Portrait Painting with Oil: Explore Light and Shade
The Reference Image
A course by Jane French , Painter
About the video: The Reference Image
Overview
“To start with, I will teach you how to select an appropriate photograph to use as a reference for an oil portrait. ”
In this video lesson Jane French addresses the topic: The Reference Image, which is part of the Domestika online course: Portrait Painting with Oil: Explore Light and Shade. Experiment with light, color, composition, and mark-making to illustrate the features and expressions of a subject in a way that captures their story.
Partial transcription of the video
“The Reference Image In this lesson, I'll choose a photograph that I'll work with for my final project. I'll also explain what makes an effective reference picture and what doesn't. It's really important if you're doing a portrait to think about the reference you're using, and some really nice photographs won't make a good reference image for a painting. In this image of my son, he's got a really nice expression. He's tipping his face upwards. There's a strong light on him, so that's very powerful in a painting. It gives a good focus. There's some lovely shadows. When I crop it down, I can d...”
This transcript is automatically generated, so it may contain mistakes.
Course summary for: Portrait Painting with Oil: Explore Light and Shade
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Category
Illustration -
Areas
Fine Arts, Oil Painting, Painting
Jane French
A course by Jane French
Jane French is a painter from the South of England. She grew up in a family of creatives with two siblings who are also artists. As a child, she was always interested in drawing and painting and was encouraged by teachers at school to pursue her passion. She went on to specialize in painting at Newcastle University and, after graduating, worked at a design company before completing a postgraduate degree in information design. Years later, she returned to her artistic roots, painting commissioned portraits for Mark Gatiss and BBC Radio’s Ben Jackson among others.
Jane has run workshops and taught at schools and universities, including the Attenborough Arts Center. She has won numerous awards, had her work featured in exhibitions, and was selected to appear in Sky Arts' Portrait Artist of the Year. Jane also contributed to a book published by Bloomsbury Publishing to honor the heroes of the NHS.
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