Hi Mandorkthegreat,
Welcome to the Watercolor Forum.

I’m not much of a portrait painter, but hopefully some of those who are will come along to help you and answer your questions.

In keeping with our Forum Guidelines that say

If you are stuck and don’t know where to go with a painting, ask for help from your friends in the Studio.

I’ve moved your thread here to the Studio.

Sylvia

The best suggestion I can offer is to go to the Portraiture Forum and start looking at as many threads as you can. This will give you an idea of the many possibilities.

Find several that are similar in style to what appeals to you and try to copy them – only the hair if you choose. As you copy you will find yourself beginning to be more observant.

Then when you have done a dozen or so, you will be ready to portray this handsome dude in a way you like.

It is what works for me, others will do things differently.

and post ALL your efforts, that way we will be able to help even more

life is good

Greg

Start with raw sienna and start adding darks. You could boost the saturation in your photo to find other colours:

Doug

it all depends on the rest of your painting- what style- i have been loading my brush up lots and just dabbing a water wash very much like the above painting.
OR i paint the lighter bits first- say like a yellowey wash- wait for that to dry and then do the darker streaks with a fine brush over the top so youve got some hair marks. id upload it- if i could find it

Can I just say that if you are trying to paint from this particular photo, you are on a hiding to nothing (hope you know what that means). The photo has been taken, probably, with a flash, which means it has flattened out the form. Notice how the light on the watercolour portrait above reveals the form beautifully, we fully understand the shape of the head -the front plane containing the features; the side plane of the head. We also see how the hair falls over the skull underneath, something you should be thinking about, when you say you cannot get the hair to “sit right on the forehead”. If you think of a curved form, and have the hair clinging to the form you will get it right. Not that there is much information in this photo.

I personally would NOT paint from this photo and try to stick closely to it. The colours are deceptive, the light is unhelpful.

Having said that, If you get the drawing of the features absolutely right, the colours will not matter too much – it will still recognisably be this person. I know this is a bit extreme, but look how this artist has used outside-the-box colours…….yet you would always recognise this guy.

http://portlandopenstudios.wordpress.com/2009/09/09/kitty-wallis-artist-teacher-entrepreneur-and-founder-of-portland-open-studios/

so, perhaps do not stress about the exact shade of brown for his hair; get a better-lit photo, side lighting is good, and then have another go.

also, if you need more specific advice, you really do need to show your efforts.

Mandork,
You did a very nice job with the skin tones and the lips; the hair and cap look like you perhaps needed a bit more water mixed with the paint to let it flow a bit. You can darken a tone by glazing layers of color, just let each glaze dry completely before adding another one on top of it with a light touch of the brush.

Since you are teaching yourself to use watercolors, have you checked out the Beginner’s Corner in The Learning Demos? If portraits are your interest area, you could check out that section as well. Seeing how others approach a subject step by step as shown in these demos is a wonderful way to learn techniques by trying them yourself. The link is in a sticky at the top of The Learning Zone (or in my signature line).

Sylvia