Home › Forums › Explore Subjects › Portraiture › Oil portrait practice
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July 14, 2018 at 2:12 am #458910
Hi everyone
I’ve been trying to practice my portraits a bit lately, I would usually use pastel but I wanted to try in oils so I decided to paint my favourite Westworld character.
This is my second attempt and I’m not happy with it, skin tone is wrong but the last one was too orange, im not finished but I really just want to go back to pastel
Any suggestions would be appreciated
Deanna Field
"You can own the Earth and still, all you own is earth untill, you can paint with all the colours of the wind." Disney's Pocohontas.
July 14, 2018 at 4:52 am #657759The loose brushwork and general look of the picture is quite attractive.
The left side (our left) of the face has a very hard edge and the right side of the head has too vague an edge. The hair could also benefit from more subtlety in the outline. The extreme difference in the left and right backgrounds is disconcerting, it splits the composition.
Looking at good oil portraits carefully and trying to apply what you see in practice is the best way of improving.C&C always welcome.
Instagram harry.hamillJuly 15, 2018 at 10:08 pm #657753Thank you for your thoughts Harry that really helps, I will keep on working on it an hopefully it will get better not worse
DeannaDeanna Field
"You can own the Earth and still, all you own is earth untill, you can paint with all the colours of the wind." Disney's Pocohontas.
July 16, 2018 at 6:29 am #657757I just want to send you some encouragement, Dea!
I would encourage you to get the basic shapes dark/light with a loose mix of odourless medium and a grey mix. Put on a wash of this and wipe off the light areas with a cotton rag.
Then mix up darks in basic colours that vaguely match the photo. Keep squinting- to map-in the darks, then apply the mid-tone colours and then the lights thickly at the end. Keep comparing the light/dark and the cool/warmth of the colours. Apply in sections, working all over the face.
Soften the edges- especially the areas that are further away.
It is hard to tell, but it doesn’t look like you have put much paint on. And you might be just “drawing” with the brush to mimic the pastels that you are familiar with. When you have a good amount of paint on, blending becomes so much easier.
I recommend watching some youtube videos as well- they give the demo, explain clearly and you can pause whenever.
Hope this helps.bethany
moderator in figures & portraits blogs: artbybethany life-presence
website www.bethanyart.com
My inspiration is art... because without art, we would just be stuck with reality. ~Daniel R. Lynch
July 17, 2018 at 7:00 am #657754Thanks Bethany
I might just start again with a pic with better defined light and dark, I find it kind of hard to get a bit of paint onto the canvas for some reason. I’ll look up some videos and then have another go,
DeannaDeanna Field
"You can own the Earth and still, all you own is earth untill, you can paint with all the colours of the wind." Disney's Pocohontas.
July 19, 2018 at 9:46 am #657758Making the shift from pastel to oil is a good direction, and one I’ve been involved with recently- just finished a commission in oils. Of course with oil, all color must be mixed. I would recommend replicating one of your pastels (without too much worry for the likeness/drawing) for that mixing practice.
Ken Tiessen
www.KenTiessenArt.com
Comments or Critiques welcomed...always!July 21, 2018 at 1:56 am #657755Thanks Ken, I think it is her skin colour that is giving me so much trouble, and the photo too. She is sort of backlit with warm light making everything else cool but still warm skin colour. I’m not too bad at mixing colour if I can figure out what colour it is I’m mixing.
DeannaDeanna Field
"You can own the Earth and still, all you own is earth untill, you can paint with all the colours of the wind." Disney's Pocohontas.
July 23, 2018 at 6:15 am #657761Deanna, with your talent I would not worry about it. In fact, I feel your pain, I may say. I am doing exactly what you are doing: I am going to start painting in oil after working mainly on pastel! However, in order for me to understand the basis of oil painting I purchased a couple of videos about oil painting and the theory behind it so I am learning the most basic principles of color mixing which is totally different from pastel painting.
What I am doing now is to work with still life in order to understand the concept, values, and chroma of oil painting. In fact, I am reading about the Munsell color system.July 24, 2018 at 10:52 pm #657756Thank you Moises, you are too kind
Way back when I started painting I started with oils and then discovered the convinience of pastelDeanna Field
"You can own the Earth and still, all you own is earth untill, you can paint with all the colours of the wind." Disney's Pocohontas.
September 3, 2018 at 4:01 am #657760Ive started working with oils after several years of pastels too.
Don’t forget you can still mix on the canvas by adding colours next to each other or using glazes, or even blending as long as you don’t overdo it and ruin the colour vibrancy.
I find it easier than pastels in that there really isn’t that point where its overworked beyond repair.
In any case it is looking pretty good to me so don’t give up on your oils.C&C appreciated!
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