It’s often said that the eyes are the window to the soul – so how you depict them can make or break your portraits. In this brand-new book, find out how to re-create the human face, from accurately depicting skin tone and complexions to how to add soul and personality to your portraits. Here, our experts will share their secrets for achieving realism in your faces, from how to capture emotions from surprise to anger, to exploring how to realistically illustrate different types of hair. Elsewhere, explore our step-by-step projects to capturing people in various mediums.
Welcome to Paint & Draw PORTRAITS
Paint & Draw: Portraits
How to sketch the head • Lancelot Richardson details a process for drawing the head, including from different angles, and how to draw the features
15 tips on drawing realistic heads • Portraiture is Oliver Sin’s favourite form of artistic expression. Here, he reveals the techniques he uses to create his stunning charcoal artworks
Animate the face • Lancelot Richardson demonstrates how the face changes with different expressions, and how to express this in our drawings
Drawing different types of hair • Lancelot Richardson shows how to draw hair in simple stages, and shares examples for drawing different types of hair
Develop a self-portrait • Lancelot Richardson demonstrates a self-portrait drawing, including more creative setups and tonal drawing ideas that lead to painting
Going simple with gouache • Stephen Gardner creates a portrait in gouache using complementary colours
Paint like Van Gogh • Rob Lunn reveals how to build up a self-portrait from initial charcoal sketch through to finished oil painting
Paint a classically inspired scene • Tran Nguyen reveals how she captures the essence of a maiden’s distress through the use of body language, dynamic elements and a rich blend of colours
Experiment with colour for dynamic oil portraits • Greg Harris demonstrates an approach to oil painting that focuses on applying oils liberally with exciting colour combinations
Capture movement • Want to bring some life into your people pastels? Rebecca de Mendonça reveals how to add movement to your scenes
Work with a limited palette • Rob Lunn details how you can increase harmony in your colour mixes by stripping back your palette to just two reds, two blues and two yellows
Darker skin tones • Learn how to approach mixing darker skin tones using a limited palette. Build from an initial local colour and push out extremes of light and dark, plus details
Paler skin tones • Expand upon the lesson learned in the first portrait by following the same approach on a different skin tone
Emotive portraits in watercolour • Find out how to paint expressive portraits with Stephie Butler, using shape and colour to convey emotion
Create more interesting skin tones with acrylics • Acrylic is traditionally a thick medium to work with, but Dave Brasgalla reveals how you can soften the effect to create natural-looking skin tones
Paint like Caravaggio • Follow Rob Lunn as he guides you through the painting process of the rebellious 17th-century master, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio
How to paint a nose • Kate Oleska explores the steps to depicting the face’s central feature accurately
Create striking portraits • Cassidy J Alexander demonstrates how to bring expression and liveliness to your portraits
How to paint realistic eyes • With their intricate details, the eyes hold the key to achieving photorealism. Kate Oleska teaches how to get them right
Paint a classically inspired portrait • Howard Lyon describes his process of creating a portrait in oils with symbolic meaning, using an academic approach
DISCOVER OUR GREAT...