Painting a Portrait in Acrylic, Learning How to

Getting started. January 20, 2007

Painting spheres, picking the right colors. Feb. 2, 2007

Painting Spheres, the early ones. Feb. 6, 2007

I've painted three different spheres now, a gray one, a beige one, and a red one. The first two were pretty straight forward, as the base colors came straight from the bottle and the colors were opague. On the third sphere, I mixed my own green, and the red was a bit translucent, so the paint behaved differently. It wasn't a major deal, just a bit of adjusting and knowing that colors can behave differently.

Painting more spheres, Feb. 8, 2007

I have also painted a yellow sphere, a blue sphere and a green sphere. Today I also painted a peach sphere. The peach sphere was the most exciting so far, as it is more skin color. A little red, a little yellow, some white, and burnt umber, voila, skin color.

Yes, it looks pretty good. I've painted skin before, but that was with skin tones that came straight from the bottles/tubes. Doing these processes of mixing my own is making it easier now to understand the colors. I'm looking forward to more.

Grid Method Drawing, Feb. 15, 2007

Grid Method Drawings Completed, Feb 20, 2007

Painting the First Nose, Feb. 21, 2007

This nose was monochromatic in gray tones. I did the grid drawing of it and then followed along with the base coating, and then the adding of lights and darks, which is done before blending. There's more adding of lights and darks once blending is started. I did start to get frustrated and then I affirmed to myself that I can do this. And sure enough I did. The thing about working on a nose though, is that once I got to blending, it is definitely working in parts; the left nostril, the right, the bridge, the underneath, so it is definitely something to keep at while the paint is still fresh.

I also found it easier, once I started blending, to use the reference photo of the real nose instead of the artist's painting of the nose. Then I was using my own interpretations, and that was easier for me.

Painting the Second Nose - March, 2007

I easily drew the second nose. Practice is really helping the process. However, I painted this particular nose three times, trying to get the colors just right. Acrylic paint usually dries a bit darker than when wet. And since there is no magic formula, i.e. 2 parts this to one part that, it is all up to interpretation. So this is it. The second nose, and I'm moving on to something else.

Oh, and just a brief tip; if you have a clear plastic sheet or something equivalent, you can paint a dab of your color on it, let it dry, and then compare, as mentioned by Lee Hammond in her book, Painting People in Acrylic. And then make up enough of that paint to last through the re-coats and blendings too.

Painting of a Boy, April 26, 2007

From Photos to Paintings

After the process of the second nose, I did some other things for awhile. Then I decided to paint a whole face, my way. Using the painting on the front of the book, Paint People in Acrylic, as a guide, I did a free hand drawing. The proportions weren't exact, but my intent was just to play with my plan of color. So I laid the base coat down on the whole face, which for this painting I chose the lightest color. I dried that, and then I added the various colors to part of the base mix. I painted in a new area, repainted the base coat next to the new color, and then dry blended the two areas together. I kept doing this for the whole face, and this is what I achieved.

Painting from Different Views, June 14, 2007

Turn Picture in Different Directions when Painting From Photo

This painting I'm making for someone, so I did the grid method to ensure proper proportion. Again I laid a base coat down, and then I added a second coat designating my different light and dark areas. That's the stage it is at here. I'll be adding other layers and doing the blendings next.

Also, I found it easier to turn my reference picture and the painting upside down and sideways to see the view from different perspectives. It really did help to see things I hadn't noticed before when I viewed them from different angles.

The Paby is Done, July 21, 2007

Painting Ellen, August 9, 2007

Painting Ellen, the Next Part, January 29, 2008

Painting Jessica, April 18, 2008

I had sceduled to teach a portrait painting class at a local arts and craft store and chose my daughter, Jessica, as the subject. I approached this painting using my favorite blending technique of base coating the skin with the lightest shade, letting that dry, and then adding successive blending coats. The reference photograph I used is to the right.

Doing the painting as a demo for a portrait class, the whole painting, drawing, base coating, and blending, were all done in about a three hour time span. Below is the finished result after the three hours.

Painting beautiful Skin Tones

I always liked having the right number of tans, roses, etc. in paint colors, but with this book, Painting Beautiful Skin Tones with Color & Light, I branched out more and started being brave enough to add yellow, green, blue, etc. to skin colors.

Portrait Sketches

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