Portrait Painting Lessons. Learn How To Paint A Portrait With These Professional Techniques

Portrait Painting Lessons Learn How to Paint a Portrait With These Professional Techniques 46 Ta b l e o f Co n t e n t s make a three-dimensional face reference Create your own inexpensive reference tools that will ■ Know Your Subject: Excerpt help you understand generalAn characteristics of facial features and the relationships amongby them. Refer to from Expressive Portraits Jean them as you draw and paint. You need a standard eggPederson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 ■ Brush With History (The Artist’s Magazine, January/February 2013) . . 27 shaped balloon and a felt-tip marker for this one. ■ Painting Skin Tones: An Excerpt from Vibrant balloon head Children’s Portraits by Mark the guidelines Victoria Lisi. . .and . .standard . . . .relationships . . . . . of . the . .com . . . . 7 M o r e R e s o u r c e s. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 5 fortable face (see pages 26–27) on your inflated balloon. The “comfortable face” measurements change we ■ Quiet Reverence: Inspired by because the human cannot see the hidden side of the face; however, the lines experience, Dongfeng Li paints his that mark positions don’t change. Mark the guidelines and subjects with emotion and face dignity standard relationships of the comfortable on your by infl ated balloon. Refer to the balloon to help you evaluate Meredith E. Lewis (Watercolor Artist, what relationships may be out of proportion in your porApril . . .balloon . . . by . wrapping . . . . .the . end . . around . . . a . . 20 trait.2012) If you “tie” your pencil, it can be deflated and saved for future reference. Z0663 I pp 22-35.indd 25 25 6/29/07 2:22:25 PM Portrait Painting Lessons: Learn How to Paint a Portrait With These Professional Techniques | 3 2 know your subject B ecause our faces are so similar, our minds want to exaggerate the small nuances that distinguish one face from another. As artists, we try to paint what we see, rather than what we think we see. If we observe carefully how light falls on the different planes of the face, we see shapes instead of features. I keep these ideas in mind when I begin a drawing. Regardless of where you are in your artistic journey, a solid foundation in the structural relationships of your subject will give you the confidence to draw and paint with freedom. It allows you to understand the figure and to observe your model’s distinct features as they deviate from the standard. Sometimes our drawings go awry, but with this foundation, we can identify problem areas and adjust them appropriately. resist the urge to exaggerate proportions Because this model is so physically fit, it would be easy to draw his muscular upper body larger than it is. But if we look carefully at the proportions of the figure, we’ll find that they generally fit into the standard guidelines for an adult male. self assured watercolor, gesso and India ink on 140-lb. (300gsm) cold-pressed paper 30" x 22" (76cm x 56cm) collection of the artist 23 Portrait Painting Lessons: Learn How to Paint a Portrait With These Professional Techniques | 4 notice relationships among facial features The key to becoming adept at drawing and painting many different faces is to see their similarities first. No matter how much individual facial features vary from person to perso