A Bust of a Young Woman Smiling, Rembrandt
Portraits painted in oil are a classic art medium; learning create such a portrait requires time and practice. While each artist has her own methods of portrait painting, an understanding of typical portrait-painting instructions can help you succeed at creating a good likeness. A portrait can be quite realistic or much more impressionistic or expressionistic. Maintain your personal style even when creating portraits for works of art that express more than just a studio photograph.
Starting a Portrait
Decide whether you will paint from life, from sketches or from a photograph. If you are striving for a realistic or photo-realistic look, a photo is the best choice. Use a projector to project the image directly onto your canvas or do a square-by-square transfer. For a less realistic and more expressionistic portrait, you may want to begin with a series of simple sketches. You can use a life model or photo to work these to paper or directly on your canvas with diluted paint and a fine brush. Full-face portraits offer little in the way of shadows and light, so opt for a profile or three-quarter view.
Color
Creating realistic skin tones, shadows and highlights in an oil portrait challenges you to blend colors to achieve naturalistic flesh tones; however, to prevent muddying your color, never blend more than three colors plus white. A combination of white, raw sienna, light red and a tiny amount of cobalt blue can create a fair to medium skin tones. Try white, raw sienna, permanent rose and a small amount of cobalt blue in various proportions to create medium to darker flesh tones in your portrait painting. Experiment with skin color possibilities in your portrait painting. Use a warmer tone for highlights and a cooler one for shadows to add dimension and depth to your painting.
Technique
Portrait-painting techniques are as varied as portrait artists. Many artists opt to start by underpainting the canvas in acrylics or oils. Areas of light and shadow are delineated by blocks of color. The amount and style of underpainting can vary from adding a few light washes to creating a clear form and setting light and dark tones in the portrait. Once any underpainting is dry, begin creating the actual portrait. Build layer upon layer of paint to create a fully modeled face, body and hands. Consider softening the background, using a dark or neutral background or making the background somewhat transparent to allow the figure to take center ground.
