Portrait Painting with Oil: Explore Light and Shade

Portrait Painting with Oil: Explore Light and Shade

“Thank you so much for taking this course. I hope you had fun and learned a lot. The techniques I showed you are things that I use all the time when creating my artwork. But now it's your turn to paint a vibrant oil portrait that demonstrates an understanding of how to depict light and shade. Let me show you an example of what I would like to see in your presentation: The Reference Image Decide on what image you are going to use as a reference for your portrait painting. Then, prepare your painting surface and arrange your materials and equipment.

Drawing the Reference Image Draw your reference image onto your painting surface either by using a freehand method or by tracing/gridding/projecting it. Painting Look at your reference image and then mix a selection of basic skin tone values on your palette. Mix the light values first and move on to the dark values. Then, start applying the dark values to your portrait and slowly move towards the mid-tone values followed by the light-tone values. The Finishing Details Complete your portrait by adding the lightest values/highlights and by working on the hair, clothing, and background. Look closely at the reference image and the painting and make any final adjustments. Don't be afraid to make mistakes! Just keep painting and learning. Mastery is achieved through hard work and practice! Keep in mind that the knowledge I shared with you is just a step-by-step guide to bringing your artwork to life. Therefore, you can adapt the techniques to make them your own. Share your project on the forum by clicking the "Create your project" button. I will look at your publications as soon as possible and answer any doubts that need clarification. In the meantime, I encourage you to see what your fellow students have been up to and comment on their posts! See you soon!”

Partial transcription of the video

“Final Project Thanks for following me on this course. I really hope you enjoyed it. For my final project, I painted my friend's daughter. But you can choose whoever you'd like to paint. Whatever subject you choose to paint, think about the angles and the way the light falls and think about how the composition would work. I started the course by looking at the materials and equipment, and then we moved on to how to mix oil paint. I also showed you some application techniques. I then introduced tonal values by working on a monochrome exercise. Before introducing painting with colour. We then ...”

This transcript is automatically generated, so it may contain mistakes.

Course summary for: Portrait Painting with Oil: Explore Light and Shade

• Level: Beginner
• 99% positive reviews (548)
• 20098 students
• 4 units
• 17 lessons (3h 25m)
• 3 downloads

• Category

  Illustration

• Areas

  Fine Arts, Oil Painting, Painting