Portrait Mentoring

One of my students had a personal portrait project that he was working on. He was discussing his frustration with me, as he felt he'd reached a block and could not progress any further.

I then suggested that we could work through his painting as part of his studies with me.

First of all we had to find better reference images to work from. After showing him how to adjust the digital images to improve the contrast and colours we could move on to more traditional methods.

We had to start with a small study pencil sketch. The idea being doing a small quick image would force him to consider only the essential features of the image.

The next phase was to work on a colour study in acrylics, to help him better understand and plan, or rather practice what he would do later with the oil painting.

Again the image starts with proportional gridding to place the image with better accuracy.

Using the acrylics forced us to work in simple block colours and prevent any attempt at blending because the acrylics dry quickly. It is something I have noted repeatedly with students is the tendency to blend too much, and thus end up with a nondescript often blurry muddy mess.

Realism is better achieved with blocks of colour and only in the later stages, judicious use of blending in specific areas. Some painting styles do away with blending altogether and still achieve stunning realism, yet have a painterly quality.

My student did go on to complete his portrait project and did an excellent job in the end. All he needed was a little guidance with planning his process.

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