Oil Portrait in Mid-Stage "Zsuzsa"

Ever wonder how a painter paints a portrait? Here's one approach.....

I'll bet that when you woke up this morning you didn't know you'd be attending an online art class today via my Steemit blog.

This portrait demo shows an approach to painting a portrait that I often use. I model the light, halftone, and shadow areas until the shapes are right, and then put in the features. The big shapes contain the likeness more than the features. Think about it. When you see a friend from a block away, you recognize them long before you see their eyes, nose, and mouth. This is because it's the shape of their head, face, and body that we recognize first, not the color of their eyes. So when painting a portrait, it's vitally important to get the shapes right before putting in the features.

In this demo, there are no eyes or lips, but this painting looks like the person without them. In this way of painting a portrait, the head is prepared to receive the features only when the shapes are right.

This isn't the only way of painting a portrait, but it's a good way.

Have an amazing, productive day, my fellow Steemsters…. to da moon!!!

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by Lee Gordon Seebach.

Happy Dolphin courtesy of @keepdoodling - one of my favorite Steemians!