Portrait #8: Woman in Yellow
Portraits are a great way to practice so many things: Let's start with the facial expression. Only small nuances of change in the eyes or in the edges of a mouth are able to switch the whole facial expression. Painting portraits over and over again helps to get this right. In addition to that a human face or the skull underneath the skin with all it's muscles is a complex geometrical form which results in different areas of light and shadow. Understanding for example where the check- or jawbones lie is therefore essential! The position and size of bones are also defining if a person looks more asian, european etc. And don't forget about the hair! In fact it is the most simple geometric form: A line. Still so many people struggle drawing hair. The reason for this is that the task is to create the illusion of volume and light reflections. Portraits are the best way to train that.
And finally when I do portraits I also paint a part of the clothes. So it is also a nice little excercise to understand the folding of clothes and what light reflections it creates without getting to excessive on that.
In this video you will find my newest portrait. This time I chose yellow as the base color and created everything around it. The green shirt gives a nice contrast without disturbing the whole picture too much. Enjoy watching!
***But before we start:
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This piece is just one step on my way of mastering art. I change the media and I want to be able to create different styles of art pieces. Follow me on my journey here on Coil and on Twitter.
https://www.cinnamon.video/watch?v=376501963270915608
In the subscription-only section you will find another video with my audio comments on this piece. In addition to that I will provide a list of materials I used.
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