PAINT VIBRANT
PORTRAIT ART
Daniel Bolling Walsh reveals how he makes use of custom brushes and
a range of Photoshop layer modes to create a painterly portrait piece
In this workshop I’ll
take you through my
process of painting a
portrait of a woman
in her mid-20s. I’m
going for an overall painterly and
expressive style that makes use of a
vibrant warm colour palette.
I’ll start with a line drawing with
some basic greyscale values blocked
in. I’ll then use Photoshop layermodes as well as adjustment layers
over the top of the drawing to
experiment with colours, and begin
establishing the colour palette. After
I’ve made a few different colour
mockups, I’ll choose my favourite to
push further to a finished painting.
During this stage I’ll focus on some
of the facial features and start to
define the forms of the face with
more opaque and detailedbrushstrokes. At this point hopefully
I’ll feel confident that the focal point
is working and I can then play around
with the shapes as well as the contrast
of sharp and soft edges using my
favourite Photoshop tool, the Mixer
brush. I’ll experiment throughout the
process, and will make some late
adjustments to the composition to try
and add to the overall warm feel of
the subject and her expression.1
Sketching some ideas
During this stage I make a few different sketches to see what kind of pose will
work for the piece. For the subject I’m thinking about the gesture and her eye contact
with the viewer. She should feel friendly! I keep these really loose and I also focus
on my line work and the overall composition.Photoshop
GET YOUR
RESOURCES
See page 8 now!Daniel Bolling
Walsh
LOCATION: Australia
Twenty-nine year old
Daniel studied at the
Swedish Academy of
Realist Art. In his spare
time the concept artist
loves rock climbing.
http://www.danielbolling.comArtist
PROFILE2
Time to draw!
My time at the Swedish Academy of Realist Art was
fun. We did a lot of kroki (life drawing) as well as
studying the master works of Charles Bargue. His works
begin quite structured with very straight lines, and so this
stops me from attempting to get the curves right in the
first place. It’s much like simplifying your sketch to make
sure you’re getting your proportions correct.Workshops