How to Paint a Portrait
Rather than post the finished work, a painted portrait, I will use this
space to muse about what it takes to paint one. If you believe that it takes
talent, I hope to convince you otherwise. It takes practice, patience, failure,
success, feedback, passion, and persistence. Nobody in history or now living was born able
to paint. This is good news, because if we are not born with the ability, everyone learned it, and you too can learn it.
The Drawing
First and most important is the drawing. The drawing is where most mistakes are
made, and drawing mistakes cannot be fixed with paint. The drawing mistake I
make most often is an error in dimensions. For example, I put the eyes too
close or too far apart. Or I make the chin too small, the nose too short. This
type of mistake can be checked by careful measuring.
I am not of the school to roll with the first draft, I fix things. This lets
me draw freely in the beginning.
Fixing the Verticals
After my initial sketch, I measure the vertical distances against the
horizontal ones. For example, the head across the eyes vs. the distance from
the chin to the bridge of the nose. Which is longer or are they the same? If
there is a mistake, meaning the relation between width and lengths of the
drawing is not the same as in the reference photo or model, I will lose the
likelihood of the portrait. I have to find it before I can fix it. Believe me
in every first sketch there are mistakes, I take my time in this phase,
stepping back often and looking at the drawing from a distance.
First, I have to decide is it the width or the length that is wrong. Let's
say I have found the length to be too long for the width. Since the length has
many more details (brows, eyes, nose, mouth, and chin) it can happen that it
becomes too long in relationship to the width which just contains two eyes, a
nose, and cheeks. The larger the feature and the less details it has, the more
is the tendency to make it too small. For example, the distance between
the nose and the ear, the cheek is large and featureless and is often drawn too
small. I also draw the area above the jaw bone too small because it is
relatively featureless.
After I decided that the vertical dimension is too long, I check the smaller
vertical distances. From the hairline to bridge of the nose. From the bridge of
the nose to the bottom of the nose. From the bottom of the nose to the end of
the chin. These are the big three verticals. I can usually find which is wrong,
and I fix it. Then I check for some smaller verticals. From the brow to the top
of the eye opening. From the middle of the eye to the corner of the mouth. From
the bottom of the nose to the top of the lip, and from the edge of the lower
lip to the end of chin. I check the ear placement, which is very important to
indicate if the head is tilting down or up. I fix all errors found.
Fixing the Horizontals
After fixing the verticals, I look at the horizontals. The distance between the
eyes. Are they level, is the iris and pupil in both eyes the same size. Where
is the high light in each eye? Is the curve of the upper and lower lid correct
in both eyes? Is the iris the right shape for where it is on the eye
ball? I measure the width of the nose. I check if the corner of the mouth aligns
with the middle of the eye. Usually that is so, but I check the model first. I
check the width from the nose to the ear. This is a large distance and
difficult to get right. I check the width of the chin and the neck. I
check where the neck joins the head.
Fixing the Shadows
When all the horizontal and vertical distances are as good as I can get them. I
go to the next step. That is to find and the shadow shapes and shade them
lightly. I don't do this in a watercolor painting because the pencil cannot be
erased easily. Erasing removes the finish on the water color paper and changes
the way the paint is absorbed. I do this when I use markers, because they are
oblique and the pencil disappears.
First, I find the shadow shapes, for this I really only think about shapes, not
eyes, nose, mouth, but what are the shapes I see that are not light (dark and
medium dark). I draw them and shade them in very lightly. This brings forward
errors, they are all of a sudden easy to spot. Also, if I see three dark shapes
across an area, but I only have space for two, I know there is a drawing error.
I fix all errors I found from this process. In a water color portrait, I
lightly outline the lightest spots, these I will leave unpainted. These will stay
the white of the paper.
If the portrait is to have clothing, hair, or hands, I repeat this process
for all areas. This takes time, but is well worth it. During the entire
process, I am thinking and observing how to paint this portrait. When I am done
with the drawing, I am very familiar with the model, enough so that the
painting will be relatively fast. A good drawing is the best foundation.
Still believe it is talent?