Artists & Illustrators - April 2016_

SPRING PROJECTS

Artists & Illustrators 45

Tom’s portrait

Farhana in the

Garden shows a

different colour

scheme and format

HOW TO... PAINT THE EYE

1

In order to position the eye

correctly, paint the eye socket

slightly darker than the surrounding

skin tones. Next, fi nd appropriate

values and colours for the half-

tones within the eye socket and

across the eyebrow.

2

Place the eye roughly within

the socket. Darken the

half-tones either side of the eye

to give the lids some roundness.

Remember that the whites of an

eye are never as bright in reality

as you think they are.

3

Resolve the half-tone values

until the sense of form is more

solid. The changes are mainly

additional darkening of the

half-tones at the sides of the eye,

as well as some smoothing of the

transition between tones.

4

Make a fi nal adjustment to the

position. Here I reduced the

space between the top eyelid and

the brow, darkening both eyelids to

create more form. Keep brushwork

soft to give the impression of

lashes without painting each hair.

USING THE HARD LIGHT

‘Hard’ or ‘soft’ refer to how abrupt the

transition of value is at the edge of the

shadow, and it is determined by the

size of the light source relative to the

size of your chosen subject. A light

source that is large next to the subject

will create a soft, even lighting,

whereas a light source that is smaller

in relation to the subject will create

‘hard’ lighting. For instance, if you

place your sitter next to a large

window, the shadows on their face will

appear to have soft edges, but sit

them outside on a sunny day and the

edges of the shadows will be sharp.

If you want the shapes of shadows

cast by leaves or slatted blinds to fall

across the face of your sitter, the only

light that is hard enough is direct

sunlight – setting this portrait up with

an artifi cial light or a north-facing

skylight would not work. The problem

with direct sunlight is that it is very

changeable, so for this project it is

advised to work from photos.

WORKING FROM PHOTOS

Many of the problems that painters

experience when working from

photos are due to problems with

the photo itself. For this reason, it is

really important to learn how to

take a good photograph, and also

to spend time comparing your

photos with reality, noting

any differences while

you are still alongside

your subject. Here

are fi ve key tips

specifi c to

photography for

painting:

1. Use small apertures
   Small apertures give a larger depth of
   fi eld. You can always change the focus
   in your painting, but you want as much
   of the photo in focus as possible.


2. Shoot in RAW mode
   Most good cameras have an option to
   shoot in RAW, a fi le format that
   captures all the data from your
   camera’s sensor. The fi les are larger
   but allow for greater manipulation later.


3. Bracket your exposures
   A ‘bracketed exposure’ of the same
   image allows you to see more detail in
   the highlights and shadows. Some
   cameras have a bracketed exposure

option, otherwise simply take three

shots: one standard, one

underexposed, and one overexposed.

4. Adjust the colours
   Use a colour-calibrating tool to help
   you get the colours right in the photo,
   since even good cameras often have
   a poor Auto White Balance (AWB)
   detection. Take notes on the colours
   you see with your eye, or even better,
   do a quick colour study from life.


5. View in monochrome
   If possible, print off your photo in
   black-and-white at the same size as
   the fi nished canvas, as this will make
   judging the proportions much easier. >

43 Spring Projects.indd 45 17/02/2016 17:10