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- How to Paint A Black & White Portrait in Oils
- Why Oil Portraits?
- Coloured Ground
- What Is Fat Over Lean?
- Palette Layout and Tone
- Reference Photograph
- Drawing Out Portraits
- Step 1 – Block in The Background
- Step 2 – Block in The Darkest Darks
- Step 3 – Dry Brush in The Shadow Line
Have you been practising your portrait drawing for years, yet making the jump to oil portrait painting always seems to end in an underwhelming finish? Or do you walk around portrait galleries in awe with the question, ‘How do they do that?’ Maybe you’re frustrated by your process and don’t know how to change it. But you don’t want to draw anymore, ...
They dry slowly, and for portraits time is essential. Let us start at the beginning. I’m going to keep things simple. 1. 3 easy techniques to learn. 2. 3 basic paints to use. Oil paint– for this series of demonstrations I will be using Artist quality oil paints. 1. Raw umber 2. Ivory black 3. Flake white (or Titanium White) Oil paints are made by m...
Oil paints increase in transparency with age, even thick opaque colours. To test for yourself, make a few pencil or pen marks on a piece of scrap canvas or board, paint over them opaquely and then take a photograph to see the coverage; check back the next day and then the next week to see if the opacity has changed. For a tonal study, a coloured gr...
A new Paleo diet plan? Fat over lean is the expression painters use to ensure you prevent your oil painting from cracking. It basically means that each succeeding layer of paint should have more ‘fat-oil’ than the preceding layer. It’s all to do with how oil paints dry. 1. Turpentine or odourless mineral spirit (OMS) dries by evaporation. 2. Oil dr...
For this first ‘blocking in’ of the painting, we will only be painting with raw umber. For further paintings and for a darker finish, a mix between raw umber and ivory black will be used, however, a great deal can be learned by just using raw umber and white. The choice of palette colour can be a deciding factor in your success. The image below sho...
I have chosen a self-portrait, as when you’re first starting, you’re more forgiving of any mistakes on yourself. The key points to notice are: 1. a wide tonal rangefrom the bright white of the t-shirt to the dark black of the hair. 2. a single light sourceso you get a strong cast shadow this can help to create the illusion of depth and interest in ...
Accurately representing the human face has been an obsession with artists for years, and there is still something amazingly compelling about portraiture. For this series, I will be concentrating more on the technical approach using Classical Painting techniques rather than using this as a series on a Portrait Drawing course. Usually, the initial is...
Working between a number 2 and number 4 (Filbert Ivory brush) I begin to block in the background. The paint mixture is thin, yet opaque. I dip my brush into the OMS, when I say dip, I mean 2 mm. Just a really tiny amount. I then squeeze the brush tip in some kitchen roll so the brush is damp but not wet. I apply the paint with a scrubbing motion, w...
I now establish the darkest area in the painting, still just using the raw umber. As I know some of these areas are even darker than the raw umber I can feel the confidence to work with slightly thick paint. Again, not using too much of the OMS, it should feel like a dry brush effect and the more you ‘scrub’ the further the paint will go. Areas, wh...
Notice how when I am applying the paint to the inner parts of the portrait I’m keeping the edges very soft. This is key when building up a portrait with this method. Hard, sharp edges are tough to cover over when you are working with thin layers of oil paint so try and keep your edges soft in these early stages. The tendency now will be to try and ...
Nov 15, 2023 · This article is a journey through the techniques and styles that contribute to the distinctive beauty of oil portraits. Discover the nuanced craft that goes into each brushstroke, as we unravel the layers of skill and creativity defining the captivating universe of oil painting portraits.
This free oil and watercolor lesson walks you through specific steps to make portrait oil painting and watercolor portrait painting easier. In addition to 38 total portrait painting techniques, you’ll also receive visual insight from top portrait artists to guide you through how to paint a portrait.
- Draw with a grid. I use a grid to create my drawing. I use pencil for the grid and when the drawing is done, I ink the important lines with a Micron Pigma Pen or India ink and then erase the grid.
- Create an imprimatura on the canvas. The imprimatura is usually one or two pigments that are thinly painted over a toned canvas. Here I'm using Raw umber and Light red.
- Establish the colour in your oil portrait. Now we begin to establish the colour for the flesh. Look for middle values in the light side and avoid the highlights for now.
- Define the figure's forms. Now that the colour and values are in place we can start to work the transitions from dark to light. Try to mix the right colour rather than blending on your canvas.
Mastering portrait painting techniques. Learn how to paint great art. (Time-lapse video of my painting process)Limited Edition Prints available now at : ht...
- 15 min
- 34
- Mullo Art
