Portrait Painting Artists Sketch Faces

              The first and most important step in portrait painting is to draw many sketches until you feel the sitter's personality is captured. The personality may be completely captured by your judgment call or reviewed by the sitter and both of you settle on an agreed decision. Use a live model to pose for you. This is portrait sketching at its best. A photo may substitute should you not be able to get anyone to pose.

The purpose of sketching faces is to outline general features; then detail and refine. I had a personal experience which taught me a lesson. Before completing your portrait painting check with your client to be sure the sitter is in agreement.

Why?

I had described exactly how I wanted my portrait to be done and I asked the portrait painting artist if she could do it. If it was not within her talent range to give me what I wanted, do not take the job. She said she could it. We agreed to 50% down and 50% on completion.

She completed the portrait. I was very disappointed as she did not fulfill my requirements. I refused to pay the balance of the agreed amount. I was very angry. I lost my money, but more importantly the portrait never got done.

Till today, I truly feel that if the artist had me review her work as she progressed with the portrait we would have both been very happy. She would have had her money, I would have had my portrait, and I would have done much advertising for her.

Artists may have their tempers, but the paying customer has their rights to the best product that an artist can produce. Artists like any other business person needs to give good customer service.

Thank you for listening to me. Let's go back to being a portrait artist.

Let us take a moment to reflect and think. It was not uncommon years ago for a person to be painted surrounded by those effects which defined the individual. For instance, if the person was a hunter, there would be dogs nearby. If the person enjoyed gardening, he or she would be surrounded by their flowers.

A decision needs to be made if there is to be a background or not for the person you are sketching for a portrait.

This should be an easy decision:

A significant background symbol representing their interests
Wearing apparel which identifies the person
A piece of jewelry which marks their identity
An emblem or medals signifying their accomplishments
Birthmarks or tattoos

The personality of the sitter needs to be captured on canvas with or without a significant symbol. If using symbols, do not let them take away from the sitter. The person is the focus point on the canvas.

After making portrait sketches consider where light and shadow will be noted in the portrait. Light and shadow are critical for emphasizing or de-emphasizing facial lines and expressions.

What size will you be drawing and painting? A standard rule says the subject should be 2/3 of the canvas.

The Fun in Pen Sketching

               Pen sketching is really a load of fun to do where you can design a valentine card for that special girl or send a birthday greeting to Grandma for her 92nd birthday bash. She'll love your originality with your touch of humor.

Check out some of Rembrandt's pen sketches where he created dynamic lines in seconds with a flourish of the hand and wrist. His sketches are worth studying if only for the composition and economy of line.

If you can blank out your mind (which is nigh impossible to do) then try doodling anything on a piece of paper as you would normally do if you were chatting on the phone to a friend. With all those scribbled lines, what images seem to come forth? Abstract meaningless shapes? Your psychologist would probably have a few answers which you would not want to hear.

You might see something amusing and you'll wonder if it is the child in you trying to break out into the creative field? Pen sketching is all about creating lines or images to represent something never before seen. It could be a break away from reality or could it be your "other self" craving for a way out?

Pen artwork requires a little discipline and forethought if your sketches are going to be original. Using quality paper ensures that your sketches are professional without bleeding through the paper (as in blotting paper.) With a felt-tip pen you will be able to draw clean-looking sketches with clear outlines-and to do that, a little confidence is required. A shaky hand means a wobbly line which means lack of confidence, yeah, it shows through.

Awhile back, I started teaching a few kids how to use a pen and ink like the masters of yesteryear. All of these kids had a back-off about making marks on the nice clean paper; they were a little terrified of messing their sketch up. So I asked them to get a small stick and dip it in the ink well and then flick it on the paper. Well, they did this with relish and gained much confidence in knowing it is all part of the creative process.

In the comic sketching world before computers, there were "pencilers" who created the drawings and the "inkers" who inked in the lines before going to press. This is no longer done today as the software does it all for us. See Google's Sketch Up for drawing in 3D.

Master the art of pen sketching and get to know the art, and then branch off into the world of creating all your sketches on your laptop. Create a few superheroes and monsters in conflict and you'll have a ready audience. Hey, it isn't that easy but if you have a passion for pen and line artyou can make it to the topbut it will take dedication and a load of sweat.

Showcase your artwork on the internet, go to DeviantArt where you can download your art for free and get critiques on how you can improve.