Acrylic is a fast-drying medium. For an artist used to oil paints, the quick drying time often requires painters to adjust their methods accordingly. The results often appear the same or similar to oil paints, but acrylic paints seem to age better than oil paints, which yellow and crack over a period of years.
Instructions
Preparation
1. Select your subject. You have four choices: you may paint yourself in a mirror, paint from your imagination, paint from a photograph or paint from a live subject who sits in front of you. All of these choices have advantages as well as disadvantages.
If you are painting from a live subject, that person will likely fidget and change positions at unwanted times (even if you are painting yourself). Additionally, the light may change, and you may feel some pressure to complete the painting faster than you otherwise would like.
If you paint from a photograph, your subject may seem stiff or unnatural in the painting. You may also find it difficult to discern details of the photograph that would have otherwise given the painting a more authentic appearance.
Finally, although painting from imagination is fun, it is difficult (nearly impossible) to make a painting made from imagination seem realistic. Your painting will likely take on a stylized, cartoon-like appearance. If these results are not desirable, then painting from your imagination is not recommended.
2. Determine the dimensions of your painting and then gather your materials. Pre-made canvases may be purchased at art supply stores with acrylic paints and paintbrushes. The most important colors to purchase are the primary colors (red, blue and yellow), as well as white and black.
3. Set up your painting materials in easy-to-reach places near you. Put on your smock and position your subject. For a first-time portrait, the background of your painting should be simple and flat, like a wall or a curtain. Your jars of water should be somewhere close by, and your paint should be available in conservative amounts on your palette. The room should be well lit and free from distractions. You may want to place a tarp on the floor around your feet to keep the paint from staining your floor.
4. Practice drawing the subject of your portrait on sketch paper. Study the shape of your subject's eyes, the position of the eyes relative to the ears and nose, and the curvature of the lips. Pay careful attention to the shadows and where they fall on the face, but at this stage, don't fret too much over the minor details.
5. Using your pencil, lightly sketch your subject onto the canvas.
Painting the Portrait
6. Using one of your thicker paintbrushes, quickly fill in the larger blocks of color on the canvas. At this point, you are laying out the landscape of your painting. Include shadows and highlights, but ignore all details. Fill in the shape of the face. Color over the nose, mouth and eyes.
Remember that acrylic is a fast-drying medium, and whatever you paint can be painted over. The details can come later, and corrections may always be made. At this stage, it is most important to simply lay down the most basic colors. A thin coat of paint will be adequate.
7. Using a small- to medium-sized brush, begin filling in some details. Cover the left and right sides of the face at an equal rate (example: fill in on the left eye what you fill in on the right). At this time, do not cover anything for which you would need a small detail brush.
8. Step back from your painting and check the symmetry and the accuracy of your work. Make alterations where needed. Stand at least 5 feet away from your painting and try to see it as it really is, not as you envision it to be. Compare it to your subject by rapidly flicking your eyes back and forth between the painting and the subject. Where do you notice differences between the painting and the subject? Analyze these differences and give thought to how you will fix them.
9. Turn the portrait upside down. Seeing the portrait upside down can be such a different experience from viewing it right side up that mistakes and problems will often instantly become visible. Study problems you notice. Ask yourself what can be done to correct them. Then, turn the painting back to its original position and continue to adjust the face. You may even want to try adjusting the painting while it is upside down.
10. Use the smallest brush to fill in the details. Paint on top of your fuzzier blocks of color. Make the edges harder and more confident.
11. Leave your painting for a day or two, and return when you feel fresh and ready. This is your opportunity to fix any other mistakes you encounter and add the final touches.
