3 Techniques for Incredibly Realistic Portraits
Summary
TLDRIn this engaging portrait painting demonstration, the artist shares three key techniques to enhance realism in portraits. First, they use an abstract approach to painting hair, avoiding cartoonish details. Second, they emphasize the importance of color variation within tonal values to achieve lifelike colors. Lastly, they focus on softening edges to mimic natural transitions, drawing inspiration from the work of Diego Velasquez. The demo showcases how to create texture, manage light and shadow, and capture the essence of the subject's likeness, all while maintaining a realistic and vibrant portrayal.
Takeaways
- 🎨 The importance of choosing the right subject and capturing their unique features for a realistic portrait.
- 🖌️ Using abstract mark-making techniques for painting hair to avoid a cartoonish look.
- 🌟 Ensuring accuracy in light and dark tonal values for maintaining the three-dimensional appearance of the portrait.
- 🎨 Adding color variation within each tonal value to achieve lifelike colors and avoid a monochromatic look.
- 👀 Focusing on the main center of interest, such as the eyes and nose, to capture the likeness effectively.
- 🌈 Identifying and softening edges to mimic the natural gradations found in reality, as hard edges are rare in nature.
- 🖋️ The influence of historical artists like Diego Velasquez on the understanding of realism in portrait painting.
- 🎨 The technique of using a variety of grays and violets for painting beards while keeping edges soft.
- 🌟 The strategic placement of highlights in the beard to avoid making gray or white hair too light.
- 🖼️ Simplifying complex details by replicating texture rather than copying every strand, for a more realistic appearance.
- 🎨 The use of midtones to recreate the effect of the background showing through thinner hair, as a more efficient technique.
Q & A
What is the main focus of the portrait demo in the script?
-The main focus of the demo is to showcase three techniques that can make portraits more realistic, using Andrew as the subject with a distinctive beard.
How does the artist achieve a greater degree of realism in the portrait?
-The artist achieves realism by focusing on half a portrait, allowing more time for detail, and using techniques such as abstract mark making for hair texture, accurate tonal values for three-dimensional appearance, and adding color variations within each value.
What is the first technique demonstrated for painting hair?
-The first technique involves scrubbing in a thin layer of raw umber with a large bristle brush to create the appearance of hair strands, leaving some brush strokes visible for texture.
Why is it important to have accurate light and dark tonal values in a portrait?
-Accurate tonal values are essential for maintaining the three-dimensional appearance of the portrait, as incorrect values can cause the image to lose its realistic quality.
How does the artist add lifelike colors to the portrait?
-The artist adds lifelike colors by introducing variations within each value, using warmer or cooler notes, and ensuring that the colors are of the correct value to avoid a monochromatic look.
What is the significance of softening edges in a portrait to achieve realism?
-Softening edges is crucial because there are very few hard edges in nature. Leaving too many hard edges can make the artwork look cartoonish and graphical, so the artist uses gradations in value to create soft transitions between shapes.
How does the artist handle the details around the eyes to make them appear realistic?
-The artist avoids painting both eyes with the same level of detail, as this is a common mistake. Instead, they identify one or two hard edges by squinting and then soften the edges of the other iris to mimic how we naturally focus on one eye at a time.
What is the third technique for adding realism to portraits, as mentioned in the script?
-The third technique is softening edges, which involves creating gradations in value between two adjoining shapes to mimic the natural transitions found in reality.
How does the artist approach painting the background to maintain the lifelike appearance of the hair?
-The artist uses a midtone to recreate the effect of the background showing through the thinner hair around the edges, avoiding the need to paint individual strands and focusing on the overall texture and value gradations.
What advice does the artist give about adding details to a portrait?
-The artist advises against adding small details all over the portrait, as they can be distracting and detract from the lifelike appearance. Instead, they suggest focusing on replicating the texture and color variations.
Outlines
🎨 Mastering Realism in Portrait Painting
The first paragraph discusses the artist's excitement about the portrait subject, Andrew, and his unique beard that allows for a half-portrait focus. The artist outlines three techniques for enhancing realism in portraits: abstract mark-making for hair, adding value variation for lifelike colors, and softening edges to mimic nature. The demo is part of an Alo Prima portrait painting course on Patreon, and the artist demonstrates these techniques step by step, emphasizing the importance of accurate tonal values and the avoidance of cartoonish details.
🖌️ Painting Hair and Edges with Realism
In the second paragraph, the artist delves into the specifics of painting hair and edges for a realistic effect. They explain the use of cool and warm midtones to create soft transitions and the importance of observing variations in color between different edges. The artist also discusses the common mistakes made by beginners, such as over-lightening gray or white hair and adding too many highlights. The paragraph concludes with the artist's approach to painting the background, using midtones and avoiding detailed strand-by-strand rendering for a more natural appearance.
👀 Capturing the Essence of the Subject
The final paragraph wraps up the demo by summarizing the key points and techniques discussed. The artist emphasizes the importance of not copying every detail, but rather replicating the texture and color variations. They also remind viewers to minimize hard edges and accents for a more realistic portrayal. The artist invites viewers to watch the full-length version on Patreon or the next video for more in-depth instruction on painting edges, concluding with a thank you and well wishes for the viewers' painting endeavors.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Portrait Demo
💡Realism
💡Abstract Mark Making
💡Tonal Values
💡Color Variation
💡Center of Interest
💡Softening Edges
💡Hairline Texture
💡Highlights
💡Background Gradation
Highlights
The speaker is conducting a portrait demo, emphasizing the importance of realism.
The subject, Andrew, has a distinctive beard that covers his mouth and jaw, allowing for a half-portrait focus.
Three techniques are introduced to enhance the realism of portraits.
The first technique involves using a large bristle brush to paint hair, creating a texture by leaving brush strokes visible.
The second technique is about achieving lifelike colors by adding variation within each tonal value.
The third technique is softening edges to mimic the natural world's lack of hard edges.
The speaker uses a fan brush and paper towel to create interesting textures in the hair.
Blocking in main areas of light and shadow is crucial for maintaining a three-dimensional appearance.
The speaker emphasizes the importance of the eyes and nose as the main center of interest for likeness.
The speaker discusses the common mistake of painting both irises with too much detail, which can make the eyes appear unrealistic.
The speaker demonstrates how to soften the edges around the hairline and beard for a more natural look.
The speaker advises against adding small details everywhere, as it can be distracting and reduce the lifelike appearance of the work.
The speaker shares a technique for painting the background to create a lifelike appearance of hair through midtone and gradation.
The speaker mentions the influence of 16th-century Spanish painter Diego Velasquez on the use of soft edges for realism.
The speaker concludes by summarizing the key points for achieving realism in portraits: texture, color variation, and minimal hard edges.
Transcripts
I reckon this just might be one of the
best portrait demos I've ever done I
have a fantastic subject Andrew with
this rather tesque looking beard because
it covers his mouth and jaw this is
essentially only half a portrait this
means I'll be able to achieve a much
greater degree of realism in the time I
have available so keep watching because
I'm about to show you three techniques
that will make your portraits much more
realistic stick this is also the latest
demo on my Alo Prima portrait painting
course which you'll find over on my
patreon channel the first technique is
really great for painting hair here I'm
scrubbing in a thin layer of raw umber
with a large bristle brush and do you
see how the strands in the brush Strokes
resemble strands of hair later on I'll
be adding more colors to the hair but
I'm going to leave some of these brush
Strokes showing through in the plate
places where the strands are more
visible if I tried to paint individual
hairs they'd end up looking cartoonish
and graphical so instead I'm using an
abstract Mark making technique to
recreate the texture of the hair here
I'm placing a few more strands with a
large fan brush then here I'm wiping
back the hair with some paper towel
which also creates an interesting
texture next I'm blocking in the main
areas of life and Shadow I'm then
placing two more tonal values the
highlights and a midtone to round the
form in between the shadows and the
lights it's absolutely essential that
you get the light and dark tonal values
accurate or else your image will lose
its three-dimensional appearance however
just getting the values right isn't
enough to make a portrait lifelike so
here I'm mixing a warmer version of the
flesh color that I used for the main
areas of Light which I'm going to place
on Andrew's nose and cheeks this brings
me to the second really important
technique that will add realism to your
portraits to achieve lifelike colors you
need to add some variation within each
value the world presents us with a
myriad of different colors so if you
only use just one color for each value
your work will look monochromatic all it
needs is a few warmer or cooler notes
but you can also add more intense colors
to make your work even more colorful and
vibrant as long as they're the correct
value they will still appear lifelike
once you understand this principle
mixing color becomes a lot easier
because it's actually the variation
itself that makes colors appear
realistic rather than trying to match
any particular color exactly here I'm
taking some of the raw Umber and I'm
using it to place the iris in the right
eye I'm starting to add the smaller
shapes and details to the area around
the eyes and nose this is my main Center
of Interest as it holds the key to the
likeness but if I paint both eyes with
the same level of detail they aren't
going to appear realistic this is
because when we look at someone's eyes
we never focus on both eyes at the same
time it's a really common mistake to
leave the edges around both irises hard
and cut out but if you want to paint
eyes that are truly lifelike you need to
identify just one or two hard edges you
do this by squinting then as you
gradually open your eyes look for the
edge that appears first when I squint
the hardest Edge that I see is on the
right Iris so here I'm softening the
edges of the left Iris this is the third
and probably the most important
technique for adding realism to your
portraits softening edges there are very
few hard edges in nature so if you leave
too many it's a Surefire way of making
your work look cartoonish and graphical
one of the first artists to really make
use of this principle was the 16th
century Spanish painter Diego Velasquez
in this early painting of three
musicians painted in 1618 we still see
lots of Hard edges but in his later
portrait of juanda perea painted in 1650
we see a massive breakthrough in realism
there's literally only a couple of hard
accents on the right side of the face
and the edge of the left Iris soft edges
are essentially gradations in value
between two adjoining shapes so the best
way to create them is to actually paint
the transitions here I'm taking some
cool midtone which I'm placing along the
edge at the top of the mustache this
creates a soft transition where the
darker hairs Fade Into the lighter flesh
just above it then I'm taking some of
the warmer Shadow color and I'm placing
this along the edges of the hair just in
front of the ear and below the mustache
the reason these edges appear warm is
because the hair is casting a shadow
onto the flesh whereas The Edge at the
top of the mustache appears cool because
the light is shining through the hair
I'm now softening the edge of the
hairline even more by placing a middle
value in between the Shadow and the LI
of Flesh the secret to painting
realistic hair lies in recreating the
quality of the edges around the hairline
and it's it's really important that you
look for the variations in color between
all the different warm and cool edges
here I'm mixing a much cooler gray color
which I'm placing along the edge of the
beard on the left side of the face I'm
using a variety of Grays and violets for
the beard and I'm keeping the edges
really soft and do you see how this
variation between warm and cool already
makes the hair appear lifelike even
before I add any details here I'm
scratching out some of the hairs with
the back of my brush but I reckon that's
too much information if you want your
work to appear lifelike you must avoid
adding small details all over the place
as they'll be distracting so now I'm
mixing a much lighter cool gray color
which I'm using to place a few
highlights in the beard and I'm painting
over some of the hairs a mistake I often
see when beginners paint someone with
gray or white hair is they always make
it way too light you need to remember
that it's actually only the highlights
that are light the rest of the hair will
be much darker you also want to avoid
adding too many highlights or once again
they'll be distracting and you'll lose
the lifelike appearance with the beard
complete I'm now taking some raw Umber
and I'm starting to refine the edges
around the the outside of the face here
I'm using a soft head brush to place a
warm midtone along the hairline at the
top of the forehead the edge here is
really soft where the hair sweeps back
from the lighter flesh next I'm placing
some shadows in the hair and I'm
defining the left side of the face this
appears much firmer where it's
silhouetted against the darker hair
behind it but I still mustn't leave the
whole of this Edge equally hard so so
here I'm mixing a middle value with one
of my smaller brushes even when we see a
hard outline if we want it to appear
realistic we still need to add some
variety this is because we can never
Focus all the way along an edge at the
same time so once again I'm squinting
down and I'm looking for the places
where the edge appears firmest which is
at the top of the forehead and just
above the cheekbone I'm then sof it a
little everywhere else now I'm mixing a
cool gray color made with just raw Umber
and white which I'm going to use to
start massing in the background I see
that there's a gradiation in the
background so I'm making it lighter as
it moves towards the right then here I'm
mixing a gray violet color instead of
trying to paint all the strands of hair
sticking out on either side of the head
I'm using a midtone to re recreate the
effect of the background showing through
the thinner hair around the edges this
is another really useful technique for
creating the lifelike appearance of hair
here I'm mixing a lighter version of The
Violet midtone the edges are really soft
so I'm placing an additional gradiation
in value between the hair and the
background this is a lot easier than
trying to paint individual strands and
it appears much more realistic there are
some strands of hair visible but these
are from the brush Strokes that I placed
at the start which was the first
technique that I showed you for making
your work more realistic so remember
whenever you have an area with a lot of
complicated detail don't try to copy
them all instead look for ways of
replicating their texture then make sure
you add variations of color within each
of your values and finally try to keep
hard edges and accents to an absolute
minimum so what do you reckon was this
one of my best demos if so you can check
out the full length version over on my
patreon Channel or watch this video next
for a more in-depth view on how to paint
edges until next time thanks for
watching and good luck with your
painting
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