48 artistMay 2020 http://www.painters-online.co.uk
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In traditional portrait painting an
incredible amount of time is given to
the detail of, for instance, the eyes
to convey the emotional gaze of the
sitter, but usually the ears, chin and
neck areas are loosely painted to
depict blur and distance. This is also
quite manipulative and can direct the
audience’s attention to certain parts
whilst they ignore others.
With this grid style, painting each
section with dedication and clarity will
give a completely different experience
to the viewer. Naturally they will scan
the image like a found object, as the
photographic experience gives a non-
directive style which lets the audience
explore freely.
Types of visual information
Whether it’s a reflection, hair effects
or sweat on a face, the commitment to
texture has to be crucial to the overall
visual effect. Usually when I paint my
portraits I’m aware of the dry or wet
areas of the skin in which the face
will produce oil or sweat. It’s good
to remember this if contemplating
painting a hyperreal portrait, as the face
is made up of many different textures
that will hinder your realistic painting if
you don’t get it right.
Be aware that the nose, cheeks and
forehead produce more sweat and oil,
so these will be more glossy, therefore
colours will be more contrasted on the
skin in these areas. If you want to create
the shiny surface on these features, try
to build up the base tones first before
highlighting the lighter or glossy areas.
Naturally the contrast will be greater
with the pores of the skin, so start the
base tone slightly darker, which will
contrast better with the very bright
overtones of sweat highlights. Also
when painting these fleshy areas of the
skin, it’s good to paint in dots or dabs
almost like a pointillist, as the structure
of the skin here is very different and
circular bumps and pores are a lot more
contrasted here.
The skin around the eyes isn’t as oily,
but there are more wrinkles and visual
information, so even though it won’t
have as many contrasting highlights as
the nose or cheeks, it will have more
detail on average. Be sure to paint with
very thin brushes to get all the lines
and skin folds; depending on the age of
the subject, dry brush when necessary
to blend the skin lines so they don’t
make the person look too aged.
With hair, it’s bulk areas of solid colour,
with overlays of thin, wayward lines to
create the flimsy delicate attributes,
alongside subtle highlight shine effectsto depict strands of hair. Be sure not
to overdo this as too much highlighted
hair can look strange.
Lastly when painting clothing or matt
material effects, it’s good to apply solid
colours with rather vivid tone changes
when shadows are cast or with creases
in the material. This is very unlike
painting flesh, which has extremely
subtle tone changes over flat areas,
although with material you’ll get drastic
dips in colour brightness in shadows.
Please be aware of this when making
the transition from flesh to clothing,
as it’s a completely different style
to adopt. Also I usually use flathead
or filbert brush types when painting
material using straight bold marks;
however with skin I use much rounder
headed brushes with more of a dabbing
style of application. t STAGE FOUR
The darkest areas of the hair were applied, creating
more of an intricate pattern of the braids, which fade
from light grey/brown to complete blackq STAGE FIVE
The nose was painted with the warmest colours of the
portrait. This is because it’s closest to the viewer and
is the fleshiest area of the face. Shoulder and clothing
areas were applied with a subtle blur effect, depicting
distance and the camera focal depth. The clothing was
painted with straight, bold colour lines to create the
texture of the material, also to emphasise the rigidity
of the creasesTA