Portrait Painting & Drawing Lessons, Tips & Resources
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Portrait Painting and Drawing Tips, Lessons and Techniques
Welcome to my Squidoo lens on portrait painting and drawing! This lens will feature tutorials, lessons and other great resources on portrait painting and drawing as well as highlight some of the more famous portrait artists over time. If you should have any suggestions or comments about this lens, please feel free to leave it in the feedback box below. Thanks and enjoy!
You may also want to visit my other online resources for artists:
Creative Spotlite - Free Art & Crafts Lessons & Resources For Beginners - This is my first site created over 6 years ago. It is a growing collection of free arts and crafts demonstrations and lessons on a variety of different topics including painting, drawing, crafts and photography.
The Art Instruction Blog - Free Art Instruction and Resources for Beginners - This is my blog on art instruction. It has become quite popular and is filled with lots of great resources for artists including step by step demos, artist interviews, videos, projects and more!
What's Here on This Portrait Painting and Drawing Lens?
- Portrait Painting Tips For Beginners
- Portrait Painting Demonstration
- Books on Portait Painting & Drawing Technique
- Portrait Painting Demonstrations...
- Conversations on Twitter About Portrait Painting
- Portrait Painting Tutorial Using Genesis Heat Set Paints
- If you like this Lens, be a sport and leave some feedback.
- Pencil Drawing Tips
- Portrait Drawing and Painting Blog Posts from Google
- Portrait Painting Demonstration in Oils
- Portrait Drawing Video Tutorial in Pencil
- Portrait Drawing Techniques
Portrait Painting Tips For Beginners
Being able to capture the likeness of a human being on canvas, using paint,is certainly a sought after accomplishment for many new painters. It is also quite challenging. With practice, you will soon be painting portraits like the masters.
Painting a successful portrait is all about how you observe the subject. You want to study the subject as a whole. Study the bone structure and try to see shapes and planes. Do not try and paint every little detail exactly as you see it.
For beginners, it is probably best to start out with a lighting effect where light and shadow are in high contrast. This will make for a much easier painting.
Focus on one section at a time. Finish each section before moving on to the next.
Keep the darks of your portrait at a thin consistency while your lights should be painted on thickly.
Remember that skin comes in a variety of colors & textures, so there is no specific formula for mixing flesh tones in portrait painting. You will have to experiment and practice, until you find the right color mixtures for any particular subject. Never purchase any pre-mixed flesh colors. When mixing your colors be careful not to over mix, which can deaden a color.
Try and repeat the colors and values in your painting to create balance.
When painting hair, don't try and paint every individual strand of hair. Look at the hair as one object and then paint the lights and darks. Paint the hair in the direction of the shape of the head.
The muzzle area of the face (the space between the nose and mouth) is generally the same color as the flesh but cooler.
When painting backgrounds, don't make them too detailed or busy. If you do, you will draw focus away from your portrait.
Add bits of color where the shadow meets the light in your portraits.
Fleshier parts of the face are generally warm and bonier parts of the face, like the chin for instance, are generally cool in color.
The white in the eye is not white. To get an accurate color for the white in the eye you can take the subjects basic flesh color and then lighten it with a gray made from black and white.
I hope these portrait painting tips & techniques have helped. Portrait painting can be difficult, possibly even frustrating in the beginning. Never give up and keep practicing. You will get the hang of it.
Painting a successful portrait is all about how you observe the subject. You want to study the subject as a whole. Study the bone structure and try to see shapes and planes. Do not try and paint every little detail exactly as you see it.
For beginners, it is probably best to start out with a lighting effect where light and shadow are in high contrast. This will make for a much easier painting.
Focus on one section at a time. Finish each section before moving on to the next.
Keep the darks of your portrait at a thin consistency while your lights should be painted on thickly.
Remember that skin comes in a variety of colors & textures, so there is no specific formula for mixing flesh tones in portrait painting. You will have to experiment and practice, until you find the right color mixtures for any particular subject. Never purchase any pre-mixed flesh colors. When mixing your colors be careful not to over mix, which can deaden a color.
Try and repeat the colors and values in your painting to create balance.
When painting hair, don't try and paint every individual strand of hair. Look at the hair as one object and then paint the lights and darks. Paint the hair in the direction of the shape of the head.
The muzzle area of the face (the space between the nose and mouth) is generally the same color as the flesh but cooler.
When painting backgrounds, don't make them too detailed or busy. If you do, you will draw focus away from your portrait.
Add bits of color where the shadow meets the light in your portraits.
Fleshier parts of the face are generally warm and bonier parts of the face, like the chin for instance, are generally cool in color.
The white in the eye is not white. To get an accurate color for the white in the eye you can take the subjects basic flesh color and then lighten it with a gray made from black and white.
I hope these portrait painting tips & techniques have helped. Portrait painting can be difficult, possibly even frustrating in the beginning. Never give up and keep practicing. You will get the hang of it.
Portrait Painting Demonstration
By Karin Wells
There are a LOT of ways to paint a portrait. I use several different methods (and sometimes combine them) depending on what I think is best at the time. Sometimes I even remember to take pictures of the process.This portrait of Gwyneth (20x24, oil on linen), oil on linen) won the Certificate of Excellence at the Portrait Society of America's International Portrait Competition in Philadelphia this year (2008).
Follow this link to view the rest of this portrait painting tutorial...
Books on Portait Painting & Drawing Technique
Recommend Portrait Painting & Drawing Books From Amazon
Expressive Portraits: Creative Methods for Painting People by Jean Pederson
Paint beautiful and expressive portraits by combining more...1 point
Mixed-Media Self-Portraits: Inspiration & Techniques by Cate Coulacos Prato
Featuring artwork from a wide range of contributors, more...0 points
Painting Beautiful Skin Tones with Color & Light by Chris Saper
Artists constantly tell us that they need guidance more...0 points
The Art of Portrait Drawing: Learn the Essential Techniques of the Masters by Joy Thomas
Every artist dreams of drawing people with the sam more...0 points
Oil Painting Portraits (Art School) by Ray Smith
Turn the page of Oil Painting Portraits -- and dis more...0 points
Portraits in Oil the Van Wyk Way by Helen Van Wyk
Helen Van Wyk mastered the art of portraiture by u more...0 points
Pastel: Portraits (HT240) by Ken Goldman
In this book, Ken Goldman invites you into his art more...0 points
Painting Watercolor Portraits by Al Stine
Popular artist Al Stine shares his secrets and tec more...0 points
Conversations on Twitter About Portrait Painting
Portrait Painting Tutorial Using Genesis Heat Set Paints
By Leslie Tribolet
Leslie Tribolet lives on Kauai with her husband and her animals. She studied at Santa Barbara Art Institute back in the 70's, but with pencil as her medium of choice.During her battle with both cervical and breast cancer, she decided she learn something new, so she took up painting as a hobby. She dabbled in watercolors and loved them, but seemed that everyone on Kauai was painting with watercolors, and that she found to be boring%u2026..
She was introduced to the Genesis Heat Set Paints in 2007, and loved it because of the ease of finishing her work quickly, without having to wait for the paint to dry and it was "different".
These paints are dried with heat, (heat gun or an oven) which speeds up the process and it is great, especially with living in the humid air of Hawaii. She has always been drawn to ethnic faces, so she decided to try her hand at painting them with these paints, and it worked. She hopes that you enjoy looking at them as much as she enjoys painting them.
Follow this link to view Leslie's portrait painting tutorial using Genesis Heat Set Paint
If you like this Lens, be a sport and leave some feedback.
Thanks!
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paintingsgalore22
Aug 9, 2011 @ 9:26 am | delete
- Great and informative lens. I like all the videos you compiled.
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johnnybolton08
Jul 14, 2010 @ 6:28 pm | delete
- I would like to say thank you for sharing wonderful lens of yours. The topic you've provided is really informative and full of useful tips.
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lovemybob
May 9, 2009 @ 1:24 pm | delete
- Informative lens, congratulations! Welcome to the Painting Group with another great lens!
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Pencil Drawing Tips
Learn How To Draw the Female Eye With Faith Te
Here is the first tutorial from Art Studio - a female eye. My method in graphite pencil drawing aims to render subjects as realistically as I can. The following is a step-by-step demonstration of how I draw eyes. While I very much hope that it helps you in drawing realistic eyes, do experiment and develop your own way of drawing. I myself sometimes do not follow some of the steps exactly as I like to experiment and try to find better ways of achieving a specific texture or effect....Please follow this link to view this step by step drawing demonstration.
Portrait Drawing and Painting Blog Posts from Google
- Local artist creates poster for NC Seafood Festival
- Finding an image that represents the vast waters and breathtaking landscapes along coastal North Carolina is as effortless as viewing the paintings of artist Mitchell Morton. Morton's lifelong adoration of the coast can be found splashed among many ...
- 'Lucian Freud Drawings' at Acquavella Galleries
- It includes some small oil portraits and powerful examples of Freud's work in etching (which isn't exactly drawing but is close enough to deserve our scrutiny here, some five years after the Museum of Modern Art's ?Lucian Freud: The Painter's Etchings? ...
- Performing arts briefs
- Artist categories include ceramics, painting, textiles, drawing/prints, photography, toys, glass, jewelry, sculpture, wood, leather, musical instruments, and an "other" category for items such as paper, candles, soaps, and oils.
- Museum and Gallery Listings for June 1 — 7
- Beginning with a childhood crayon sketch, it includes some small oil portraits and powerful examples of Freud's late work in etching. And it shows Freud moving from the tightly controlled pen-and-ink drawings that defined his early painting style to ...
Portrait Painting Demonstration in Oils
In this step by step portrait painting demonstration, David R. Darrow, aka "Dave The Painting Guy" talks about how he paints a portrait with oil paint. He talks about how he sets up his canvas, the paints on his palette, special medium that he uses, how he sketches out the portrait and more. I learned a great deal about portrait painting by watching this video. One of the key points that I learned from this video is to keep the cheek and nose area redder than the rest of the face, while keeping the forehead and chin a bit more yellow. Check out the video below to learn more...
David is a really talented artist. I visited his website to check out some of his painting and was quite impressed with his work and I know you will be too. You can visit his site by following this link.
David also hosts live painting session on a site called Ustream. If you have time, you should definitely set aside some time to attend one of his live workshops. Don't worry if you miss one though. You can watch some of the recorded workshops there as well. Follow this link to visit David's Ustream Page.
David is a really talented artist. I visited his website to check out some of his painting and was quite impressed with his work and I know you will be too. You can visit his site by following this link.
David also hosts live painting session on a site called Ustream. If you have time, you should definitely set aside some time to attend one of his live workshops. Don't worry if you miss one though. You can watch some of the recorded workshops there as well. Follow this link to visit David's Ustream Page.
curated content from YouTube
Portrait Drawing Video Tutorial in Pencil
Here is an amazing portrait drawing video tutorial, of a female, done in pencil, by the very talented Artist Ancuta Iuliana Hodoroaba (also known as "Jullia") from Romania. The title of this Drawing is "Smile". You can view the finished drawing by following this link.
In this portrait drawing lesson, Jullia will take you step by step through her process of creating a realistic portrait drawing. Jullia is definitely one of the most talented portrait artists that I have found online. You can clearly see that she has the passion and patience that is necessary to create quality portraits like the one in the video below.
You can learn more about Jullia by visiting both her Website and her YouTube page by following the links below:
http://www.jullia.eu/
http://www.youtube.com/user/julliaH
In this portrait drawing lesson, Jullia will take you step by step through her process of creating a realistic portrait drawing. Jullia is definitely one of the most talented portrait artists that I have found online. You can clearly see that she has the passion and patience that is necessary to create quality portraits like the one in the video below.
You can learn more about Jullia by visiting both her Website and her YouTube page by following the links below:
http://www.jullia.eu/
http://www.youtube.com/user/julliaH
curated content from YouTube
Portrait Drawing Techniques
Edges and Tones
This is another great portrait drawing lesson by Matthew Archambault. In the video lesson below, Matt teaches you all about how to use soft and hard edges to your advantage.
A big thanks to Matt for making this drawing lesson available! Matt has been working as a Freelance Illustrator for eighteen years. He also teaches drawing at the School of Visual Arts. He teaches in both the Illustration and Animation departments. You can learn more about Matt and view more of his awesome drawing videos by visiting his page over at YouTube.
A big thanks to Matt for making this drawing lesson available! Matt has been working as a Freelance Illustrator for eighteen years. He also teaches drawing at the School of Visual Arts. He teaches in both the Illustration and Animation departments. You can learn more about Matt and view more of his awesome drawing videos by visiting his page over at YouTube.
curated content from YouTube
by CreativeSpotlite
I am an artist, musician, web designer and online business owner. I am passionate about the arts and interested in sharing my knowledge and experienc... more »
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