Only a good likeness is not everything

Only a good likeness is not everything

As you know by now, painting commissioned portraits is an essential part of my daily artistic activity and has been for more than twenty-five years. I like to talk about it over and over again and hope that you can benefit from this.

Let me repeat this week what I consider to be the most important properties for a portrait painter.

Only a good likeness is not everything

  • Good drawing skills and a thorough mastery of painting technique, above all.
  • Good sense of composition.
  • Good sense of colour.
  • Good communication skills.

Continue reading “Only a good likeness is not everything”

Painting a portrait from life

Painting a portrait from life

Life model

Painting a portrait from life? Do you work a lot from photography? There is nothing wrong with that, I have said so often. It gives you the opportunity to calmly create a portrait with good likeness and time to mix the colours at ease. It is also often a fantastic picture that invites you to make a beautiful painting.

But there are also pitfalls, namely that you create a  too detailed  reproduction of the photo. That is a missed opportunity. A painting must be your interpretation and not a copied image. Continue reading “Painting a portrait from life”

Skin colours in portrait painting

Still from the video tutorial
Still from the video tutorial

Every so often I get the question of what colours skin tone is composed. I can not possibly answer that question because every complexion has its own composition.

Portrait of a little girlIn the two in-depth video tutorials I show exactly which colour and in what quantity in the different parts of the face, I used to paint the portrait.

 

 

See: Tutorials

Work from observation, the power of perception

Portrait painting from observation

Portrait painting from observation

Portrait painting from observation

You know I’m far from being an opponent of working from photography. I have received my share of criticism for this stance. That is fine by me. I know whereof I speak, take it from me. Many of my colleagues use photography. And lots for 100% of their work. Only: they do not want to talk about it! I know this phenomenon from the inside out, and I remain to tell you the truth.

But without prejudice I encourage everyone to study from observation. One of the special features is the reflection of a quest. All the elements of a face are not always immediately in the right place on the canvas. And I like to see these little changes of detail in the work. It gives the final artwork that unique charm.

When I work from a live model, I should actually take many more pictures in between to show that process well. The accompanying picture shows two shots. One after a session of 20 minutes and the other after an hour. Pay special attention to the small changes around the mouth and the eyes.

Of course it is an added problem when a model cannot sit still for more than five minutes, at least I can´t. ( I am always happy to be the painter and not the sitter) Every model tends to drift or have difficulties to hold one position. That is why I always take some pictures with my cellphone before stopping the session. So afterwards I am able to correct some features when the model had gone.

Portrait painting from observation
Painting from live model

 

Related post

And this post