Monday 27 August 2018

Hand Painted Portraits From Photos And How It Is Done

By Brenda Miller


Whenever you see portraiture that looks so realistic, you might have some doubts as to whether it was even a real painting, to begin with. Not when it looks like an oversized photograph. It takes talent and hard work to achieve something like that. But it can be learned in easy steps. So let us try to learn how to do Hand Painted Portraits from Photos.

Choose one photo with a lot of good highlights. Also shadows. Try picking one that has a good range from light and then to dark. Pose your model so there will be a few shadowy areas on its face because this adds dimension to your painting. Once you have that image, cut this photo to the right size of a canvas or maybe even a panel.

Sketch the lines and include its highlights for more detail later. You can use your projector to get the proportions right if you are not adept or comfortable drawing by hand. After that lay out all your colors that you will use for your portrait. For most skin tones, use burnt umber, yellow ochre, alizarin crimson, titanium white and french ultramarine. Those will be what you will need the most.

You paint the eyes first. The whites should be done before the pupils. Always remember that those are never purely white. Some have shadows or anything that varies all its whites. Your darks and shadows ought to be blocked in too. Doing that help helps you get comfortable with the face.

Do the mid tones that you see are on the picture and put it in the portrait. Add the lips during this stage as well. Those are also of a tone of skin so do not think red. Mix and dab to be sure of its color. For the rest, use just a little bit of ultramarine to cool down the skin. For warmer tones, use the yellow and crimson color.

Add details through the entire portrait. You have already covered the basic values be blocked in so next is to have fun with tones and do try to make some adjustments. Think of the contrast when finishing this step and attach the lights and the darks where they are needed.

For its hair, start the dark part then layer the light areas. It should be pretty easy to do the hair since it is mostly the favorite part of the artist to paint or draw. You can add any style here and can be creative about it.

Finish up all the highlights of the portrait and tiny details. Those eyes need a sparkle to have a reflection so busy yourself with that. Adjusting the details? Master that too. You will only little highlights so avoid getting carried away.

Your background should be last. Put colors that cannot match your subject to add contrast and so they mix well together. If you are done, view your work. The first ones do not always turn out great but practice can get you going. After all, the saying is Practice Makes Perfect.




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