Portrait Workshop

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Workshops: Oil Painting Charcoal Acrylic Portrait Journaling

Portrait Painting Workshop
Beginner to Advanced

July 23, 2011
10 am - 2pm

Arts Alliance
Sandpoint, ID

Schedule

INTRODUCTION

METHOD EXPLAINED

DEMO

PRACTICE

Drawing from the Papier Mache Bust

The idea was to draw by scribbling and erasing only.
No lines permitted, and no preliminary sketching.
Requires a shift in thinking from lines to areas and values.
You must rely on suggestion rather than delineation.
Automatically edges are soft.

My demo.

The model

Head Proportions

Special thanks to Andrew Loomis from whom these heads were borrowed.
Download pdf versions of his book:
Drawing The Head and Hands
and several others, too, for free!

The Method

1. SOFT EDGED SHAPES FIRST ~80% of the time

2. MINIMAL DETAIL AT THE END ~20% of the time

An Example

A screen capture from a Clint Eastwood movie:
The Outlaw Jose Whales

PENCIL VERSION

Clint in grayscale, focused and blurred.

On the computer outline the major shapes on a new layer.
above the blurred image. Print it out at 8.5 x 11".

Or, print the blurred image at 8.5 x 11" and make
the outline on tracing paper.

Rub pencil on the back side of this sheet,
mainly on the lines. Notice that there are no features, just shapes.
After tracing onto the 8.5 x 11" card stock
I refer to the blurred image only.

Using the scribble method I start with the darkest areas.

Changing direction of the scribble I go over the darkest areas
and the face and hands building up values in stages.

More scribbles and more layers, but no eraser to this point.

I rub the entire image with a finger.
A kneaded eraser is used to create the highlights.
Dark areas are reinforced with a graphite stick.
Take this blurred drawing as far as possible.
Getting this right means very little detail
will be needed.

At the end I switch to the in focus image for reference
to put in features and details. Most of the drawing
is left blurry.

WATERCOLOR VERSION

For watercolor on paper I worked from the sharp focus image mostly
because it's much harder to make changes than with other media.
I used Dick Blick Liquid Watercolor, student grade, dye based
and very strong. Must be diluted. Nice to work with, but some
colors may fade the label says.

OIL VERSION

On the computer outline the major shapes on a new layer.
Print it out at full size and tape together.
In this case the canvas will be 16 x 20".

Or, print out the blurred image at that size
tape them together and make a tracing from that.

Sepia Conte is rubbed over a sheet of tracing paper to make a transfer sheet.
A pencil or a pen can be used or the double ball stylus shown below.

Notice that there are no features, just shapes.
After tracing onto the neutral gray toned canvas, the lines
were reinforced with a brown Sharpie marker.

On the computer a new background has been added
and the image blurred to simplify and obscure the details.
You may be able to accomplish the same thing by squinting at
the photo or your live subject.

Beginning the block in.
Each shape is blocked in with a more or less solid
color/value suggested by the reference image.

With the block in done, edges are softened similar
to the blurred image.

Go as far as you can with the soft edged shapes.
Don't begin adding features and other details,
accents and highlights until the very end.
Some basic modeling has been done
on the face and hands.

The features and other details are finally added,
but much of the painting is left with soft edges.

Clint Eastwood
16x20"
Oil on canvas
by Robert Bissett

Another Example

Slide show of the first steps.

Charcoal Study.

Transferring the image to the canvas using
the squaring up technique. Black paint applied freehand outlines
the major shapes.

The block in is completed.

Shapes are refined and most of the black lines over-painted.

Face, hands and hair are given more finish.
Some black lines are reestablished.

The face is taken to the final state and some details added.

Huckleberry Picker
12x12"
Acrylic on canvas
by Robert Bissett

Checking Accuracy

It's a good idea to check the accuracy of your drawing.
Here's an easy way to do it with a digital camera and a computer.

In this recent portrait I have squared up to the canvas
and completed the underpainting in umber tones.
It resembles the subject, but everything looks slightly off.
I take a picture of it making sure to square it up on the LCD screen.
Open the photo in your photo editing/paint program.
Photoshop will work if you have it or Paint Shop Pro.
The free open source program called GIMP will work fine.
Crop to the edges of the canvas.
Resize to something convenient like 1600 x 1200 pixels.
Make your reference photo the same size and add it as a new
layer on top of the painting.
You may have to scale and reposition to get the best
match up of the two images.

On a new layer above the reference draw a white outline
of the major shapes and locate the features.
Turning off the reference layer to show the outline over
the painting, note any problems.
The blouse needs big corrections and the eyes, too.
Save this as a new image. Print it out as a guide to
make corrections.

Or, if you used the tracing method to transfer the shapes to the canvas,
you could retrace the features to check accuracy.

Making the corrections and beginning to add color.

After many hours of work it is nearly done.

Sara
16x12"
Acrylic on canvas
NFS

The Lighting

The lighting of your subject is very important.

"Rembrandt lighting is a lighting technique that is sometimes used in studio portrait photography. It can be achieved using one light and a reflector, or two lights, and is popular because it is capable of producing images which appear both natural and compelling with a minimum of equipment. Rembrandt lighting is characterized by an illuminated triangle under the eye of the subject, on the less illuminated side of the face. It is named for the Dutch painter Rembrandt, who often used this type of lighting." from Wikipedia.