| Author | Message | ||
  DESPERATE! |
Please give me all the advice you can think of! I am painting a close-up portrait of a baby. I've done two so far, can't get the skin tones right. First I tried glazes. I found the order to be: yellow (then let dry), red (then dry), then blue AND NO MORE! Then the color looked wrong, so I mixed up flesh tone, blush tone, and plain blue for shading. I came up with mud. Using thalos and transparents, keeping clean brushes and water, but where the blue meets the blush it turns PURPLE! Mud, mud MUD! I even considered never painting again (but I see potential). What is it that needs to "click" in my mind to get this to work? Only two layers of color? Then why do others have 100 glazes and success? | ||
Howard |
This is more difficult than I thought it would be. How do I get the cheekbones, the subtlety of the nose shading, the depth of the eye socket? This is advanced blending and shading. Tips are more than welcome! | ||
drollere |
howard: the first step is to get the basic geometrical forms under control -- cone, cylinder, cube, etc. several intro watercolor texts, including the ones by david dewey, hilary page or mary whyte, tackle this skill. next, i found it helps a lot to copy photos from magazines (both b&w using only a dark or black paint, and in color), because the painting problem boils down to making one two-dimensional image from another (plus, the subject never gets tired). it also helps to paint photos of people you know and love. jan kunz has a book on making portraits from photos. finally, anatomy is deceptive, there are little tricks to the rendering, and the main way you surface all that stuff is through drawing, not painting ... lots of drawing. a lot of what seems to be a shading problem in painting is often really a drawing problem in the shapes. | ||
Anonymous |
I have found that less is more. Most watercolor faces are over painted. Concentrate on shapes, limits your paletter, and go for a good drawing. a REALLY good drawing. | ||
BabsArt |
Try starting with pale washes until the face emerges. Then build on it. Sometimes a smudge is enough to suggest the eye socket. | ||
crissy |
Jan Kuntz's book, Painting Watercolor Portraits that Glow is excellent | ||
waterdroplet |
I have been in a Jan Kuntz's workshop and have her books. I love her work, but I have decided I don't paint quite as bold as she does. I also have taken a workshop from Roberta Carter Clark and have two of her books, which I love. Her style seems easier for me to comprehend and then execute. | ||
Carrie Stuart Parks |
I have a video series "Secrets of Drawing the Face". By background, I am a forensic artist and teach law enforcement officers to draw composites. I have information not found elsewhere. I would be happy to send you a free brochure. My email is banjoart@nidlink.com. | ||
Marlene Gremillion |
Dear Waterdroplet, How was the workshop with Roberta Clark? I am workshop chairperson for our local art guild and just booked Ms. Clark for the fall of 2001. What medium did she teach the class in. Did you like the class better than Jan Kuntz (I have also taken from her) | ||
LPMullins |
Carrie ~ I would be very much interested in your brochure on sketching faces! | ||
Carrie Stuart Parks |
Hi LP, email me your address and I pop it in the mail. | ||
Geeky2 |
Well, Carrie, looks like the old gang has deserted us. Good to see you still on the boards. Let me know when you are heading towards VA. (jean) | ||
Carrie Stuart Parks |
Hi Gee--so it seems. I will be gone for two weeks but I know you'll keep up the information flow. My part of the trial ended--it should wrap up today. Time for me to get back to my (other) art--oops, I'm making this a personal spot. sorry. -Carrie | ||
apiper |
I love painting faces. I struggle to capture whatever essence it is in our features which magically expresses our various moods with just the tiniest quirk of a muscle. Wow...it is difficult to define with a brush! | ||
sueannws |
apiper I have seen your work and it is wonderful. We all have room to inprove, But your work is just wonderful. | ||
apiper |
Thanks, You are 'Swell' yourself! | ||
Anonymous |
"Painting People in Watercolor" by Alex Powers is a fabulous book. His style is very loose and expressive, but his brushstrokes are minimal and yet say so much. Guess where you can find the book? One of the best I have used as a reference for painting. | ||
Carrie Stuart Parks |
Hi guys, If you can wait a bit, I just signed up with Northlight books to do a drawing book on drawing people. (Yiiiippppppiiiieee). It will have a lot of information on faces not found in other books as well as new approaches to drawing faces. -Carrie | ||
whelkie |
Carrie, Hurry, hurry, hurry! When will your book be ready? I'm ready now! | ||
malhall |
Like many of you I learned a lot from Jan Kunz's books and workshops. I also enjoyed Paul Leveille's instruction. |
