How to paint portraits - some practical advice - 4.
You will note the huge difference in skin-tone between the weather-beaten and tanned John, and the milky
fairness of Sam. His skin is very pale, his eyes blue and hair fair. Nevertheless I used the same palette for both.I began the painting with an imprimatura of raw umber which I allowed to dry. I then drew in my figures using
charcoal. Next I worked the deepest shadows with a thin mix of raw umber and cobalt blue with a little light red
where I wanted a little temperature variation.Working up with a slightly thicker mixture I started blocking-in the semi-tones. This is the stage that should
take the longest and the painter taking great care to get all the values correct. Keep working them towards the
light by adding a higher value color as well as introducing as many interesting tonal variations you can.Now I can work and blend my shadow planes with a thicker mix of light red, naples yellow and raw sienna
being careful not to bring the highlights up too soon. As I am doing all this I will usually wipe excess paint from
my brush on the canvas around the figures.When I am satisfied with my shapes and planes I will begin to detail some of the features, mouth, eyes, nose
and hair with a small brush and a 'long' easy flowing mixture of paint.
Now I will add the highlights to the face glasses and hair. John lost an eye in his 20's therefore the slight
difference in the eyes.http://www.geocities.com/~jlhagan/lessons/portraiture3.htm (2 of 3)1/13/2004 3:54:47 AM