![]() ( Credit: Rijksmuseum / Wikipedia / Public domain)Įven clothing requires careful study. Rembrandt saw dignity in his sitters regardless of their social standing. Still, charcoal has a rich, deep quality that also produces subtle effects, allowing artists to record details that pencils cannot. Slater points to American artist John Singer Sargent, whose earlier drawings were essentially paintings made with charcoal, as an example to be avoided. ![]() Charcoal can be great for studies, too, but as a medium it is much more difficult to handle than pencil.Īrtists working with charcoal must be careful not to make their drawings too “photographic” by focusing on tone. ![]() Its thin lines encourage artists to select only those aspects of the sitter that are most important to both their inward and outward appearance. If the primary objective is simply to practice, pencil is the way to go. Slater advises painters to work on their paintings in a space which has good and consistent lighting, so that they will be able to see both the face of their sitter and the construction of their own portrait clearly.Ĭonsider also the medium with which you will be working. The actual process of painting a portrait is as important to achieving a satisfying result as the knowledge and technique that inform this process. Practical Portrait Painting reminds its readers that sitters are living human beings who can vary greatly from one sitting to the next, and that “you do not want to be tied down too soon to hard outlines, carefully laid down at the very beginning of the picture.” The act of portrait painting Painting is relating one color value to another painting is done with a brush painting is not concerned with rigid outlines.”ĭirect painting also allows for a certain flexibility that indirect painting could never accommodate. “A painting,” says Slater, “is not a drawing which is then filled in with color. Modern artists, from Cézanne to Matisse, have demonstrated the value of direct painting. Up until recently, indirect painting was the norm. ( Credit: Daderot / Wikipedia / Public domain) Cezanne worked differently from the old masters, yet captured a similar level of nuance in his paintings.
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