How to Paint a Girl Portrait – Stages of Portrait Painting

Art Lesson 43, Part 2

Discover How to Paint a Girl Portrait

« Back to the Art Lessons List

Stages of Portrait Painting

In this video lesson, you will go through the journey of creating a wonderful piece of art in oils on canvas. You are about to discover, step by step, how to paint a highly lyrical painting, full of sensuality and mystery.

There are so many sources of inspiration around us. Flip through the glamour magazines, online photo libraries, or fashion portfolios. You will find thousands of beautiful images; some of them may give you an idea or a muse that you want to embark on the challenge of painting. This particular portrait was inspired by a photo of the model in the fashion magazine, and it was painted using the old master’s traditional painting techniques.

To master traditional oil painting techniques, you must understand the principle of multiple layers. Before starting the process of color painting, let’s do a quick review of preparatory stages. So, as you see, the first layers of the painting are done in so-called “dead colors”. This is essential for preparing the face for the next color layers. The preparation in dead colors is often a monochrome picture, usually done in greenish-blue or cold-brown tones. The main objective of this under-painting is to conclusively decide on all the shadows and lights of human skin. The color at this stage isn’t important. Before starting to make the portrait colorful, the artist should complete the portrait likeness in monochrome style. The next task is more creative and challenging – finding the right colors.

Now the magic begins – You will see how to convert a preparatory black and white lifeless image into a breathtaking picture.