth.

*In very young children the top of the eye just touches an imaginary line dividing the face equally between top and bottom. An adult, on the other hand, has grown longer in the lower half of the face so that the eyes are now set approximately on TOP of the same line. A teenager will be somewhere in between.

*In a left or right profile, the front of the ear tends to be about halfway back from the front of the face.

If you have a natural ability, your 30 days of practice should result in a fair degree of competency in the achievement of a good likeness. (When I haven’t drawn or painted in some time, I use this method to brush up on my skills.)

Before going from drawing to painting, I suggest that you try pastels, learning to blend the colors with your fingertips, blending stumps (available in art supply stores) or whatever else comes to hand when the need arises. You will find yourself leaning in one direction or another in style… You may like a dramatic style, with receding areas very dark and defined, or you may prefer a softer approach. Of course, when you have a subject before you, you will adapt your style to suit the person’s personality. Talk with him or her, try to bring out more than just the lines of the face as they look when posed.

How do you get commissions? Start out by doing pencil or pastel drawings as gifts to friends and their families, for birthdays or other similar events. If you want to get into painting, practice this during the “gift” period, so you’re ready when someone wants something more formal… for pay.

Portrait painting tips

In the year 2000, this author was the recipient of the American Society of Portrait Artists Foundation Scholarship. It is imperative that one find a comfortable space to paint in and if you have a sitter it is duly important that they are not only more comfortable than you, but that they stay comfortable for the duration of the sitting. One can paint from photos but it’s really much better to paint under the lights or diffused sunlight. I’ve known painters of 25 years, with no real life portrait painting behind their backs to paint portraits that are convincing yet lack the dynamic feeling one can get from real life. The idea is that once you learn how to paint portraits from life you can become a better copyist and exaggerate work from photos. There is a big difference in a painted drawing and a painting. I am here today to give tips on oil painted paintings, not painted drawings. Learning how to show light is one of the key ingredients aside from working briskly.

Again, once you get good at painting from life one can cheat a little and work from photos. Norman Rockwell did it, but he also had years of anatomical drawing classes to foster his representational art. Norman Rockwell had a gift for pictorial hyperbole, his characters were almost like caricatures. I will be giving tips on how to paint a bust/head under a warm halogen bulb from about 75 degrees above a person (from eye level) in a traditional, representational way. A quick tip on taking photos:

Have one camera on a tripod aimed directly at the sitter and one camera in your hand to take freestyle shots. Amuse your sitter by moving around and taking a couple of fake shots with the hand held camera. When your client relaxes that’s when you take a rapid succession of shots from the tripod camera. The idea here is to get the sitter when he or she is in a natural state. That’s why you want to trick the sitter. Another way to do this is to say that you are just testing your equipment. The client relaxes, you get a great shot of his or her essence. All of us have different ways of relaxing, capturing a relaxed look is imperative to a successful portrait. Even if the person you are painting is a CEO, it is still important to show grace.

Now that you have some preliminary warm up shots, offer your sitter a refreshing drink, sit or stand at eye level (or slightly below) and begin to mix your background color. I use 12 colors when I paint: naples yellow, yellow ochre, cad red

Portrait painting tips – Part 8

I usually begin a portrait with an oval for the head in the size suited to the canvas. My next step is the placement of features. Section the oval off with a line across the center of the oval. Half way between that line and the chin, draw another line across. Half way between that line and the chin draw another line. Study the face or the picture of your subject and determine if the eyes are above, below or on the center line.

Eyes usually have one eye space between them but this is not always true. The next line down is for the nostrils. The lower lip would rest on the bottom line. These lines are only a guide and each person’s face is different. Some may have a longer chin or a shorter nose or a wider space between the eyes. Draw the shape of the face but do not bother with the hair at this point,

Once I have my features where I want them I use Burnt Sienna color, and paint over the pencil or charcoal lines of the features then brush off the charcoal.

Whether I use oil paint or acrylics, I use the same paint colors for the flesh tones. My palette consists of Brunt Siena, Yellow Ochre, Cadmium Red, Burnt Umber and White. Each artist has their own mixtures but I find that with these colors I can get most skin tones. I mix them in this fashion.

I take a large glob of white and add Siena a little at a time until I get the right shade. Next I add a speck of ochre and a speck of red. This is my basic shade and I lighten it or darken it as needed, usually having at least three shades to work with.

I find it is easiest to begin with painting the eyes and then the shadows. If you have a hard time seeing shadows, squinting your eyes while looking at the face or picture will cause them to show up more. For a beginning artist I would recommend that you use a black and white image to work from as the shadows are more pronounced.

All paintings are made up of shadow and light to give form so always look for shadows. Find your darkest dark and the lightest, light. You will find many shades of skin color in the face as it goes from light to dark.

Once you have some of your darks in use the flesh color in the other areas and blend into the darks.

For deep shadows I use Umber or a mixture of red and green but you will find many ways to get the depth of color you need. Do not be afraid to experiment.

When you are painting the whites of the eyes, remember that eyes are round balls in a socket. To make them look rounded instead of flat, mix a touch of black into